Natural Habitat Conservation Areas in Japan

Natural Habitat Conservation Areas (生息地等保護区) or Natural Habitat Protection Areas in Japan are designated by the Ministry of the Environment to protect species of flora and fauna designated National Endangered Species, in accordance with the 1992 Act on Conservation of Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. Both managed protection zones and buffer monitoring zones are established.

Designated Natural Habitat Conservation Areas
As of March 2018, nine Natural Habitat Conservation Areas have been designated.

Complementary measures
Natural Habitat Conservation Areas are one element in a network of complementary protected area systems. Others include Wilderness Areas and Nature Conservation Areas under the Nature Conservation Law; Natural Parks under the Natural Parks Law; Wildlife Protection Areas under the Wildlife Protection and Hunting Law; Natural Monuments and Special Natural Monuments under the Law for the Protection of Cultural Properties 1950; Protected Forests under the National Forest Management Bylaw; and Protected Water Surfaces under the Preservation of Fisheries Resources Law. Areas are also protected in accordance with three international programmes: the World Heritage Convention (see Yakushima, Shirakami-Sanchi, Shiretoko, Ogasawara Islands, and Amami-Ōshima Island, Tokunoshima Island, northern part of Okinawa Island, and Iriomote Island); Man and the Biosphere Programme (see Mount Hakusan, Mount Ōdaigahara, Mount Ōmine, and Ōsugidani, Shiga Highland, Yakushima and Kuchinoerabu-jima, Aya, Minami-Alps, Tadami, Minakami, and Sobo, Katamuki, and Ōkue); and the Ramsar Convention (see Ramsar Sites in Japan).