Two years have passed since I assumed the presidency of ECES from former President Hirose. Being re-elected at the recent 11th Annual Meeting held at Nagoya University, I would like to take this opportunity to reflect back on the commitments I made at the time of the previous election; 1) amendment of election system, 2) collaboration with related associations, and 3) vitalization of executive committee.
    The election system has not yet become a fully open one, but the board members were decided by endorsements from more members this time compared to the previous election. As for collaboration with related associations, our next year's annual meeting to be held at Fukuoka University in Kyushu will be jointly organized with "Japan Association for Landscape Ecology" and "Japanese Society of Revegetation Technology". Furthermore, the executive committee has been working actively, lead by the chief executive.
    To be lenient, I would say that there has been a reasonable progress in fulfilling the commitments. Continued support from all members will be highly appreciated.
    To add some words about research, I feel that many new researches befitting Applied Ecology have been emerging. I believe that in the next decade we need to take steady steps to become international. For this, I strongly urge all members to subscribe to LEE and submit English papers. Thank you.