High School Students Learn from Forest 'Masters' through Interviews and Essays

An event called the 4th Forum of "Fox Fire in Japan" took place on March 26, 2006. It was jointly organized by four parties: Japan's Forestry Agency; the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology; the National Land Afforestation Promotion Organization; and a non-profit organization called the Trees and Environment Network Association. The representatives of high school students made vivid presentations about their interactions with masters engaged in forest-related jobs, such as tree planting, traditional slash-and-burn farming, charcoal making, Japanese paper-making, and thatch roofing.

Under this program, a total of 100 high school students, selected nationwide, wrote essays about their interviews with forest masters. In their presentations, student representatives talked about what they had heard and learned through their interviews--the masters' wisdom, skills, ideas and ways of living. Some masters were also invited to the forum.

In the 2006 forum, former participants were also given a chance to talk about present voluntary activities in their communities, such as a network for the co-existence of local people and forests and a project to capture on video the daily activities of the forest masters.

Juichi Shibusawa, managing director of the Trees and Environment Network Association, closed the forum stating that this essay-writing activity was intended to "bond people together," expressing his hopes for further development of the program in the future.


http://www.un.org/esa/forests/pdf/national_reports/unff4/japan.pdf

Posted: 2006/06/11 06:18:21 PM
Japanese version