With the 10th Conference of the Parties (COP10) to the U.N. Convention on Biological Diversity coming up in October, biodiversity is rapidly becoming a major topic of discussion in the media. The goal of the Environment Ministry is to make the concept of biodiversity as widely understood and appreciated as that of global warming. But this is a formidable task.

To begin with, the concept of global warming is simple and easy to understand--the Earth warms rapidly, and all sorts of bad things happen. Climate change even makes a perfect subject for Hollywood disaster movies. But biodiversity is far more complex. Some obscure species of beetle living in the rain forest disappears forever--sad, but not nearly disastrous. No Hollywood producer would touch it with a 10 foot pole.

Biodiversity is especially difficult in Japanese. The term is translated directly as sei-butsu-ta-yo-sei, written with five consecutive kanji characters. In my lectures, all I have to do is write this word on the blackboard and it works like some secret sleeping spell that immediately sends my students into a deep torpor. Regular nonspecialists, such as all my friends at the local gym, have a firm grasp of global warming, but don't really understand what all the biodiversity fuss is about.

To help rectify this situation, Chiba Prefecture and a local environmental NPO I belong to have been working together to devise a biodiversity education program at a neighborhood park. The program consists of nature hikes and interpretive sign boards, and is designed to introduce the basic concepts of biodiversity using plants and animals that can be observed and studied right there in situ.

For example, we are using two closely related species of garden spider to illustrate how biodiversity is created when species diverge from one another. These two species, the kogane-gumo (Ariope amoena) and the naga-kogane-gumo (A. bruenichii) are very common locally, and can be seen in and around the park. They are closely related, and spin their webs in the same sort of habitat. The former species, however, matures from early to midsummer; while the latter matures from late summer through autumn.

There is some small period of overlap, but essentially these two species avoid competing with one another by choosing to grow and mature at different times of year. Originally, at some time in the past, there was a single parent species. Over the course of time, however, some groups of this species bred somewhat earlier in the year and some a bit later. Eventually, the early and late breeders diverged to the point where they formed two distinct groups that no longer exchanged genes with one another. Thus one species diverged into two, and biodiversity increased.

This is, of course, a simplistic explanation. The actual process of divergence may have been far more complicated. The goal of this program is to explain in easily understandable terms how divergence creates biodiversity, and for that purpose, a simplistic explanation serves quite well.

In addition to content, there are various practical considerations in a program such as this. To begin with, to achieve a wide appeal, the interpretive signs must be attractive enough to catch the attention of even people who come to the park simply to jog or walk their dog. As a first experiment, we have combined text, illustrations and color photos and printed the information on thick B-4 size paper. The printed material is then laminated and taped to a thin board that has been painted a pastel color such as pink or purple. The board is glued to a single unpainted wooden stake and stuck in the ground. Most of the materials are bilingual, in English and Japanese.

Another important consideration is the layout of the interpretive boards. For example, we want to include as much information as possible, but at the same time don't want to overwhelm the reader. The font and type size also must be chosen carefully so as to be easily readable. We don't want people standing there squinting to see the letters. This consideration is especially important in Japanese, which includes many complicated kanji characters.

In most parks, interpretive sign boards are large permanent structures. The structure itself cannot be moved, nor can the printed content be changed. In this program, however, we are trying out a completely new idea. All our board structures are mobile, and can be moved around the park as needed. In addition, the interpretive material itself is simply an ink-jet printing that has been laminated. The information can thus be changed regularly to reflect seasonal topics.

A problem with fixed interpretive signs is that the information provided never changes. This works fine in well-known tourist spots, where most of the users are one-time visitors. In neighborhood parks, however, regular or at least frequent users outnumber one-time visitors, and a constant supply of new information is required to maintain a high level of interest.

Movable signs also allow us to make quick and efficient use of locally available topics. For example, we can place a sign right alongside a flower that is in bloom, or a tree that is coming into fruit. Currently we have placed a sign that interprets the summer perching behavior of the natsu-akane meadowhawk dragonfly. The material features a photograph that was taken at exactly the spot where the sign is placed, along a rope that serves as a popular summer perch for these insects. This sign will be left up for a few more weeks, but as autumn deepens it will be replaced by one that interprets the mating behavior of the same dragonflies.

Our hope is that by providing a steady stream of easily understood interpretation, we can create wide local interest in the wonders of biodiversity.

Short is a naturalist and cultural anthropology professor at Tokyo University of Information Sciences.

(Aug. 26, 2010)