Since 2004, the Nippon Foundation has been involved in a forest and mountain recovery project throughout Japan to restore nature in rural areas to its former well-maintained condition after years of decline, abandonment and neglect.

Volunteer-maintained forest path

As the number of people who earn a living from forestry cottage industries has decreased, the trails and conditions in these forested areas have deteriorated. But now, a collection of NPOs called the "22nd Century Mountain Recovery Network," composed of 1,800 volunteer groups around Japan, has adopted abandoned areas of forests and mountain areas as its special area of concern, in order to restore the natural beauty.

Over the past 10 years, the number of volunteers taking part in this network's forest and mountain projects has increased 17-fold, with urban companies and corporations also getting involved by sending white-collar volunteer workers into the forests to assist with clearance and maintenance work. The Nippon Foundation provides funding to help buy tools and equipment.

The slow decline in the condition of mountain forests is due in part to a decrease in the number of people who make their living from forestry products such as charcoal production. As the demand for this and other products has dropped, forest workers have gradually moved to other jobs and areas where work is more stable.

Volunteers clearing out deadwood

In order to deal with this growing deterioration, "22nd Century" started promoting maintenance projects and calling upon local people and urban white-collar workers to help them. Today, growing numbers of volunteers from schools, citizen groups, and companies are participating in the forest projects.

The group has also instituted research and questionnaires throughout Japan to get ideas about how to best continue the systematic maintenance of the mountains and forests in the future. More work has been initiated to determine new candidate areas where the NPO could provide resources and volunteers for forest recovery projects.

Increased cooperation is expected among these forest maintenance NPOs, with beneficial results for everyone.