Inhabited By Rare Animals And US Military Headquarters, UNESCO Decides Japan's Subtropical Forests As World Heritage

JAKARTA - The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) decided to include Japan's southwestern island chain, with its dense subtropical forests on its natural World Heritage list, last Monday, July 26.

The World Heritage Committee of the United Nations organization decided during an online session to register as Japan's fifth World Natural Heritage site in an area of 43,000 hectares, consisting of Amami-Oshima Island and Tokunoshima Island in Kagoshima Prefecture as well as the northern part of the main Okinawa Island and Iriomote Island in Okinawa Prefecture.

The decision follows a recommendation in May by a UNESCO advisory panel that islands with diverse ecosystems, home to rare animals and birds including the Amami rabbit, Iriomote cat, and Okinawan rail, be added to the list. Animals and plants in the area have evolved in the process of forming islands as they separated from the continents.

Citing Kyodo News, the Japanese Government initially submitted a World Heritage proposal for the islands to UNESCO in February 2017. However, the proposal was withdrawn in June 2018 following a suggestion by the panel, or the International Union for Conservation of Nature, which said that actions to preserve them were not sufficient.

The government reorganized candidate areas into five locations by including forest inside a former United States (US) military site in northern Okinawa. The territory was returned to Japan in December 2016 and strengthened measures against invasive species before resubmitting the proposal in February 2019.

This decision follows the success of the Ogasawara Islands, which were listed on the UNESCO list in 2011 and could become Japan's last natural UNESCO World Heritage site, as all candidate sites recommended by the Government of Japan have been added to the UNESCO list.

Previously, the nomination of this area as a UNESCO World Heritage received a warm welcome from the government and local residents. They are enthusiastic about the selection of this area.

"The news inspires a dream that can lighten the mood in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic," Amami Mayor Tsuyoshi Asayama told reporters in May.

"We will engage in the development of sustainable areas worthy of a world natural heritage, so that we can leave this precious natural environment to our descendants 100 and 1,000 years from now," Okinawa Governor Denny Tamaki said in a separate statement.

The selection of this area also received a warm welcome and support from environmentalists, as well as conservationists for the unique animals that exist in this area.

"I hope people still live along the forest where Amami rabbits live after 1,000 years," said Mutsumi Minobe from Tokunoshima Island, who works for a non-profit organization promoting ecotourism.

Meanwhile, Yusuke Takayama, 39, who is involved in activities to protect the Iriomote cat, expressed concern about the potential for 'overtourism', as well as improper feeding and traffic accidents involving rare stray cats.

"We need firm steps such as limiting the number of visitors who enter the island," he said

It is known, Japan to date has 25 UNESCO World Heritage sites, of which five are natural sites, and 17 others are prehistoric sites such as the Sannai Maruyama Site in Aomori, a large settlement around 3900 to 2200 BC, and the Oyu stone circle in North Akita Prefecture dating from about 2000 to 1500 BC.