Yahoo News 14 May 10;
TOKYO (AFP) – Environmentalists voiced their opposition Friday to a Japanese government plan to relocate a US military airbase to a coastal area of Okinawa island, saying it would destroy a fragile marine ecosystem.
A coalition of groups including the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and Greenpeace said the waters off Henoko boast coral reefs and seagrass and are home to the sea mammal the dugong and other rare species.
"We demand that the government give up the construction plan for a new base which would destroy the biodiversity of the rich ocean," said the coalition of more than 60 groups, also including the Japan-US Citizens for Okinawa Network.
Japan's government is searching for a solution to a long-running dispute over the controversial US Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, which is locally unpopular, mainly because of noise, pollution and the risk of accidents.
Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama last week backtracked on an election pledge to move the base off Okinawa and instead agreed to honour an earlier pact with Washington to move the base from a city area of Okinawa to Henoko.
His government has reportedly suggested that the new offshore runways be built on pylons rather than landfill, but the groups said this would still damage the environment by blocking sunlight and changing sea currents.
Okinawa University president Kunitoshi Sakurai, an environmental studies professor, represented the grouping and relayed its views in a meeting Friday with Kinya Takino, the deputy chief cabinet secretary.
