The Earth Design School, a Japanese nonprofit organization, is working with citizens to create a satoyama symbiotic forest in a 140-hectare area of a prefectural park in the Tango Peninsula that is now being planned by Kyoto prefecture. Forested area that provides a wide range of daily-life resources to Japanese villagers is called satoyama, literally "home-town mountain" in Japanese. The Earth Design School was established in Miyazu City, Kyoto Prefecture in December 2002 with the aim of realizing a specific social model of a living environment in harmony with nature.

Its activities include experiments in restoring satoyama together with traditional terraced paddy fields and coal pits, as well as in the preservation of valuable eco-systems and the practice of intermediate technology such as the construction of windmills and tram rails through the forest. In addition, it holds a monthly agricultural workshop where participants learn organic farming methods and how make the best use of animals and plant resources.

The school aims to revive traditional lifestyles in harmony with the nature, and places its major emphasis on studying traditional wisdom passed down through the generations in the Tango Peninsula, for example how to distinguish medicinal herbs, make tannin from persimmons, etc. This kind of information was compiled into a booklet in 2003, which will be distributed as part of the effort to create the satoyama forest.

The Earth Design School's activities have attracted participants from around the country and facilitated information exchanges among them. The organization hopes its activities will help create a whole community that will serve as a model for a recycling-oriented society.



Posted: 2005/02/09 11:58:50 AM
Japanese version

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