Endangered species and the overall ecology on the Senkaku Islands in Okinawa Prefecture will be studied using satellite images, the government said.
The Environment Ministry plans to conduct the survey of plants and animals as early as by the end of this year, partly aiming to strengthen effective control over the Senkakus. The government does not plan to conduct a field survey.
In 2002, the government began direct control of the Senkaku Islands and nationalized the islands in 2012. No landings are allowed on the islands in principle and no field surveys have been conducted.
While the ministry created a map of the vegetation using satellite images in 2015, this is the first time the ministry will conduct research on animals living on the islands.
Twenty-three endangered species have so far been identified in the Senkaku Islands, but goats brought by a Japanese political group to the islands about 40 years ago have ravaged the islands' plants.
With advances in satellite image analysis technology, the ministry said it hopes to get a more accurate picture of the number and distribution of plants and animals.
Read more from The Japan News at https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/
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