Kyoko Hironaka (participant)

*Group name

Junior Eco-Club "Hirano-no-mori"

*Country/Region

Saitama Prefecture, Japan

*Type of Group

Community

*Number of total members of your group/project

16 persons

*Number of regular participants in activities

Approximately 10 persons

*Characteristic of members

The members of "Hirano-no-Mori"Junior Eco-Club are school children who belong to four different elementary schools located in our city.  We seldom see each other in our daily lives, but we get together once a month in a woodland where we make improvements of the environment and observe nature. We also play together there and exchange useful information.

*Theme(s) of your group/project

*Biodiversity, *Nature Conservation, *Urban Issues

*Missions and activities of your group/project

The wooded area here in Sayama City where we live, has been reduced by half in the past forty years. In order to conserve the remaining woods, the local volunteers are taking care of it now. Part of our group activity is to participate in this forest conservation project. We hope that through our activity the woodland will eventually have an abundant of insects, birds, and plants.

*Characteristics of the group/project activities

The main characteristic of our group is to work with the local people who live near the woodland.

*Most importnat way of thinking of your group/project for environment

Those "satoyama" that were made 350 years ago as part of the development of new field policy remain today as woodland. Since the 1960's, many forests have disappeared due to deforestation. We would like to reconstruct the forests and make them into a place where nature and human beings coexist peacefully.

*What kind of group/project do you want to exchange for imformation and experience with?

Groups that are interested in us.

*Short message for exchange with other group/project

A forest is a place where you can enjoy. It is also a treasure house for living creatures. We learn a lot from nature, and thus hope that we can live in harmony with it.

*Impression of Children's World Summit for the Environment 2005 Aichi

 It was good that I got to know about things I never knew before, and that I was able to think about environmental problems of other countries with many children from both Japan and overseas. The summit gave me an opportunity to find out what should be done through our environmental activities. I was truly happy to be able to make friends with children from around the world. It was surprising to know that there are people in this world who hardly have access to drinkable water. At the same time, I was impressed to know that some people live in harmony with nature, saying "Forest is for everyone". I was glad to meet many children and share my opinion with them about environmental problems we are now facing. I felt that if we, human beings, keep on discussing and cooperating together, our planet will have a better environment in the future.

*Others

 Helping the local volunteers to conserve the woods motivated us to start our group activities. Thanks to the intense care given by the volunteers, the forest has become a place where even Japanese Sparrowhawk live. Forests are places just not full of fun. You might experience skin irritation and insect bites. This only shows that there are living creatures in the woods. When observing insects, it sometimes makes me think that they are smarter than human beings. Forests with such "bright" insects are decreasing every year. I hope people in the community will maintain the forest and enlarge the area where nature and mankind live together in peace. After the Summit, I started to focus on saving water and reducing trash, which are both part of the commitment we made.

*Contact person

Hisako Hironaka

*Contact Address

1409-22 Irumagawa, Sayama-city, Saitama 350-1305 Japan