Approximately 70 percent of Japan's national land consists of semi-mountainous areas. Hillsides and mountain slopes have been cultivated into terraces and utilized as "tanada" or terraced paddy fields. But many of these paddy fields are being abandoned due to rural depopulation and the aging of farmers, in spite of their important roles in landscape conservation, flood prevention and watershed protection as well as in agriculture.

A non-profit organization known as the Tanada Network, was established in 1995 out of the awareness that a crisis in mountain villages upriver would also mean a crisis in cities downriver. The network's mission is to rethink the multifaceted roles of tanada, to identify various problems in semi-mountainous areas, and to help conserve the paddy fields in a way that everyone can contribute.

The network organizes rice growing workshops and other events for hands-on experience at Matsunoyama Town in Niigata Prefecture, Yasaka Village in Nagano Prefecture, and Kamogawa City in Chiba Prefecture, and has also been offering lectures about tanada in Tokyo since 1999. Through these activities, the network promotes mutual understanding and cooperation between people in cities and mountain villages.

The efforts to conserve terraced paddy fields are spreading nationwide through the distribution of "tanada" ownership among urban residents, as well as environmental education and green tourism. Joining in the efforts from the perspective of cities, the Tanada Network aims to help protect terraced paddy fields, mountains and streams, and thus conserve the rural areas and the community in Japan.


Posted: 2004/08/19 11:18:40 AM
Japanese version

TAG Ecosystem , Food/Water , NGO/Citizen , Other , System/Law