Continuing the active international exchange activities at the researcher level between Japan and Russia, the 6th Conference "Marine Mammals of Holarctic Ewas held in Russia in October of 2010. In order to maintain good relations between Japan and Russia in future, personnel and academic exchanges such as this, along with an even broader range of cultural exchanges, should be vigorously promoted at the national level. It is important that such activities develop toward the shared goals of peace and prosperity of mankind.

Yamaguchi Prefecture adopted the "Yamaguchi Bountiful Building Concept(Fushino River Model) Ein 2002 which aimed to revive the basin tidal flats of the Fushino River that runs through the prefecture; viewing the river system as a whole, from the upstream forests in the beginning through the agricultural and urban areas of its middle drainage area to the tidal flats and the sea at the end. Also, from 2004, it made use of the framework provided by the Law for the Promotion of Nature Restoration to establish the Fushino River Basin  ETidal Flats Nature Restoration Conference, carrying out a variety of measures to restore the local Sato-umi through coordination and collaboration among industry, academia, government, and the private sectors.

The partial opening of the Northwest Passage due to the decline in arctic ice coverage caused by global warming is an example of the large impacts on human activities of ocean ice distribution. Boring operations by the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) in the Arctic Ocean and Bering Sea have provided valuable samples for reading the history of sea ice formation, which in turn holds the key to climate variation. From discovering details of earth activities in warmer eras, to clarifying the mechanism for establishing the glacial-interglacial cycles, the large role is played by IODP research.