We Grow Together Through The Years

   Since 1992, together with more than 350 schools, we have planted more than 510,000 trees in Sri Lanka. Although the scale of planting at each school is limited, the most significant achievement is that the children who participated in the program have developed a spirit of compassion toward nature and other people.

   When the Children’s Forest Program (CFP) started in Papua New Guinea in 1994, there was a sawmill near OISCA’s training center, and trailers loaded with logs were passing by.  When we called out to local people to “start planting trees before it’s too late,” the response from many people was cold. However, we focused on PR activities, including requesting the Governor of the Province to participate in the first activity and inviting newspaper reporters to write articles about it. The tree-planting volunteers from Japan also helped to expand the circle of understanding little by little. The government and society are now changing their mindset, with an 8 million tree-planting project now planned as a national project as well.

   The Central Arid Region, where OISCA operates, is a very dry and difficult to grow tress in the first place. We have been devising ways to ensure that the seedlings grow well by selecting the right species of trees for the land, making the seedlings, and maintaining and managing them, and have been passing these ideas on to the children.  By witnessing the growth of trees, children realize the importance and joy of greening and become more interested in the nature around them. 

　In Mongolia, where activities are being conducted without training centers or other base of operations, trainee alumni who underwent training in Japan, are playing a central role in promoting the “Children’s Forest Program” activities in their respective hometowns.

   Even though they were faced with a different situation than in previous years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, they were able to support the local community by acting as a bridge between them and the community, and were able to implement activities that met the needs of the community while taking advantage of OISCA’s strengths, such as supporting home vegetable gardens and the “Mask Project” in which masks were made with children from the Eco Club and donated to CFP participating schools.

   In the future, they plan to focus on activities in southern Mongolia, where the problem of desertification is becoming more serious, as a new challenge. 

   Located in Northern Mongolia’s Orhon Province, the school is in an area dotted with GER (Mongolian nomadic mobile homes).  It is a relatively new school built in 2015. When the school was first built, there was no greenery in the surrounding area, and through the Children’s Forest Program, over 250 trees have been planted to date, including maples and lilacs.  Not only have the children themselves been responsible for maintenance and management but they have also provided environmental education on the importance of greenery. 

   The school is located in Pyaw Bwe Township, Madalay Division, in the Central Arid Zone. This is an area that is severely arid and seems to have limited annual rainfall. The school was built for the children by the villagers with their own money, but they were few trees on the site. After leaning of OISCA’s activities at other schools, the principal consulted with the OISCA staff, and in 2021, the Children’s Forest Program started. 

   The school is a 20-minute drive from OISCA Rabaul Eco Tech Training Center.　The school is relatively new, founded in 2013, and is run by the church. The school is attended by children who have not yet entered elementary school, but due to family and other circumstances, children of various ages are enrolled at the school. In 2021, activities for the Children’s Forest Program (CFP) were initiated in accordance with the elementary school’s desire to provide children with opportunities to think about the environment from an early age. The first activity, OISCA staff provided an easy-to-understand explanation on the significance of environmental conservation, and the children listened intently.

 Located in Kurunegala, Northwestern Province, the school is on a main road and is well served by public transportation. Agriculture is thriving in the region, with many residents growing rice and vegetables for a living.

   In FY 2021, when face-to-face classes resumed, we planted fruit trees such as mango and rambutan, moringa with its nutritious fruit and leaves, and Pongame Oiltree which is expected to serve as a windbreak. 

Since the spread of Coronavirus pandemic, in the countries where OISCA is operating, strict restrictive measures have been taken in to prevent the spread of disease. In the countries where the increase in the number of infected has become somewhat stable, the restrictions are gradually being relaxed. But in most countries, schools remain closed, and movements are still restricted. Due to the restrictive measures for a few months, there is an increasing number of people living in poverty. OISCA, in collaboration with the local staff, has been extending emergency assistance in order to support the life of people in need.

The warmth of the Japanese people is still the same

Every year, OISCA conducts a unique project named “Children’s Goodwill Ambassadors” under the Children’s Forest Program (CFP) inviting to Japan a few children from the Asian and Pacific countries for visiting various places related to forest development and environmental conservation as well as for carrying out exchange activities with Japanese children.

In October 2018, Mr. Jan Lester Bisco, a Filipino who is now working as a financial analyst in a communications company in Manila, visited Japan for the first time in 18 years.

Lovely greeting cards from CFP children arrived this year again! We can see wonderful drawing and messages.

Here are some of the cards that OISCA HQ received from CFP participating countries.

60 Schools and Organizations in Indonesia participated in the Green Wave


   The Green Wave is a global campaign the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (SCBD) has been calling for to educate children and youth about biodiversity.  On the International Day for Biological Diversity (May 22), children and youth plant trees at 10:00 local time in their respective schools and communities, thereby spreading green waves worldwide.

   OISCA’s Children’s Forest Program (CFP) has been also taking part in the campaign since 2009, and the number of participating schools and countries is steadily increasing. Indonesia, which has participated for the fourth time, is particularly active, and about 2,000 school children and young people from 60 CFP schools and organizations such as youth groups and orphanages took part. In the activities, former OISCA trainees in cooperation with CFP coordinators, worked hard for spreading information by utilizing social networking service such as Facebook.

   In the tree planting conducted in Indonesia, seedlings of local species and rare species were planted to protect biological diversity and to prevent the extinction of species. At the No. 1 Parungkuda Hich School, which has been promoting CFP activities through an eco club on a regular basis and has a keen interest in global warming and environmental issues, the Green Wave has become an annual event. After a simple ceremony, the students and teachers planted seedlings of fruit trees called Tangkalak, rare species of the Sukabumi area. Planting the local species is a good opportunity for the children to get familiar with the natural environment of their community and taking care of the planted seedlings is leading to foster awareness for protecting Nature. Besides, there are an increasing number of schools and organizations which are carrying out, not only tree planting but also a variety of programs such as nature games, echo seminars and trash collection, and there are growing expectations of the future development.

   The details of the OISCA Green Waves conducted in the various countries are published on the CFP Facebook. Please do have a look at the site.

Lovely greeting cards with thank-you messages or wonderful drawings arrived from CFP participating children around the world this year again!

On this page, we show some of the cards that sent to OISCA HQ, Japan.

Greeting cards from children over the world to the supporters for Children's Forest Program has been arriving to OISCA.

This year, 2011, which was designated as the International Year of Forests and in which the UN Decade on Biodiversity started, about 14,000 people participated at 105 places in 13 countries of the world participated “Green Wave” campaign through Children’s Forest Program. OISCA which signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Secretariat of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and pledged cooperation for promoting awareness of and carrying out activities of the biodiversity conservation delivered certificates of ”Green Wave" participation to the schools to recognize their keen participations to Children’s Forest Program together with CBD.

On 22 and 24 October, OISCA Toyota Aichi planted trees with 2 local junior high schools in conjunction with OISCA’s 50th Anniversary in Sabah, Malaysia.

Saturday, 22 October

Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Bingkor: Keningau, Sabah

For the second participation in the Children’s Forest Program (CFP) of this time, the total of 300 trees was planed. The kinds of trees planed were Cinnamomum, Spanish Cherry and Fir Tree.