Resuming activities little by little !

   Wai District School was established in 1920 in Wai District School. In the past, they accepted tours from Japan, and has been actively participating in CFP for many years. In 2020, they stopped the activities temporarily. After the resumption of classes, however, in consultation with the School Steering Committee, they re-stated the activities little by little. In tree planting activities, they planted 65 local tree species such as mahogany and coconut.

Also, they distributed a hand book and worked to raise environmental awareness.

   Although the planted trees are steadily growing, some mahogany trees were damaged by a cyclone and uprooted, and re-planting became necessary. Mr. Suliasi Vatoga, an 8th year grader commented: “as class leader, I will lead classmates while tackling replanting”.

Tree Planting Activities that can be done now and ae necessary now

As an infection control measure, elementary and high schools that are under jurisdiction of the Ministry of Education were closed from the end of March through the end of June 2020.  Even after resuming of classes, priority was given to catch up the delays of classes, and to avoid contact with outsiders, extracurricular activities remained restricted. In some schools and areas where permission of the government was given, we carried out tree planting. In order to help people in need, we promoted together with the community people, not only afforestation species, planting of coconut and vegetables such as sweet potato that bring various benefits. We do hope that in 2021, the activities in schools will be become active again. 

The Green Wave is a global diversity campaign to educate children and youth about the diversity which OISCA has participated since 2008.

The Green Wave campaign carried out worldwide on and around May 22th which is designated as the International day for Biological diversity. OISCA also carried out various activities not only domestic but also international, mainly with CFP participating schools.

Disaster-Resistant Forest Development

In Viti Levu Island, felling of forests and mangroves and degradation of biodiversity are in progress due to the development of resorts, and natural disasters due to abnormal weather such as coast erosion because of sea level rise and huge cyclone have become more serious.

We are putting in force mangrove planting involving not only children but also community people. 

CFP 2018 Eco Camp in Fiji

OISCA Fiji organized Eco Camp at Natutale Primary School, located in southern　part of Viti Levu Island, Fiji. The three-day camp from 4 Dec. – 6 Dec. 2018 was participated in by 50 schoolchildren including pupils from Natutale Primary, Nasivikoso Primary and Namataku District Schools. It also involved the police station of Keiasi.

OISCA members, CFP school's students and many friends participated actively in the Green Wave 2018!

The Green Wave is a global biodiversity campaign to educate children and youth about biodiversity. Towards 2020, last year of the United Nations Decade on Biodiversity (2011-2020), the United Nations has been appealing more vigorously for its promotion worldwide. 

They learned the importance of life

Bure I Vanua District School is located in RA a province on the main island in Fiji. The school new teacher who had planted trees in another school, wanted to start planting trees with students in this school. Therefore the school has started CFP.

The school is located in the rural area, so the students’ parents have a small income, and the nutritional condition of the students is not good. According by, in the first, they made chicken coop and started poultry raising program. By not only eating good meal but also raising chicken, they have learned the importance of life and feelings to appreciate food.

The Nadroumai Primary School, to be a model school of CFP

Nadroumai Primary School is located in Viti Levu Island and most of the students come from 5 surrounding villages. (Viti Levu Island is the main island in Fiji.) and they live in a dormitory. The school principal wanted to plant trees with students, so they joined the CFP in 1993.The school has carried out various activities for over 20 years and they have been doing new challenge with advices from the former students. It is a pioneer in CFP in this region.

Just joined CFP!

   This school is located in the mountainous area in the Viti Levu Island. It joined CFP in 2016. In the first activity, they planted local tree species. Through these practical activities, they are hoping that children would come to know the rich nature of their FURUSATO and would be able to take an action for the conservation of the disappearing local tree species.

Pleasantly practicing delicious vegetable growing!

   This school is located in the rural area away from the city. The school has carried out various activities for over 20 years since it joined CFP. In recent years, it has conducted tree planting focused on fruit bearing trees, the nutrition source for children and also ornamental trees for beautification of the village.

   The parents of school children are mostly engaged in agriculture, but the children don’t really know the harmful effects of fertilizers and agricultural chemicals used in agriculture. 

Japanese University Students Undergo Practical Training in Agriculture at OISCA Projects Sites Abroad

This autumn, two groups of Japanese university students interested in international cooperation carried out field training in agriculture in the Philippines and Fiji. From September 15 to 22, 5 students from the Faculty of International Agriculture and Food Studies, Tokyo University of Agriculture, went to the Philippines for practical training at OISCA Abra Agro-Forestry Training Center located in Northern Luzon. They experienced grafting of tropical fruit trees, taking care of farm animals such as hogs, cows, goats and chicken, fertilizer application in rice paddies and vegetable seeding. They also had exchange activities with children at the local schools participating in the OISCA Children’s Forest Program (CFP).

 On May 22, proclaimed by the United Nations as the International Day for Biological Diversity, the Green Wave activities in which the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) has been appealing for worldwide participation, were carried out in five schools in Fiji (Ratu Nemani Memorial school, Ratu Latianara Memorial Primary School, Nawai Public School, Nokonoko District School and Ratu Ilaisa Memrial School). In the respective schools, a large number of pupils and teachers took part and conducted distinctive tree planting programs.

On February 5, CFP activity was conducted at Raunitogo Primary School which is located in Sigatoka, Nadroga-navosa, Fiji.

Students were divided into two groups and one attended tree planting activity. 33 seedlings including coconut, mahogany, lemon and so on were planted.

The CFP activity implemented at two schools in Tonga, the islands in South Pacific Ocean, in September, 2013.Finau, ex-trainee in OISCA Shikoku  training center and Toni, ex- trainee in OISCA Chubu training center started the activities in this country. Although they’re living in different regions, they started to teach children the importance of benefits of the forests and the meaning of growing plants in their “Furusato,” utilizing what they learned in Japan.

 On the other hand, OISCA senior trainees also make efforts in Mongol which is located in the north of East Asia. The planting activity was implemented for the second time  at the elementary school in Bogotá district and kindergarten in  Erdenetcity in May 12, 2013 observing the country’s “National planting day”. This time, original educational materials for teaching the natural environment and connection of living creatures in Mongol were newly created. These materials were distributed to the school children. Even though the activities in these countries are experimental and small-scale, the youth OISCA have educated are playing role in the activities for the next generation in each of their “Furusato”.

Banchoktai School is located in the center of the village and there are forests and rice fields in the back.

They have been interested in environmental preservation activities and joined the CFP.
Unfortunately, there are no wide places for planting in the school site so the first thing to do was to implement a workshop of environmental education aiming to make the children understand the meaning of planting trees. And then, children started planting at their homes or the roads along the rice fields. Since most of the village people make a living by agriculture, they started organic farming. We are planning to develop various activities such as cattle rearing and rice cultivation while continuing planting activity at the village forest and the temple. We hope that children will experience how humans live with nature and understand the importance of preserving it by learning organic agriculture.

One primary school in Fiji, chicken rearing and organic farming project has launched since 2010 along with tree-planting activity. The school is located deep in the mountains and becomes isolated by the flood when it rains heavy. Therefore they have to be self-sufficient for their food. However since Fijian is originally a hunting race, so rearing vegetable or livestock is very challenging for them.

In 2011, Waiyara School started chicken rearing and organic farming project in conjunction with tree-planting & growing activity has started since 1999. The school is also in the mountains. The project was started in response to requests from the school teachers. They wished their children to learn cyclical farming and live in harmony with nature through learning how to rear chicken or vegetables and make compost from poultry manure.

A poultry house was built in their school premise and children are learning how to rear chicken very hard. Now they are very much motivated to start organic faming using poultry manure next year.

Tagaqe Village is located on the coast and has been damaged by high tides every year due to the recent climate change. The coast has been damaged by the strong current and trees, such as coconut, have been knocked down. Furthermore, seawater intrudes to the village and causes damages to field crops.

There used to be mangrove forest along the coast which protected villagers lives from the high tides. However people chopped down the trees for firewood and charcoal. As the result, there are few mangrove trees left. The principal of Tagaqe District School felt a sense of crisis over such a situation and asked OISCA for a support to recover the mangrove forest. In 2011, he started Mangrove planting project in cooperation with the village and 1,200 mangrove seedlings were planted by children and villagers.

Village elders said that they could catch a lot of fish close to the coast when there was a mangrove forest. But, now days they have to sail to the offshore to catch fish after decreasing amount of fish near the coast course of cut down mangroves. Villagers want to get back bountiful sea in those days for their children.

Nakorotubu School is located on the beach of Ra district in the northeastern part of Viti Levu Island.Some 120 children are learning under 5 teachers.

OISCA is taking part in the mangrove planting activities carried out in this district. In this area, after the mangrove trees were cut down, fish number has been decreased, and there has been damage of coastal erosion.

In 2010, the children and their parents planted about 5,000 mangrove trees along the coast. Moreover, due to the influence of rise in sea level by the climate change and felling of the upstream forests, the near-by river has floods when there are big rainfalls. The school is also affected by the floods. In order to learn about these problems, the school is conducting work shops involving the community residents.

Also, in the recent years, there has been increasing awareness towards garbage problem and recycling in Fuji, and so, the 3R (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle) outreach activities are being carried out.

(Nakorotubu District School)

Program starting year: 1996 Number of student: 120