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Judge Neroni Slade - Chairperson of the Tokyo Whale Symposium
During his time in New York, Judge Slade was closely involved with a range of United Nations work on oceans and the environment and on sustainable developmental issues; and for several years was Chairman of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS). He was Co-Chairman of the initial sessions of the United Nations Open-Ended Consultative Process on Oceans and the Law of the Sea (UNICPOLOS) (2000-2002); and from 1994-2002 led the AOSIS delegations at the climate change negotiations and development of the Kyoto Protocol. Mr. Joji Morishita – Whaling Section, Japanese Fisheries Agency
Mr. Morishita holds a degree of Master of Public Policy (MPP) from the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, USA and a BS, Fisheries Science from Kyoto University, Japan. At the meetings of the International Whaling Commission, Mr. Morishita is the main spokesperson on behalf of his government. He is the author of Why Whales Strand? --- Tragedy of Anti-Whaling Movement (2002, Kawaide Shobou Shinsya, ltd., in Japanese only) and his most recent articles are Multiple analysis of the whaling issue: Understanding the dispute by a matrix (Marine Policy 30 (2006) 802-808) and What is the ecosystem approach (Marine Policy, 2007, in press). Dr. Toshio Kasuya - Independent Cetacean Scientist
Dr. Kasuya had a long career in many prestigious Japanese institutions related to fisheries and marine mammals conservation and management. From April 1961 to March 1966, he was a researcher at the Japanese Whales Research Institute. In April 1966 he joined the Ocean Research Institute at the University of Tokyo, where he was a Research Associate until March 1983. In April 1983 he joined the Far Seas Fisheries Research Laboratory of the Japanese Fisheries Agency where he exercised as Project Leader and later until March 1997 as Division Director. From April 1997 to March 2001, Dr. Kasuya has been a Professor at the Faculty of Bioresources, Mie University, and from April 2001 to March 2006 a Professor at the Division of Animal Sciences, Teikyo University of Science and Technology. With his research on the life history and management of whales, dolphins and dugong, Dr. Kasuya is one of the most original Japanese thinkers on the issues to be discussed at the Pew Tokyo Whale symposium. Mr. Jun Hoshikawa – Executive Director, Greenpeace Japan
Hoshikawa is a professional writer, who has authored and translated (from English to Japanese) over sixty books, specializing in fields such as spirituality, psychology, environment, sustainable policy, social justice, peace, and indigenous cultures. He is also well known as one of the pioneering environmentalists and peace activists in Japan. Hoshikawa was instrumental in local initiatives on Yakushima Island that led to the protection of old growth forest from logging that later became an integral part of the World Natural Heritage Site: the rejection of a plan for intermediate storage facility of spent nuclear fuels; and the construction of an ecologically sound waste management system on the island. These initiatives among others have helped Yakushima being perceived as a beacon of environmental awareness in Japan. Hoshikawa received the Japan Congress of Journalists' "Citizen Media Award" in 2004 for his efforts to organize translators into an independent media outlet to work internationally to stop war in Iraq. He also served as the Chair of Yaku-cho (a municipal township) Environmental Council between 1999 and 2006. Jun Hoshikawa’s publications include “Why Japan is the Top Killer of Whales in the World” (Nihon wa Naze Sekai de Ichiban Kujira wo Korosunoka), Gentoh-sha, 2007, “Democracy in Spiri”t (Tamashi’i no Minshu-shugi), Tsukiji Shokan, 2005, “Living As If Peace Mattered” (Hisen to iu Kiboh), Nanatsumori Shokan, 2004, In Praise of the Water Planet (Yakushima Mizu-Sanka), Minaminippon Shinbun-sha, 2000, “Yakushima Dreamtime” (Yakushima no Toki), Kousaku-sha, 1995, “What Is Ecology” (Ecology-tte Nandaroh), Diamond-sha, 1995, “Our True Nature” (Chikyu Seikatsu), Tokuma Shoten, 1990, Heibon-sha, 1995, and “Planetary Awareness” (Chikyu Kankaku), Kousaku-sha, 1984. Professor Akio Morishima - Chairman of the Board of Directors, Japan Climate Policy Centre
He holds a Tokyo University BA in law and Harvard Law School LL.M. He has served at Nagoya University as professor, Dean of School of Law, and Dean of Graduate School of International Development. He has taught at many universities outside Japan including Harvard Law School. As Chairman of the Policy and Planning Committee of the Central Environment Council of Japanese government (1993-2005) and as President (2000 - 2005) he contributed to Japanese environmental policy making and strongly committed to promoting policies to make Japanese society truly sustainable. He is an internationally eminent lawyer and has long been an enthusiastic supporter of environmental justice. He is considered as a theoretical leader of environmental law and environmental policy development in Japan. He received Elizabeth Haub Environmental Law Prize of Université du Livre de Bruxelles (2001), Japan Environment Science Association Prize (2001), Global 500 Award of UNEP (1996), and Environmental Protection Award of Ministry of the Environment, Japan (1995). Mr. Juan Mayr - Former Environment Minister of Colombia
Mayr’s interest in environmental issues started in 1976, in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta on the North-Eastern coast of Colombia, a region with great cultural and environmental diversity, and political and socioeconomic complexity, which represents a microcosm of Colombian reality. It is the world’s highest coastal mountain, the traditional territory of various indigenous groups (Kogi, Arhuaco, Wiwa) and the source of 35 rivers that provide water for over 1.5 million inhabitants and agro-industrial lands. In the 1970s, illegal marijuana cultivation led to the indiscriminate felling of forests and armed conflict over territorial control. Within this scenario Mayr established a non-government entity, Fundación Pro-Sierra Nevada, to work with indigenous and peasant communities and local governments, to protect the environment and the indigenous territorial rights. Based on the indigenous perception of human-nature relationships, their cultural ways of adapting to the different ecosystems in the Sierra Nevada and their social and political inter-relations, Mayr promoted the concept of shared bioregional management. The protection of watersheds was a central theme, and facilitated the articulation between social and institutional actors in the region. This important work, for the people and ecosystems of the Sierra Nevada, led to greater awareness about the region and international recognition with the Goldman Environmental Prize in 1993. Parallel to this work, and within the international arena, Mayr is renowned for his efforts in promoting decentralization and regionalization within the World Conservation Union (IUCN), where he has served as Vice-President and also as Regional Representative for Latin America. He was responsible for raising the profile and the decision-making powers of the national and regional committees, and for establishing IUCN regional congresses. In August 1998, Juan Mayr was appointed Minister for the Environment of Colombia. He successfully instigated a participatory process to develop a National Environmental Plan, the “Collective Environmental Project”, with water as the main political focus, as well as strengthening the National Environmental System to support peace efforts. This collaborative approach to environmental policies and sustainable development resulted in Colombia gaining international recognition for giving ‘environment’ the priority it deserves on the political and social agenda. As Minister, he also worked closely with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). In February 2002 he presided over the Global Ministerial Environment Forum (GMEF) in Cartagena, which proposed measures to strengthen UNEP in the light of outcomes from the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD). Juan Mayr’s firm belief in the need for enhanced civil society participation as the foundation for environment protection, sustainable development and good governance, has also led him to provide consultancy work to the private sector; in particular, evaluations of the social-cultural impacts of extractive activities, and means for resolving these. He has also worked as a consultant to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of the Dutch Government, on the evaluation of cooperation programmes being carried out by the Dutch Embassy in Colombia. Mr. Olivier Deleuze - Chief, Major Groups and Stakeholders Branch, Division of Regional Cooperation, UNEP
An agronomic engineer by training, in 1980 Olivier Deleuze became a founding member of the Belgian Green Party, and an elected representative for this party from 1981 to 1986 in the Belgium Federal Parliament. From 1986 to 1989, he joined the private sector to work on a major air cleaning project, and thereafter he became a leading figure of the NGO movement in his country, as Executive Director of Greenpeace Belgium from 1989 to 1995. After leaving this post, he joined the Green Party again and was from 1995 to 1999 a member of the Federal Parliament for a second time, and Head of the Green Parliamentary Group. From 1999 to 2003, Olivier became State Secretary for Energy and Climate in the Belgian Government. In this position, during the Belgian EU Presidency (2nd semester of 2001), he played a fundamental role at the Meeting of Contracting Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) held in Marrakech in November 2001 which is largely regarded as the key moment when the door was opened for the entry into force of the Kyoto Protocol three years later, thanks to the adoption under his leadership of innovative enforcement rules. Sam Johnston - Senior Research Fellow at the United Nations University (Speaking on behalf of Professor Zakri)
His research interests include: international environmental law; governance of international spaces; international regulation of biotechnology; and international law. He is a Visiting Senior Fellow with the Law Faculty of Melbourne University. Previously, he worked at the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity, where he has held a variety of positions, including: member of the Management Committee, secretary of the second meeting of the SBSTTA, acting Principal Officer for Implementation and Communication, acting Legal Advisor and Programme Officer for Financial Resources and Instruments. He also represented the Executive Secretary of the Convention at a wide range of diplomatic and academic conferences, including the United Nations General Assembly, Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization and the Global Environment Facility’s Participants Assembly. He also prepared over 60 official intergovernmental policy documents, supervised the first review of the financial mechanism and was an author of the Global Biodiversity Outlook. He has degrees in chemistry and law and is a qualified lawyer in the Supreme Court of Victoria (Australia). Professor. A.H. Zakri - Director of the UNU Institute of Advanced Studies (UNU/IAS), and Former Vice-Chair of the UN Millennium Ecosystem Assessment
He was the deputy head of the UNU delegation at the World Summit on Sustainable Development (2002) and leader of the UNU delegation to the meetings of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development from 2003 to the present. He led the university delegation to the 7th (2004) and 8th (2006) meetings of the Conference of Parties of the Convention on Biological Diversity. Prof. Zakri served as the Secretary General of the Society for the Advancement of Breeding Researches in Asia and Oceania (SABRAO) from 1981-89 and was Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia from 1992-2000. He was the Founding President (1994-2000) of the Genetics Society of Malaysia. Zakri was the Chairman of the National Task Force that prepared the Malaysian National Policy on Biological Diversity (1996) and the Founding Chairman (1999) of the National Genetic Modification Advisory Committee (GMAC Malaysia). Zakri was a senior member of the Malaysian government delegation to negotiate the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) (1990-1992), and subsequently a member of his country’s delegation to the various meetings of the treaty’s Conference of Parties (1993-2000). He chaired the CBD Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice (SBSTTA) from 1997-99. He led the Malaysian delegation in the intergovernmental negotiations on biosafety (1995-2000) which eventually led to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (2003). Throughout the years, he has participated in meetings of UN bodies like the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). From 1999-2000, he was the Team Coordinator for the Asia-Pacific region in the UNDP/GEF project on “Capacity Development Initiative.” A graduate of Michigan State University, USA (M.S., 1974; PhD, 1976), Prof. Zakri’s interests include biodiplomacy, education for sustainable development, and biotechnology and biodiversity policies for developing countries. During the last few years, he has given numerous keynote addresses and invited lectures on these subjects. Recipient of a Fulbright-Hays Fellowship (1981), and a Gold Medal Award from the Rotary Research Foundation (1999), Prof. Zakri is a Fellow of the Academy of Sciences Malaysia (1995), the Academy of Sciences of the Developing World (TWAS) (1996), the World Academy of Art and Science (2003) and the Islamic World Academy of Sciences (2006). In 1998 he received the Langkawi Award, a national laureate for outstanding contribution in the field of environmental awareness in Malaysia. Three species known to science are named after him: a beetle (Paleosepharia zakrii); a cicada (Pomponia zakrii), and a pitcher plant (Nepenthes zakriana). Ambassador Eduardo Iglesias – IWC Commissioner for Argentina
During his long career with the Argentine Foreign Affairs Ministry which started in 1965, Ambassador Iglesias has held numerous responsibilities and occupied many senior posts, including Director of the International Rivers Department, Undersecretary of Latin American Affairs, Undersecretary of Consular Affairs, General Director of South America, General Director of Latin American Policy, Member of the Higher Council of Ambassadors, and – most recently – Delegate of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Energy-Related Matters and Expert at the Committee of Contributions at the United Nations. At various stages of his professional life, he has been posted in Switzerland and the UK. As Chief of Mission he has also been posted in Chile and Bolivia. Ambassador Iglesias has taught and lectured on many different subjects of international policy and law on numerous occasions in many international fora and academic institutions, including the School of Law and Social Sciences, Buenos Aires University, and the Faculty of Politics, Belgrano University, and seminars and conferences in Buenos Aires, Geneva, London, La Paz and Santiago de Chile. Ambassador Iglesias is a key member of the Buenos Aires Group of Latin American countries hosted in December 2005, 2006 and 2007 by the Argentine Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and one of the architects of the Buenos Aires Declarations on whale conservation adopted on these occasions. Mr. Richard Cowan – IWC Commissioner for UK
Richard has been UK Commissioner to the IWC for almost seven years and has had wide experience of international negotiations at EU level and in wider international contexts. He is responsible not only for government policy on whaling, but also for the development of Marine Protected Areas in UK waters and the designation of marine sites in the Natura 2000 context.
Through this experience in Africa, he expanded his research areas to community-based conservation and natural resource management He was WWF-Japan’s Conservation Director from 2001 to 2004. He focused on activities to create scientific and social bases for sustainable development and conservation of ecosystem services. Currently he is the Professor of Ecology and Environmental Sciences at Nagano University Faculty of Tourism and Environmental Studies, teaching environmental science for sustainable development. Mr. Yoshimasa Hayashi - Member of the Japanese Parliament, Secretary General of the Parliamentarian League for Whaling.
Before becoming in 1995 an elected member of the House of Councillors of the Japanese Parliament, Yoshimasa Hayashi worked in the private sector (Mitui & Co Ltd., Tokyo; Sanden Koutsu Company in Yamaguchi; Yamaguchi Godo Gas Company; Keefe Company, Washington DC). He then moved to public offices (Assistant to Congressman Steve Neal in Washington DC in 1991; International Affairs Intern at the Office of Senator William Roth, Washington DC; Secretary to the Ministry of Finance, Tokyo in 1995). From Oct 1999 to July 2000, Yoshimasa Hayashi was State Secretary for Finance in the Japanese Government, and Senior Vice-Minister in the Cabinet Office from September 2006 to August 2007. In the course of his parliamentary career, Yoshimasa Hayashi has belonged to 14 different House of Councillors Committees. Since October 2007 he is the Principal Director of the Standing Committee on Budget. He is the Deputy Chairman of the Liberal Democratic Party’s Policy Research Council, and Acting Chairman of LDP Policy Board in the House of Councillors. Bachelor of Law from the University of Tokyo, Yoshimasa Hayashi has a Masters of Public Administration from the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University. Ms. Heather Sohl – Species Trade and Policy Officer, WWF
WWF implements a Global Cetaceans Action Plan to ensure a significant reduction of threats to cetacean populations that are either currently endangered, or are likely to become endangered in the foreseeable future. The organization is combating risks to whales by working through the IWC, through field research, training and capacity building, conservation education, and by securing improved national and international action and agreements. Heather Sohl has ten years experience in conservation policy and has been the Species Trade and Policy Officer for WWF-UK since July 2006. Working closely with WWF International, her work is focussed on international treaties and agreements including the Convention on International trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) and the IWC. She leads WWF-UK’s work on wildlife trade including the management of international projects and support for TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring programme of WWF and IUCN. Heather has a Masters degree in Integrated Environmental Science from the University of Southampton, UK. Richard Black - Round Robin facilitator
Most of his career was spent in BBC World Service reporting on scientific and environmental affairs, and presenting programmes with a similar brief. He was co-founder of the pioneering environment/development programme One Planet, and has reported from major international events such as the UNFCCC meeting in Nairobi in 2006 and the IPCC conferences in 2007, the UN World Summit in New York in 2005, CITES in 2007 and the UNAIDS summit in Barcelona in 2002. He has contributed to the BBC’s journalist training programmes directed at former Soviet bloc nations, and travelled extensively in the developing world. He moved to the website in 2005. Richard has covered the last three IWC meetings for BBC radio, TV and website, and in 2006 made a series of documentaries for BBC World Service on the recent history, science and politics of whaling. Some of his articles from Anchorage are available here . |
The Current State of the Whaling Debate: Views from Japan Conflict Management and Biodiversity: Interactions between Governments, NGOs and the Private Sector
How can a way be forward be found?
The IWC Process on its Future: Recommendations to the IWC Intersessional Meeting, March 2008, Heathrow (UK) Round robin session
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Formerly a Judge of the 
Joji Morishita is the Director for International Negotiations at the International Affairs Division of the 
Dr. Toshio Kasuya graduated in 1961 from the Division of Fisheries, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Tokyo, and obtained his Doctorate in Agriculture from the University of Tokyo in 1972. 
Jun Hoshikawa was appointed Executive Director of 
Akio Morishima is currently the Board Chair, Japan Climate Policy Center (
Juan Mayr has dedicated his life to the environment. Throughout his career, he has pursued a holistic and interdisciplinary vision at different levels of decision-making – local, national, regional and international - for the protection of ecosystems and biodiversity as the mainstay for cultural diversity, sustainable livelihoods and good governance. His capacity to involve all areas of civil society – government, private sector, academic, non-government, indigenous and women - is a particular strength. 
Based at UNEP Headquarters in Nairobi, Olivier Deleuze is currently the Chief of the Major Groups and Stakeholders Branch of the United Nations Environment Programme (
Sam Johnston is currently Senior Research Fellow at the United Nations University Institute of Advanced Studies. Principal responsibilities of this position are to provide strategic guidance to the Director regarding the research priorities of the Institute and develop new research activities for the Institute. 
Malaysian-born Zakri is the Director, Institute of Advanced Studies, United Nations University (UNU-IAS) in Yokohama, Japan. He was the Co-Chair of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment Board (2001-05), a four-year U.N. study undertaken by 1,360 experts from 95 countries to assess the state-of-health of the world’s ecosystems. He was the Vice-President of the Academy of Sciences of the Developing World (TWAS); member of the Board of Trustees of the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES); member of the Arab Fund Fellowship Program, member of the International Cosmos Prize Committee, member of the Evaluation and Selection Panel for the 2006 Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) Science Awards, and Expert member of the FAO/CGIAR 1st External Review (2007) of the Harvest Plus Challenge Program on High-Impact Research. 
Ambassador Eduardo Iglesias is maybe the most senior person in the field of international whaling policy. He has been the Commissioner of Argentina to IWC from 1977 to 1993, and again now since 2002. From 1981 to 1984 he was the President of the IWC, thus playing a critical central role when the moratorium on commercial whaling was adopted in 1982 by the commission. 
Richard Cowan CBE, Deputy Director (Marine and Freshwater Biodiversity) Marine and Fisheries Directorate, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, UK. 
As a researcher of ecology, Tetsu Sato studied ecology and behavior of cichlid fishes of Lakes Tanganyika and Malawi for 20 years, especially focusing on mechanisms of rapid evolution and coexistence of cichlid fish communities. 
A leading member of Japan’s 
Heather Sohl will be presenting on behalf of Dr Sue Lieberman, Director of 
Richard Black covers environmental issues for BBC News, primarily for the 
