Osaka, Japan

Social Works OFM Osaka and Franciscans International

Reforestation, development of volunteer programme, design of programme for disabled volunteers.

Capacity building, consumption and production patterns

• 500 to 600 volunteers travel each year to national forest to work at restoring the forest to its original state from a monoculture of Japanese cedars.

• Design of volunteer programme for both able and disabled to teach sound ecological practices and reforestation techniques.

• On site volunteers learned composting from kitchen waste, methods of acting together with other collective movements to prevent destruction of nature by invasive construction of urban infrastructures.

• Ability to maintain ongoing project over the last ten years.

• Importance of maintaining a multiple-species forest;

• Design of a volunteer programme where differently able persons work together on a common goal.

• Development of networking skills.

Masako Imaki, SFO and Willahad Zinnecker, OFM
Franciscans International – Kyoto
Satakecho 338
600-8391 Japan
Tel./Fax (+011 81) 75 822 2396