Plans drawn up by the Japanese non-profit sector to establish a combined coastguard for the three Micronesian nations in the Pacific Ocean are now being put into practice. At a summit meeting last autumn, the Federated States of Micronesia, The Marshall Islands, and Palau adopted a communiqué to work towards establishment of a trilateral combined coastguard. Upon receiving a request to support the initiative, the Sasakawa Peace Foundation began a field survey in collaboration with other organizations.

Also participating in the survey was the US coastguard, upon which the three Micronesian nations rely for national defence. Over five days at the end of March, investigations were carried out into the marine defences of Micronesia and the Marshall Islands. When field studies in Palau, scheduled to begin sometime after May, are complete, a committee composed of the three Micronesian nations, the Sasakawa Peace Foundation, and experts in the field will be established and will draw up concrete support policy on the basis of the field studies in cooperation with the US and other countries.

Since 2008, the Sasakawa Peace Foundation has supported islands in the Pacific through distance learning programs conducted via satellite linkup, archaeological conservation projects and other such initiatives. The concept of a combined coastguard first surfaced when former vice-minister for transport and current chairman of the Sasakawa Peace Foundation Mr. Jiro Hanyu was asked during a visit to the Marshall Islands in May last year to provide support for marine defences.

Exporters of tuna, bonito and other fish, the three Micronesian nations suffer greatly from illegal fishing conducted by boats from other countries, including Japan. Yet, the few guard vessels that the nations do possess are active just thirty days a year due to a lack of fuel and maintenance capabilities. With no garbage processing facilities, escalating pollution of the nearby seas due to dumping of waste materials is another pressing problem.

Because of its experience with sunken vessels, sand bank dredging, and provision of practice vessels in the Strait of Malacca, The Nippon Foundation (Tokyo), a partner foundation of the Sasakawa Peace Foundation, will participate in the committee meetings to discuss establishment of a combined coastguard. The coastguards of Japan and the US will be invited to the committee meetings to facilitate discussion of support policy for the capacity building, construction of training facilities, and communications system development necessary for the combined coastguard.

Established in 1986, the Sasakawa Peace Foundation carries out international exchange activities in cultural, educational and other fields. It operates using investment profits forthcoming from a fifty billion yen endowment from The Nippon Foundation (formerly the Japan Shipbuilding Industry Foundation).

"It is difficult to support the three nations through the Official Development Assistanc (ODA) framework, hence we would like to use the freedom we have as a non-profit organization to cooperate with the construction of a combined coastguard," said a representative from The Nippon Foundation.

*This article has been reproduced with the permission of The Tokyo Shimbun.