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Mother Lake Goals
The Mother Lake Goals, abbreviated as MLGs, are common goals for conserving Lake Biwa, the largest lake in Shiga Prefecture, Japan, to be achieved by 2030.

Inspired by the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the MLGs aim to be more applicable and achievable locally. While the SDGs comprise 17 goals, the MLGs consist of 13 goals.

The MLGs have been developed by the Mother Lake Goals (MLGs) Promotion Committee, and the Shiga Prefectural Government plays its secretariat role.

The MLGs serve as a bridge between the SDGs and local initiatives, enabling a wide range of entities to engage in voluntary actions to protect Lake Biwa and making the SDGs more approachable and applicable. The MLGs provide a way to apply the SDGs to specific actions related to Lake Biwa, thus allowing citizens to contribute to achieving the SDGs.

Goal 1: Make the water clear

MLG 1 aims to ensure good river and lake water quality, prevent the abnormal occurrence of plankton, such as water blooms and red tide, and maintain the clarity of water for drinking.

Goal 2: Restore bountiful seafood resources

MLG 2 aims to increase the amount of native seafood resources and increase the catch in a sustainable manner.

Goal 3: Maintain biodiversity

MLG 3 aims to expand initiatives to tackle the biodiversity crisis and maintain the balance in biodiversity by ensuring that wildlife populations do not grow or decline too much.

Goal 4: Create a beautiful waterfront and lake bottom

MLG 4 aims to keep the rivers and lakes clean and free of litter, appropriately maintain and monitor beaches, aquatic plants, etc., and protect a waterside landscape that is considered beautiful by all.

Goal 5: Conserve forests serving as rich water sources

MLG 5 aims to promote the creation of forests that can serve as sustainable platforms for developing water sources, maintaining biodiversity, producing timber, and recreation, among other functions.

Goal 6: Create a healthy relationship between forest, river, community, lake, and sea

MLG 6 aims to maintain a healthy relationship between water and matter flowing from the forests to the lakes and eventually to the sea and increase the wildlife that moves between the lakes, rivers, lagoons, rice fields, and other bodies of water.

Goal 7: Reduce greenhouse gas emissions to save Lake Biwa and the environment

MLG 7 aims to expand initiatives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from households and businesses and thereby prevent abnormal phenomena, such as Lake Biwa’s incomplete turnover, from worsening.

Goal 8: Create a community resilient to climate change and natural disasters

MLG 8 aims to understand and predict the impacts of torrential rain, drought, global warming, and other phenomena and shift to a lifestyle that is more resilient to such events.

Goal 9: Utilize local resources in agriculture and industry

MLG 9 aims to encourage consumers to choose products and services developed from local natural resources, to create a positive cycle in the regional economy, and to protect the environment sustainably.

Goal 10: Turn the local community and lake area into a place to learn

MLG 10 aims to encourage people to engage in environmental learning at and around Lake Biwa—where they live—and increase the number of people who put these interests into practice.

Goal 11: Encourage more people to enjoy and love Lake Biwa

MLG 11 aims to increase participation in leisure activities, ecotourism, and other outdoor enjoyment and cultivate a sense of attachment to Lake Biwa.

Goal 12: Teach the next generation how to live life in harmony with water

MLG 12 aims to pass down to future generations the concept of respecting water, skillful ways to utilize water in everyday life, and agricultural practices and food culture that have been created thanks to water.

Goal 13: Work together to achieve our goals

MLG 13 aims to encourage people of different ages, genders, affiliations, experiences, and values, as well as people living in different areas, to get together to discuss the current conditions and future of Lake Biwa and to create a platform for such discussions.