2013 Volume 59 Issue 3 Pages 21-31
It is becoming increasingly important to include forest education within school curriculum. This paper reports on the organizing process of the "Yamanoko Forest Education Programme", a unique programme in Japan targeting all Shiga Prefectural schools. In Shiga, all primary school pupils in their fifth grade participate in the programme while spending in two days aboard the learning ship "Uminoko", which was provided by the Education Committee of Shiga Prefecture and the "Uminoko" is the cause of leading the introduction of projects to success. According to the analysis of this paper, the relation between the governor's department and board of education was the main demotivating factor to the introduction of the programme. The main reason of the success of introduction of "Yamanoko" are the existence of "Uminoko" and also the importance of forest which surround the valuable water ecosystem of the lake Biwa.
