Nishiawakura village

Collaboration with Local Venture
Companies with the “100-Year
Vision for Forests” as a base
Background and Reason for the Project
Nishiawakura village, with a population of
1,500 people, is located in a valley in themountainous areas of the Chugoku region andlies in the north-eastern tip of Okayama
prefecture. 5,491 ha out of the village's entire
land area of 5,793 ha are covered in forest.
About 84% of the forest area is artificial forest
which requires proper maintenance including
long-term tree thinning from this mountainvillage. For three years from 2004, the citizens,government and businesses in Nishiawakura
had worked together in considering the future
vision and vitalisation of the economy of thevillage.

1. Reduce labour costs and ensure a stablesupply of raw wood materials by signing
the Agreement on Long-Term Forest
Maintenance and Management with forest
holders to reduce their burden ofmaintenance costs and to concentrate on
forest management function.

Project Aims
The village came up with the idea ofdeveloping a sustainable village by generatingjobs and economy even in a small but realistic
size, under the cooperation of various entities
related to the forest in the village while
growing cedars and cypresses in the artificial
forest planted about 60 years ago to becomea fine 100-year old forest. In 2008, it started
engaging in the initiative “100-Year Vision forForests (vision to realise a high-quality rural
lifestyle surrounded by a beautiful 100-yearold forest)” and working on maximizing theforest value of natural capital.

100-Year Vision for Forests project School of Forest project
1. The village promoted vitalisation offorest-related businesses by encouraging
young people who moved from urban
areas (I-Turn) to start local venturebusinesses in forestry and lumber
industry to generate new added-value.
 Project for Environmental Model City
Initiative and Biomass Industrial City
Initiative
1. The village has built hydroelectric power
plants (290kw/ 5kw) that use river water,which is a stable source for appropriate
forest management, and reinvests theincome derived from sales of electricity inProject Outline
 100-Year Vision for Forests project1

forest development and introduction of
new renewable energy.
2. The village was able to make use of theunutilised timber from forest thinning andremaining forest wood generated fromthe 100-Year Vision for Forests project,
and wood waste generated from theSchool of Forest project for the following:‧ Installed wood boilers into three hotspring spots in the village (685kw in total)‧ Developed regional heat supplying
system to supply hot water to six public
facilities through pipelines using
woodchip boilers (530kw) for heating andhot water supply‧ Developed a heat and electricity
cogeneration system (50kw) whichautonomously generates electricity andheat using woodchips even in the event ofa disaster.
 Local Venture Business Promotion project
1. The project has called for proposals forbusinesses that can be launched with thevillage as the base. External and regional
mentors brushed up on business proposals
that had come through the preliminary
selection process, providing support forthree months. If any of the proposedbusinesses are certified, they establish
their support system and aim to start
officially establishing the business. If theysatisfy the relocation requirements, they
can also utilise the Local Vitalisation
Cooperator System.
2. People who have served as regional
researchers for one year and found theirlocal capital market at the Local Life Lab
can move on to the Local Venture Schoolfrom their second year.
3. The Local Venture Promotion Committee isdeveloping a human recourse acquisition

system in Tokyo with wide-areacollaboration among Nishiawakura village,nine other local government bodies andETIC (NPO).

Scheme diagram of the 100-Year Vision forForests projectFeatures and Innovations
1. Presenting the ideal new forest
management
With the theme of maximizing the value offorest capital, the local government bodies
have developed a business management
plan and implemented the concentrated
forest management functions, anddeveloped a system that various humanresources, local venture IT businesses andtrust and banking companies can apply
within its framework. The system has
become a model of the Forest Business
Management Law which became effective
starting this fiscal year.
2. The village established a fund in 2008 andraised approximately 42 million yen fromabout 420 small investors. Placing theforest as its core, the village used thecapital for fund-raising from externalsources and created supporters andcustomers in urban areas.
3. The engagement for reusable energy
2involves establishing a system which helps
circulate money generated from energy
revenue within the region-which used toflow outside the region-to be reinvested
into the region as well as working on
creation of a low-carbon region.
4. Nishiawakura is now called the birthplaceof local venture business. This project has
become a model project in Japan, having
changed the value of young people whowish to start a business locally.

due to inheritance in the future, thevillage is currently working with a privatecompany on developing a system wherethe owners and the village can shareinformation on the forest and forest
commercial trust in real time, so that thevillage can retain the right to use theforest and share information with theowners in urban areas.
 The 100-Year Vision for Forests project
mainly focuses on concentrating forest
maintenance functions based on logging
and transportation of trees. However, theartificial forest on the ridge is hard tomaintain as a commercial forest;
therefore, it needs to be shifted to an
environmental forest after trees arelogged and removed in order to maintainthe environment and resilience of thevillage. In the SDGs model project, acommittee has been set up to reconsider
the original forest design.
 Although more people are moving to thevillage from the urban areas (I-Turn) andstarting businesses, the economic base of
the village is still vulnerable and businessincubation still needs to be continued. The
independence of the intermediate
incubator organisation that bridges thevillage and the young who aim to start abusiness needs to be encouraged.
 It is important to gain the understanding,cooperation and participation of local
residents. It is necessary to increase theinterest of children and adults throughSDGs and ESD engagements.

Results of the Project As of March 2019, the land area with theAgreement
onLong-Term
Forest
Maintenance and Management is 1,488 ha(725 forest holders), or about 50% of thetarget forest.
 Since 2008, 1,649 ha of tree thinning has
been completed, about 100 km of logging
roads have been developed and theextracted volume of timber has been
about 10,000 m3.
 In the twelve years since 2006, 34
businesses started, creating 180 jobs. The
production volume of the local venturebusinesses has reached approximately 1.3
billion yen.
 The number of people moving from urban
areas (I-Turn) to the village has reached
180 since 2006, and as of March 2019, 139of them have settled down.
Issues, Problems and Responses
 It has been 11 years since the 100-Year
Vision for Forests project was firstlaunched. The area where the agreement
was signed still remains at about 50% of
the target, and about 40% of the owners
are from outside the village. As ownershipis thought to flow outside to urban areas

Future Developments (expected effects andproject vision and issues)
 SDGs model projectThis project is to create a sustainable3

foundation from economic, social andenvironmental perspectives by redesigning
the 100-Year Vision for Forests initiativeand generating GDP from service
consumption rather than tangible
products.
 Environmental model city
The village will build a small hydroelectric
power plant with 199 kw capacity andinstall a regional heat supplying system
and wood biomass heat and electricity
cogeneration system.
 The local venture promotion project will
share knowledge in collaboration withlocal governments and encourage young
people to start businesses in the village.

Contact
Division in charge: Industry and TourismDivision
Phone: +81-68-79-2111
E-mail: ta-ueyama@vill.nishiawakura.lg.jp
Terminologies and Coined Terms Used
Local Vitalisation Cooperator System: Asystem where local public authorities hirepeople who have relocated themselves todepopulated areas from urban areas for acertain period of time. They aim to stay andsettle in the regions while developing local
products or supporting local livelihoods.
I-Turn: To relocate oneself to another place byleaving home for higher education oremployment, seeking something that isdifferent from home.

Reference URLs
http://www.vill.nishiawakura.okayama.jp/wp/(Website of Nishiawakura village website)
https://www.a-zero.co.jp/lvs-nishiawakura/(Local Venture School)
http://throughme.jp/(Through me ― Expand various lifestyles)

Forest Business Management Law:
Forest commercial trust:Environmental forest:
Commercial forest:
ESD:

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