Daisekirinzan at Yanbaru National Park Okinawa 2008

is the Okinawan and

Kunigami is a village in Kunigami District, Okinawa Prefecture, Japan. It occupies the north tip of Okinawa Island, with the East China Sea to the west, Pacific Ocean to the east, and villages of Higashi and Ōgimi to the south. As of 2015, the village ...

name given to the forested northern part of Okinawa Island in Japan. Spanning the northern villages of

Higashi Higashi is the Japanese word for ''east''. In kanji it is represented as 東. Higashi may also refer to: Places *Higashi, Shibuya, a district of Shibuya, Tokyo *Higashi, Fukushima, a village in Fukushima Prefecture * Higashi, Okinawa, a village i ...

, and Ōgimi, Yambaru contains some of the last large surviving tracts of subtropical rainforest in Asia, with many

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...

species of flora and fauna. Many southerners fled to the area for refuge during the Battle of Okinawa. In 2016,

Yambaru National Park is a national park in Okinawa Prefecture, Japan. Established in 2016, it is located in and around the forested region of Yanbaru at the northern end of Okinawa Island. The park comprises a land area of in the villages of Kunigami, Ōgimi, a ...

was established and the area was included in a submission for inscription on the

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

World Heritage List A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for ...

. Yambaru currently contains the 7,500 ha US Jungle Warfare Training Centre at Camp Gonsalves. As of 2010 there were twenty-two helipads in the training area with a further seven planned within two of the best preserved areas. Issues relating to the location of helipads delayed the designation as a National Park. Threatened by clearcutting and the removal of undergrowth, various endemic species are facing an imminent

extinction Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...

crisis. The

US Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through com ...

has noted that 'to continue to perform realistic military training activities, these habitats must be maintained.'

Biodiversity

According to the WWF, Yambaru is the habitat of over four thousand species, with eleven animals and twelve plants peculiar to the area. Many of these are

threatened species Threatened species are any species (including animals, plants and fungi) which are vulnerable to endangerment in the near future. Species that are threatened are sometimes characterised by the population dynamics measure of '' critical depen ...

on the

IUCN Red List The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biol ...

and 177 feature on the Red List of the Ministry of the Environment. Rare species include the flightless Okinawa rail (''Yambaru kuina'' in Japanese),

Okinawa woodpecker The is a woodpecker endemic to the Okinawa Prefecture of Japan. It was previously placed in the monotypic genus ''Sapheopipo''. Other common names for this species are Noguchi's woodpecker, Okinawan woodpecker, Pryer's woodpecker and Ryukyu ...

( Special Natural Monument),

Ryukyu robin The Ryukyu robin (''Larvivora komadori'') is a bird endemic to the Ryūkyū Islands, of Japan. The Okinawa robin (''Larvivora namiyei'') previously was considered a subspecies. The specific name ''komadori'' is, somewhat confusingly, the co ...

Amami woodcock The Amami woodcock (''Scolopax mira'') is a medium-sized wader. It is slightly larger and longer-legged than Eurasian woodcock, and may be conspecific. This species is a restricted-range endemic found only in forests on two small islands of the ...

Ryukyu black-breasted leaf turtle The Ryukyu black-breasted leaf turtle or Ryukyu leaf turtle (''Geoemyda japonica'') is a species of turtles in the family Geoemydidae (formerly Bataguridae) endemic to the Ryukyu Islands in Japan. In 1975, the species was designated a National ...

, Anderson's crocodile newt, Ishikawa's frog, Holst's frog, Namiye's frog,

Ryukyu long-tailed giant rat The Ryukyu long-tailed giant rat or Ryukyu rat (''Diplothrix legata'') is a species of rodent in the family Muridae. It is the only extant species in the genus '' Diplothrix''. It is found only in the Ryukyu Islands of Japan. Its natural habit ...

, and Muennink's spiny rat. All these species, with the exception of the Ryukyu robin, are classified as

endangered An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and in ...

; the Muennink's spiny rat, the Okinawa woodpecker, and Yambaru whiskered bat being critically endangered. The

in particular is threatened both by the presence of American Ospreys from the US Marine bases on the island and by the construction of six new helipads in the forest.

Conservation and tourism

The opened in 1999 to increase understanding of the area; in 2010 it reopened after renovation. The area is being promoted by Okinawa Prefecture for

ecotourism Ecotourism is a form of tourism involving responsible travel (using sustainable transport) to natural areas, conserving the environment, and improving the well-being of the local people. Its purpose may be to educate the traveler, to provide fund ...

References

External links

Map of Yambaru
(area marked in green on smaller map)

{{coord missing, Okinawa Prefecture Geography of Okinawa Prefecture

Biodiversity

Conservation and tourism

See also

References

External links