Aya Town, Japan

AEON Forest in Aya

Problem

Public assets—parks, greens, waterways, buildings—slip into neglect, privatization, or misuse when no one clearly owns their care.

Solution

The Aya Town AEON Forest (綾町イオンの森) is about six hectares of town-owned former cedar plantation at Warizuke in Aya, Miyazaki Prefecture (population about 6,700 in 2023), inside the transition zone of the Aya UNESCO Biosphere Reserve designated in 2012. In November 2013 the town, the AEON Environmental Foundation and the Miyazaki Central Forestry Cooperative signed an agreement for its maintenance and conservation; volunteers planted about 14,200 to 15,000 native trees in 2013-2015 and about 5,200 more in 2017-2019, with junior high students measuring carbon in the forest since 2020, nurturing and environmental education events since 2022, Ministry of the Environment certification as a nature coexistence site (OECM) in September 2024, and a five-year town-foundation partnership agreement signed November 2024.

Patterns used: Commons Stewardship

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