Okinawa Environmental Justice Project

On November 30, 2017, Okinawa Environmental Justice Project and The Informed Public Project sent the document "A World Natural Heritage Site Next to the U.S. Military's Training Area?: The Case of 'Northern Part of Okinawa Island' in Okinawa, Japan" to IUCN World Heritage Programme.

While the residents of the Takae district, Higashi village and the people of Okinawa are still shaken and infuriated by the October 11 crash of a U.S military CH-53 helicopter in the district, and although the cause of the crash has not been determined,  the U.S. military resumed the flight operations of the aircraft on October 18. See  Kyodo News .  Following a 96-hour suspension of flight operations, the U.S. military’s CH-53 helicopters are back in the Okinawa sky, flying over our houses, schools, hospitals, forests and sea as if nothing has happened.  ©KYODO The Japanese government, Okinawa prefectural government and local municipalities have demanded that the operations of the CH-53 aircraft be suspended indefinitely until the cause of the crash is determined, but to no avail. See  The Japan Times .  The lopsided power relationships among the U.S. military, Japan and Okinawa have prevailed again. Our lives and environ...

In just a few days, members of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) will conduct a much-anticipated field mission in the Yanbaru forest in northern Okinawa Island as part of the UNESCO/IUCN's evaluation process for the forest's bid for World Natural Heritage status.  Guess what has just happened in the Takae district of Hiagashi village, near the World Heritage nominated area? At around 17:30 on October 11,  a U.S. military CH 53 helicopter made an emergency landing and caught fire in an open land in Takae. As of 20:00, the fire and smoke are flaring in the darkness of the night. See this NHK site  (Japanese). Also see this New York Times site . © Okinawa Times   It is not clear whether the helicopter was either coming back from or was going to the U.S. military's Northern Training Area (NTA) when it made its emergency landing. NTA is located just next to the World Natural Heritage nominated area.  I hav...