Even though the national law does not cover the groundwater system, the groundwater management has been governed through a series of ordinances, comprehensive plans, and action plans for more than 40 years. Groundwater Preservation Ordinances was established in 1977 for Kumamoto City and in 2001 for Kumamoto Prefecture. The city and prefecture governments jointly developed a comprehensive plan to control groundwater in 1996, incorporating collective input from 17 municipalities in the catchment area into the plan. Later, a second version of the plan in 2008 was developed by the group of 15 municipalities in the catchment, identifying four prioritized areas: 1) improvement of the balance of inflow and outflow of groundwater, 2) protection and improvement the quality of groundwater, 3) raising awareness of citizens for the conservation of groundwater, and 4) establishment of a common goal among stakeholders. A detailed five-year action plan was also developed the following year in order to implement mitigation measures in a timely manner. 

Monitoring was first put in place by ZSL, WWF and finally IUCN. The UniLúrio supported with different roles until now that it became the leading institution for monitoring and sharing of the results. “Against facts, there are no arguments” is a Portuguese saying, but better than facts are when people can see in fisheries and in diving the result of their efforts . Certainly seeing more and bigger fish coming out in their nets is the best argument for LMMA support.

The active engagement of UniLúrio in all the phases of the process, especially in the education and monitoring, was essential to keep the community involved. The local people don’t know reading or writing, and few know how to speak Portuguese (national language). Unilúrio obviously is the one keeping records and publishing the most important information related to the LMMA.

Without sustained support, enforcement and prevention of the transgressions into the LMMA would have been impossible. The more famous the Vamizi LMMA was, the more pressure was increasing from people accessing the area. The continuous support in gasoline for the patrols and the maintenance of the CCP boat was crucial to the success of the LMMA. The fee collected from the tourist users of the LMMA is an extra reward for the maintenance of the LMMA and to the persons doing the patrols belonging to the CCP’s.

The G30 Plan aimed to reduce waste based on the principles of “polluter pays” and “extended producer responsibility (EPR).” Polluter pays principle is a practice whereby those who produce pollution should bear the costs of managing the impacts of pollution to prevent damage to the environment. The EPR principle makes manufacturers responsible for the entire lifecycle of the products and packaging they produce. The city succeeded in achieving the goals of G30 Plan by defining the roles of stakeholders based on the above principles. The role of the citizen is to change their lifestyle to be environmentally-friendly and sort garbage properly. The business sector is expected to create products that would generate less waste and is also required to collect and recycle their discarded products under the concept of EPR. Finally, the government’s role is to create systems for 3Rs, raise the awareness of citizens, and provide information on the 3Rs.

The G30 Plan promoted a proper separation of garbage and recyclables. Before the plan, there was a waste separation scheme comprised of seven items under five categories. The G30 plan introduced source separation for 15 items under ten categories, which required residents to properly separate waste into these 15 categories and dispose of them at designated collection places and times. The collection system was strict in a sense that it required the residents to use designated transparent bags for disposal so that collectors could easily identify unsorted waste. As an enforcement of these strict rules, the city government conducted environmental education to raise public awareness of waste management. More than 1,000 seminars on how to reduce and segregate waste were organized for residents. Moreover, about 600 campaigns were held at railway stations while over 3,300 awareness campaigns were organized at local waste collection sites. Citizen volunteers, called “garbage guardians,” also helped the enforcement of the rule by promoting proper sorting measures.

Kadokawa Care Prevention Center was established by Toyama City using donations from citizens and the city budget. One citizen donated hundreds of millions of JPY, or around millions of USD, to the city for the improvement of social welfare services for elderly citizens, and the city decided to build a special center for preventive care on the site of a demolished elementary school. The city also received valuable and useful assets (i.e., hot spring facilities and special apparatus for exercise) donated by several citizens before it began operating. While the property is owned by the city, the facility is operated and managed by a joint venture of private companies.

In aging rural cities, the population aging rate is higher in the city center, and therefore it is important to make the city center more elderly-friendly. This means making the area safe, habitable and accessible to the elderly. Toyama City demolished and integrated several schools due to the shrinking and aging demographic context and utilized one of them for the site of the Prevention Care Center. The location in the downtown area is highly accessible by public transportation such as bus, light rail transit, and community bus from the central station.

Toyama City is promoting integrated and inclusive care services for the elderly population, and local networks play a key role. The city has 32 community general support centers as contact points for the elderly people in each community, where experts (e.g. nurses, certified social workers, welfare caretakers) monitor and guide the health of the elderly people and advise them to attend the Kadokawa Care Prevention Center, when necessary. The city also works together with a city-based voluntary club which 36% of all the elderly citizens of the city have joined. The city asks several members in the club to take a leadership role in promoting community-based activities for preventive care and communicating with the support centers and the City of Toyama. This community-based approach also helps members become more aware of their own health, and it enhances self-reliance and encourages mutual help among communities.

This building block is crucial in ensuring R2R is successful in the long term future.

A variety of marketing strategies are used to market R2R. These include a website, social media platforms, merchandise, printed flyers and brochures, attendance at national and international travel trade events and educational travel shows, email marketing, marketing through TIDE, and hosting familiarization tours. 

Initially, it was thought that R2R would attract mainly students wanting to enhance their resume. However, it was found that marketing costs associated with finding each individual participant were high. Now, the primary focus is on partnering with universities and travel planners who organize group trips.

R2R seeks to work with partners who may be initially costly to acquire, but who then provide a regular stream of participants. This includes universities who send one large group per year, and travel agents who may send five groups a year to take part in the program. Over time, building these relationships will mean that marketing costs will be reduced, and the focus will be on retaining those partnerships.

To date, R2R has formed excellent relationships with its partner agents, and continually strives to improve the services provided to ensure long term commitments from them.