Okagami

This project is actively working for SDG4 (Quality Education) and SDGS15 (Life on Land), newly organized together with "Tomoiki", a local NPO to conserve the satoyama forest. In spite of the close location from the big cities such as Yokohama and Tokyo, around 50% of the land are still preserved as green area (forests and fields) in Okagami where the building constructions are strictly restricted. However, 2 hectare of the forest was abandon with a lot of rubbish (e.g., washing machines, cars), so Tomoiki was founded in 2003 by some local people to clean up, maintain, revive and utilize to enjoy this forest where there are some valuable, endangered species. Founding President of NICE moved to this town and started weekend workcamps by the local team since 2017 since Tomoiki wished to work with more young and outside volunteers. Over 600 volunteers many of who are students or families in/outside the town have joined in 22 weekend workcamps till now with creating a lot of great impact. To create new impact for the forest maintenance beyond weekend ones and involvement of the local community, the local team has decided to organize this first international workcamp!