Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) is being promoted in Japan as one of the roles to develop human resources who contribute to a sustainable society. Forest education provides a diverse opportunity in ESD through contact with forest resources and the natural environment. For this reason, forest education has been attracting attention in recent years. However, it is not easy to implement forest education continuously. This study focuses on the Kumano Forestry Education Project that is being carried out on a continuous basis in Kumano to elucidate (1) the awareness of practitioners who can continuously implement forest education, and (2) the process leading to continuous implementation through an interview survey. As a result of analyzing the interview using the modified grounded theory approach (M-GTA): 1) Implementation of the Kumano Forestry Education Project and awareness of the practitioners are closely related to the relationship between the community and themselves. 2) In the course of implementing the project, the practitioners feel a sense of ethical affirmation, accompanied by a sense that the project they are implementing is recognized and needed in their hometown. 3) There is an ethic of implementing forest education as a method of community development, with the practitioner recognizing that the program will have a universal positive impact on the target population.

  Expectations continue to grow for the use of experience-based nature education and its impact on environmental education by deepening participants’ recognition of nature and understanding of environmental systems, thus enhancing their awareness of environmental conservation. In addition, experience-based nature education programs are also expected to cultivate a positive attitude towards nature, as well as a sense of oneness with and awe for nature.

  Sensibility for nature is regarded as an important concept not only in environmental education, but also in moral education. Nevertheless, there are only a few experience-based educational programs that incorporate the use of one’s senses into the educational experience. We studied the effects of 148 experiential nature programs in Japan.

  The study revealed that firsthand experience and inclusive activities in nature that incorporate the use of one’s senses can cultivate a positive attitude towards nature, as well as a sense of oneness with and awe for nature. These kinds of activities also raise the participants’ consciousness of the destruction of nature.

  This study proposes a simple survey method to identify riverine microplastics (MPs) as a part of environmental education. The method comprises sample collection, pretreatment, detection, and classification and tabulation. The sample collection tool is designed for use in small streams and can be made easily using readily available materials. The MPs are counted using a binocular stereomicroscope to calculate the number density, and classified according to morphology and size. This simple river MPs survey method allows learners to ascertain the level of MP pollution in their immediate environment.

  This paper analyzes how the management of wildlife (birds and mammals) is described in textbooks authorized by the Japan's Ministry of Education for use in elementary and middle schools. All of the textbooks authorized for Social Studies (24 items for elementary and 13 items for middle schools), Science (28 for elementary and 18 for middle schools), Life Environment Studies (17 items for elementary schools), and Technical Arts (thee items for middle schools) were investigated for discussion.

  Wildlife management consists of multiple elements. Japanese wildlife policy originally focused on protective elements; however, with increasing wildlife damage, the Wildlife Act was revised in 2014 to define “protection” and “control” as dual values of wildlife management.

  Through our research of textbooks, we found that they describe the “protection” of wildlife fairly well. However, the “control” of wildlife is mentioned or alluded to in only 16 items. Lethal control is discussed in only one textbook for middle school science.

  The authors assert that the “control” of wildlife should be described in textbooks not only for the pupils to understand the current environmental policy, but also to comprehend the challenges towards agricultural and rural communities.

  This paper aims to stimulate a discussion on environmental education (EE) in the context of the Anthropocene era. Therefore, the author first reviews research on EE in/for the Anthropocene era under the headings of “(re) conceptualizing nature/the environment,” “criticizing anthropocentric views,” and “epistemological discussion.” The author then suggests that EE should emphasize the agentic capacity of nature and non-humans, multidisciplinary and participatory approaches, environmental justice and indigenous knowledge for the purpose of managing Anthropocene challenges, such as uncertainty, complexity, and human responsibility for environmental issues. Furthermore, the author finds that non-positivist yet foundationalist epistemologies, such as critical realism and new materialism, are particularly emphasized in the literature that was reviewed, as this can encourage the reflexivity and transformation necessary in the Anthropocene era. This paper then compares this emerging Anthropocene discourse with the currently dominant discourse of sustainable development (SD), which requires critical examination of both education for SD (ESD) and SD goals (SDGs). The inherent anthropocentricism and lack of reflexivity and transformative capacity of SD are highlighted as drawbacks of ESD and SDGs as guiding concepts in the Anthropocene era. These shortcomings present a challenge for future EE research.