"Grace of Shirakami and ESD Environmental Education Forum" will be held on February 1 at Dote-cho Community Park (Dote-cho, Hirosaki City). Sponsored by the Shirakami Mountains Foundation.

This is the first forum in Japan to be registered as a UNESCO World Natural Heritage site with the theme of "Shirakami Mountains". The Shirakami Mountains is characterized by the largest natural beech forest in Asia, which has almost no human hands. Mayumi Sato of the foundation said, “In Hirosaki, Mt. Iwaki is familiar, but Shirakami has the feeling of being the“ inner ”mountain. I was proud and aware that the natural capital of the World Natural Heritage site is familiar to me. I hope it will come. "

In the first half of the forum, which will be held in two parts, a commemorative lecture will be given by Mr. Seiichi Hasegawa, Hirosaki City Museum Director. Mr. Hasegawa's “Director's Lecture”, which is held bi-monthly, is so popular that 200 audiences visit. The second half will explain the foundation's original ESD program. ESD means "education for sustainable development" and was advocated by Japan at the 2002 Johannesburg Summit and attracted international attention. “We made it easy for parents and children to participate in order to develop the next generation that can think and act for themselves,” says Sato. Participants will get points every time they learn about the Shirakami Mountains, and it will be an experience-based program that aims to become a god of the Shirakami Mountains.

The forum has been selected by the Ministry of the Environment as “A project for accelerating collaborative efforts toward regional revitalization in 2014” and is the only one of 14 projects nationwide that deals with the World Natural Heritage. Mr. Sato calls for participation, "if ESD deepens the understanding of the Shirakami Mountains."

Holding time is from 14:00 to 16:20. free entrance.