Drawing on their experience in coping with the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake, Hyogo Prefecture and Kobe City are proceeding with the construction of an international base for disaster prevention and disaster reduction. Meanwhile, elsewhere in the prefecture, a project to return storks to the wild and efforts to preserve enclosed coastal marine environments are underway with international collaboration. From these and other endeavors, Hyogo and Kobe will attempt to appeal Japan's contribution towards solving global-scale problems to the work at the G8 Environment Ministers Meeting.

Furthermore, by making use of their record of moving ahead with regional construction founded on participation and cooperation since the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake, which is called the first volunteer year, Hyogo and Kobe will organize tie-up events by obtaining the cooperation of local residents, NPOs and companies, etc.

A volunteer event
A volunteer event
A stork
A stork