This is a brief description of Environmental Education Method taught in Kiyosato, Yamanashi / Yatsugatake 八ヶ岳 清里。 KEEP清里フォレストインタープリタートレーニング内容

1. 1
Asia-Pacific Environmental Innovation Strategies (APEIS)
Research on Innovative and Strategic Policy Options (RISPO)
Good Practices Inventory
Centre for Outdoor Environmental Education: Kiyosato Educational
Experiment Project (KEEP)
Keywords: Children, youth, schools, non-formal education, environmental education centre, outdoor
education
Strategy: Promoting environmental education by NGOs
Environmental areas: All (especially ecosystem and biodiversity conservation)
Critical instruments: Organisational arrangements
Country: Japan
Location: Kiyosato, Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan
Participants: School children, elementary/junior high schools, environmental educators, local people
Duration: Since 1984
Funding: Self
Background:
Outdoor education or education “in” the environment is a core element of environmental education,
especially for children and youth. However, it requires educational skills as well as an appropriate
environment—just to let them play in the field has insignificant educational impacts. Almost by its
concept, the appropriate location for such education tends to be rural areas with rich natural
surroundings. This suggests the potential of combining rural development with environmental
education.
The history of Kiyosato Educational Experiment Project (KEEP) can be traced back to the construction
of Seisen-ryo (a dormitory) in 1938 in Kiyosato, on the Southern slope of Yatsugatake Mountains,
which is a camp and retreat centre for youth. With “food,” “faith,” “health,” and “hope for youth” as its
ideals, KEEP started its activities aiming at building a practical model of an agricultural community.
Since its formative years, KEEP has brought not only knowledge about highland farming, but also
facilities such as a church and clinic to the then small rural hamlet of Kiyosato. In addition, KEEP has
been implementing experimental and educational activities, based on the concept of the founder, Paul
Rush.1
Owing to its beautiful nature and farms, it has attracted many visitors, which led to the considerable
development of Kiyosato, making it a well-known retreat or sightseeing area.
Currently, “international exchange” and “environmental education” have been added to the four ideals
above. Its environmental education activities started in 1983 as a joint project with the Wild Bird
Society of Japan, and became its own in 1991.
Objectives:
The objectives of KEEP’s environmental education division are to develop educational programmes, to
train personnel (human resources development), and to support networking. With these objectives,
KEEP provides various environmental educational programmes “in” the environment (or outdoor
education) for children/youth and the public, training programmes for educators/ facilitators, and
international assistance to Asian developing countries.
1
Dr. Rush was a teacher at Rikkyo University in Tokyo, and was instrumental in developing the
Brotherhood of St. Andrew in Japan, a service organization within the Anglican Church.
Summary of the Practice

2. 2
Description of the activity:
KEEP’s Environmental Education Division is a recognised leader in Japan for environmental education.
It has played an important role in promoting nature education since its beginning in the 1980s.2
To
provide practical training and educational opportunities for professionals and the general public, it
offers lectures, camps, and museum exhibits in an ideal setting of the natural beauty of Kiyosato.
KEEP conducts various self-sponsored programmes and commissioned programmes from ministries,
local governments, businesses, and schools within a year.
Activities of the environmental education division of KEEP can be categorised into the following:3
KEEP Foresters School, which provides one-day and short/long stay programmes as
“environmental education camps.” These are designed to help participants to learn from their
own experiences from an interdisciplinary perspective. Six hiking trails in KEEP’s extensive
site (239 ha) facilitate the learning of participants in the environment.
Yatsugatake Nature Centre, which provide (environmental) information around Yatsugatake for
visitors (in collaboration with the government of Yamanashi Prefecture). It provides maps,
guides and binoculars for bird watching, a variety of exhibits, periodical magazines and other
publications. Films, videos and various kinds of information on the local environment and
culture are available at its library and audio-visual halls. It also offers a “guide walk”
programme in the rich surrounding natural setting with facilitators and craftwork programmes
using trees, leaves and other natural materials to feel the environment.
Yamane Museum, which introduces local endangered species called Yamane (Japanese
Dormouse). This museum not only aims to promote research on the conservation of the species
but also to develop environmental education programmes featuring them.
Visitors can stay at Seisen-ryo (capacity up to 200 persons), KEEP Nature School4
(150 persons)
Forester’s Camp Site (cabins for around 60 persons), and Matsumoto Youth Camp Site (cabins for 72
persons). The large accommodation capacity of KEEP makes it possible to conduct intensive
programmes with short and long stays.
KEEP’s international assistance project includes Tulgao Project, which is a grassroots rural community
development program in the isolated mountain village of Tulgao in the Northern Philippines.
2
Environmental education in Japan is considered to have started with “pollution education” in the 1960s
when pollution problems became critical as a result of rapid industrial growth. Environmental education on
nature was started to develop in the 1980s.
3
The programmes include “Kiyosato Ecology Camp” to explore the relationship between man and nature
through discussion and experiences on various themes such as charcoal, straw, art, etc., which has been a
major programme of KEEP since the early years. KEEP also offers a few more kinds of seminars for
educators/providers of environmental education. Examples of seminars so far conducted include: Kiyosato
interpreters’ camp (for leaders), seminar for project/programme management (for facility staff), seminar for
hands-on experience learning method (for leaders), environmental education planning seminar, evaluation
seminar for interpreters.
4
KEEP Nature School also provides its own educational activities in which visitors can stay and experience
nature, dairy farming, international exchange and other activities while they are not run by its Environmental
Education Division.

3. 3
Overview
The success of KEEP owes much to its organisational arrangements/partnership to its location in a good
environment and combination of community development (or agricultural experience in particular) with
environmental education. “Good environment” is a prerequisite for quality outdoor education activities,
and their sustainable provision is made possible by the “combination of community development
activities with environmental education.” The latter also contribute to fostering good relationships with
local communities.
Organisational arrangements
Location: Good Environment
KEEP emphasizes a “hands-on experience learning method,” which respects participants’ learning
through their own experiences rather than a mere knowledge transfer. Facilitators (or rangers) function
just as “an intermediary between people and nature.” For such educational activities, a good location
with a rich natural environment is essential. As well, it has to be located in an accessible area, rather
than deep in the mountains, to attract visitors. KEEP is located in Kiyosato, enjoying the highland
environment of Yatsugadake Mountains within two to two and a half hours by train and car from Tokyo.
This location has helped KEEP to conduct good quality educational programmes as well as to attract
many people.
Combination of Community Development and Environmental Education5
Environmental Education is one of the activities of KEEP, of which community development activities
including highland farming, especially dairy farming, are the core. In fact, this combination of
environmental education and other activities is a key element of KEEP’s success, for example:
Good Educational Environment
The practice of dairy farming provides a good environment for environmental education. It is a
valuable experience for participants and visitors not only to see and feel cows and other livestock
but also to experience dairy farming tasks such as milking. These experiences can sensitise them
towards nature and living in coexistence with it.
Sustainable Management
KEEP environmental division manages its own activities from its own income.6
However, it is
made possible by support from and synergising effects with other divisions. The sale of goods at
shops accounts for 25 percent of the total income of KEEP; that of ice cream, made of the milk
from KEEP’s jersey cows, accounts for 13 percent of the total, while accommodation equals 11
percent. Activities at all of the divisions at KEEP including environmental education contribute to
these sales, as the participants in the former are at the same time the customers for the latter and
vice versa, which in turn leads to the financial stability of each division. These synergistic help to
make KEEP financially sustainable.
Contribution to the Local Communities
Projects such as KEEP cannot succeed without the understanding and support of the local people.
KEEP has provided Christian lay leadership training, pioneered dairy farming in Japan, introduced
new high-altitude agricultural technologies, and brought health and education services to the region.
Such contributions and the ideals of KEEP, namely “food,” “faith,” “health,” and “hope for youth,”
brought the understanding and support of local people to KEEP’s activities, which is a key to its
success.
5
Numerical data here was kindly provided by KEEP Environmental Education Division to the reviewer.
6
The income and expenditure of KEEP Environmental Education Division is around 127 million yen per
year, accounting for about 10 percent of the total budget of KEEP.
Critical Instruments

4. 4
Educational Impacts
Many people participate in KEEP’s various programmes and visit its facilities as is shown by the
following data7
.
Visitors to KEEP facilities in the Fiscal Year 2003
Yatsugatake Nature Centre: 83,869 (including 170 organisations)
Yamane Museum: 24,254 (including 47 organisations)
Participants in the Programmes Organised/Sponsored by KEEP in the Fiscal Year 2003
KEEP Foresters School: 794
Yatsugatake Nature Centre: 1,827
Yamane Museum: 342
Number of Programmes in the Fiscal Year 2003
KEEP Foresters School: Camping- 18 times
Day-trip- 37 times (8 cancellations)
Commissioned Programmes- 103 organisations
Yatsugatake Nature Centre: Day trips- 105 times8
Yamane Museum: Day trips- 14 times9
As for the participants in the programmes organised or sponsored by the KEEP Foresters
School, 20 percent of the participants are in their 20s; 17 percent of them are elementary school
students, and 10 percent of them are in their 30s. Fifty percent of its commissioned programmes
are for students from pre-school to university.
These programmes are quality-controlled by internal and participatory evaluation. At the KEEP
Foresters School, discussion sessions are held based on the result of questionnaires filled out by the
participants. At the end of the year, a review meeting is held for the programmes. A similar system is
used at Yamane Museum and Yatsugatake Nature Centre.
Financial Sustainability
Financial sustainability is especially important for NGO activities. KEEP has achieved financial
sustainability owing to the critical instruments as mentioned above, which contributed to the continuous
provision of educational activities.
Community Development
KEEP has contributed to community development of the Kiyosato area since its establishment. It
provided not only the high-altitude agricultural technologies but also health service (clinic), organised
harvesting festivals, and other services to the surrounding communities. Nowadays, it also dispatches
foreign staff to the local schools for English education. In addition, the “Kiyosato Kodomo Shizen
Club” (Kiyosato Kids Nature Club) was established in 2003 to provide programmes at a considerably
lower rate for the communities.
7
Data here was kindly provided by KEEP Environmental Education Division to the reviewer.
8
Numbers of the programmes organised/sponsored by KEEP.
9
Numbers of the programmes organised/sponsored by KEEP.
Impacts

5. 5
Lessons that can be learned from this practice are as below.
• Environmental education centres such as KEEP’s division can provide quality environmental
education programmes. KEEP has made the most of its facilities for environmental education such
as highland farming, visitor centres (Yatsugatake Nature Centre, Yamane Museum) and
accommodations as well as rich nature surroundings. (See Organisational arrangement/
Partnership in the “Critical Instruments” above.)
• Environmental education centres such as KEEP’s division are better located in an accessible rural
area. It helps to attract urban people and provide them with quality nature education. (See
Organisational arrangement/Partnership in the “Critical Instruments” above.)
• Environmental education centres such as KEEP’s division can produce good results when
combined with other activities such as community development (e.g., dairy farming) It enhances
the relationship with local communities and in turn receives good support to educational activities.
(See Organisational arrangement/Partnership in the “Critical Instruments” above.)
• Environmental education centres such as KEEP’s division can be managed in a financially
sustainable manner. Designed appropriately, KEEP has managed its activities without depending
on grants from funding agencies, which is significant for NGOs. (See Financial Sustainability in
the “Critical Instruments.”)
• Environmental education centres such as KEEP’s division can also contribute to community
development. This kind of centre not only promotes environmental education but also contributes
to community development, as is shown by the services provided by KEEP such as health service,
agricultural technologies, etc. (See Community Development in the “Impacts” above.)
There are few obstacles in applying this practice in other countries, as long as the appropriate measures can
be taken, especially the ones mentioned in the “Critical Instruments” above.
Environmental Education Division,
Kiyosato Educational Experiment Project (KEEP)
3545 Kiyosato, Takane, Kitakoma-gun, Yamanashi Prefecture
Tel: 81-551-48-3795; Fax: 81-551-48-2990
E-mail: forester@keep.or.jp
Website: http://www.keep.or.jp/
Case reviewer: Ko Nomura (IGES)
Information date: 28 August 2004
Lessons Learned
Potential for Application
Contact