Key institutions in Japan’s hydromet landscape have evolved since the 1950’s. For example, hydrological institutions have undergone several changes, such as after the enactment of the 1964 River Law Act (revised version). This law required authorities tasked with managing rivers to adhere to integrated river basin management principles, as opposed to more area-focused disaster management practices that were prevalent prior to this (e.g., shifting from circle levees, which only protect the builder’s community, to continuous levees, which ensure more equitable protection for the wider population). As for meteorological services, the regulatory framework was established under the Meteorological Service Act of 1952, which designated the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) as the authoritative body responsible for issuing emergency warnings.

In terms of legal framework, Japan’s laws assign clear roles and responsibilities for the National Hydrological Service (WDMB/MLIT), the National Meteorological Service (JMA), and other key stakeholders to ensure effective coordination.

The national government provides local governments with additional subsidies for seismic retrofitting and reconstruction of schools with insufficient seismic capacity. In principle, national subsidies for retrofitting and reconstruction cover one-third of associated costs for public elementary and junior high schools, but the national share has been raised to two-thirds and one-half respectively in 2008 under the Act on Special Measures for Earthquake Disaster Countermeasures. Furthermore, additional sources of funding were generated through local bonds and local tax allocation by local governments. In Shizuoka prefecture, located in the Tokai area where earthquake probability is high, the local government increased corporate income tax by 7-10 percent for 15 years to allocate budget for making public buildings more earthquake resistant. Kushiro municipality’s retrofitting completion rate remained at 50 percent for a decade due to lack of funds, however, this increased the rate to 85.8 percent within 3 years of introducing the PFI system.

For revival, Airin district needed bottom-up approach, which aims to put emphasis on local residents’ actions and listen to them and relevant organizations, departing from a traditional method of governmental organizations-led decision making. The district started an urban regeneration forum led by a public entity in late 1990s to facilitate discussion and dialogue among different stakeholders, which is followed by various community institutions funded to foster communication by involving all interested groups.

Nishinari ward office plays not only coordination mechanism but works as a part of the team aiming to develop Airin District. Airin was indeed a lagging district, and the level of mistrust was extremely deep. The local authority was therefore conscious of offering inclusive service and working with politeness and high respect to residents. It gradually melted the tension. While Mayor Hashimoto largely triggered the reform, the residents kept its implementation through a public-private forum called area management secretariat. 

An initial meeting between the traditional and religious authorities of Mogazang was held to gather all useful information and raise awareness among the population. As a next step, a socio-economic study was carried out in order to understand the potential social, economic and environmental impacts and challenges of the restoration initiative. The elaboration of a map by the community members under the guidance of the advisory team allowed the demarcation of a plot of degraded land (10.74 ha) for restoration. The reforestation initiative aimed at providing firewood, fodder, food products and medicinal plants, among others. The government owns the selected plot, under the supervision of the Executive Bureau for Development of the village. However, it is managed ‘by the people, for the people’.

The aim for designing a marketing plan was to convert customers who used diesel oil to heat their homes and businesses into users of briquettes, firewood or charcoal for energy. The preference during the first stages was given to homes and businesses where the public could witness and try out the new biomass heating system. The document is attached to enable its adaptation to other situations.

The term “dry stone” indicates how the stones constituting the terrace retaining wall are put in place without the use of binders.  The wall has many benefits such as wind protection for some types of crop, while preserving the ecological niche of the numerous species of flora and fauna that colonize the stones, holes and soil of the terraces. It also serves as a passageway for farmers along the strip, interrupting the water runoff flow and favoring water accumulation and infiltration in the soil. It also plays an important role in preventing soil erosion. Abandoned terraces are widely distributed in the western slopes of the site located mainly at altitudes of 1000m to 1200m above sea level. Many terraces are abandoned with significant percentage of collapsed stonewalls that are colonized by natural vegetation forming different successional stages – from small scrub to very dense secondary forest stands. They also act as firebreaks, reducing the risk of fire spread, and providing access and water for firefighting.  

As a strategy of connection and contribution of the citizenship, because in the first edition (2013) We were able to finance all expenses, a conservation fund was generated from the collection of the cost of the registration of the event, the fund was delivered to the Promoter Group CPY and it was invested in conservation actions and sustainable use of the territory, with the fund was bought trap cameras for monitoring biodiversity.
This proposal was not sustainable for following editions, due to the considerable increase of the participation and the associated costs, currently we use the fee of the registrations to complete the event financing.

Governance
Over the years, Lewa has set up an elaborate and effective governance and management structure, which has greatly contributed to the organisation's effectiveness and efficiency. The Conservancy is headed by a board of directors with a well stipulated mandate, which is to drive Lewa's strategy through the management team. This has ensured that Lewa has the right strategic direction and practices accountability to stakeholders and beneficiaries. The communities working with Lewa are clustered within their geographic locations, and each one has a development committee, a platform for the communities to identify, discuss and agree on their needs, which then, together with the Lewa team, are prioritised.  

Management

Lewa's management is informed by its Strategic Plan updated every 5 years. The Plan is aligned to national and local conservation and livehood goals. It is prepared consultatively with our stakeholders through participatory planning. Implementation is through various departments, supported by a Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning framework. Additionally, we have the Lewa Standard, a set of ethos and principles that ensures the Conservancy is managed to the highest standards in the context of defined objectives.

Most conservation organisations cannot flourish in isolation. For us, we recognise the importance of establishing mutually beneficial partnerships that cut across national and county governments, local and international conservation and research agencies, as well as individual and institutional philanthropic organisations. In our landscape, partnerships have enabled us to scale the impact of our work across northern Kenya and beyond. Together with our partners, we have been able to connect wildlife landscapes previously isolated by human activities, protect wildlife beyond our borders, as well as participate in the formulation and implementation of strategies for the conservation of key species. We mainly establish partnerships that wil directly feed into our strategic goals or where we find we will add the greatest value. However, for the local and national government partnships, these are a must institutions as our work feeds directli into the national goals. Among others, our partnerships are maintained through implementing joint action plans, joint planning and implementation meetings, face to face meetings, publicacations etc.

We work with local communities to make our conservation efforts inclusive, participatory and beneficial to their livelihoods. This is in recognition that conservation can only be successful and sustainable if there is participation from the local people, where their views and thoughts are integrated into the planning and execution process.

Each community surrounding Lewa has a development committee that is linked to the community development programme here on Lewa. Through these committees, we are able to establish what the communities' greatest needs are, how we can help to best address them, and how conservation can generally uplift their livelihoods. As a result, we continue to enjoy a close working relationship with our neighbours, in recognition that the future for both people and wildlife in this ecosystem are intertwined.