Oze registered in Zero Carbon Park "Residents' awareness is important"
The "Oze Katashina Area" located in Katashina Village, Gunma Prefecture, in Oze National Park has been registered as a "Zero Carbon Park" by the Ministry of the Environment. Seventh in Japan and first in the prefecture. It was highly evaluated that the "origin of the nature maintenance movement", which has been exposed to repeated development crises, is actively working on decarbonization as the times change.
Oze has been in danger of development many times
Zero-carbon parks are targeted at areas that aim to decarbonize and deplasticize national parks and create sustainable tourist destinations. Being a "zero carbon city" that declared that it aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to virtually zero by 2050, and trying to decarbonize not only the national park but also the surrounding area. Is a condition.
Oze has been exposed to the danger of development many times, such as damming and roads in the surrounding area, but it has a history of being protected by the efforts of many people. It is called the origin of Japan's nature conservation movement, such as the start of the "garbage take-out movement" in 1972. Yuki Hattori, a conservation officer at the Katashina Nature Conservation Office of the Ministry of the Environment, said, "Oze has a history of environmental protection and is thinking about measures to respond to the changing times."
In the Oze Katashina area, the NPO corporation will develop a tour tourism around the national park using the sports bicycle "E-bike" with electric assist. It was evaluated as an initiative that not only promotes decarbonization rather than traveling by car, but also leads to long-term stays in the surrounding area. According to Katashina Village, we are also considering using e-bikes as a way to enter the mountain.
At mountain lodges that have introduced high-efficiency water heaters, we have reduced greenhouse gas emissions. There are plans to build an electrified mountain cottage by introducing renewable energy such as solar power within the next few years. Renewal of "Hatomachi Sanso", a mountain lodge managed by Tokyo Power Technology (Koto, Tokyo), a wholly owned subsidiary of TEPCO Holdings. The plan is to install high-efficiency water heaters and light-emitting diode (LED) lighting in other mountain lodges to save energy.
In addition, the promotion of the use of my bags to reduce paid garbage bags and the efforts for local production for local consumption using timber from local forests for wooden paths were also evaluated as activities of the Zero Carbon Park.
Larch wood from local forests will be used as the boardwalk material to protect the marsh, and transportation costs will be reduced through local production for local consumption.
However, the Katashina Village Murazukuri Tourism Division says, "The future is important. Residents must maintain a high awareness of decarbonization." "Registration has started. It is necessary for the people involved to work together to think about how to proceed with decarbonization," said Hattori, a conservation officer.
In February 2010, the village announced the "Five Zero Declarations" that stated zero greenhouse gas emissions and zero power outages in the event of a disaster. In the future, the village will also focus on promoting decarbonization, such as by planning to introduce renewable energy equipment and storage batteries in settlement promotion housing for young migrants. The Murazukuri Tourism Division says, "We would like to continue our environmental protection efforts and pass on the environment of Oze to the next generation."
(Yutaro Tahara)
"... Residents must maintain a high awareness of decarbonization."
