Mariko Moriyama is chairperson of Japan Bear & Forest Association.

Graduated from Osaka Kyoiku University with a major in physics, Moriyama taught at Amagasaki Municipal Muko Higashi Junior High School. She started a campaign to protect endangered Asiatic black bears with her students in 1992. Through these activities, she noticed that we were losing rich forests inherited from our ancestors and we were facing the collapse of Japanese culture. With a mission of conserving rich forests where bears live for the next generation and for all species, her scope of activities reaches every corner of the country.