Updated by "Forest Circular Economy" Editorial Board on October 17, 2025, 11:49 AM JST
Editorial Board, Forest Circular Economy
Forestcircularity-editor
We aim to realize "Vision 2050: Japan Shines, Forest Circular Economy" promoted by the Platinum Forest Industry Initiative. We will disseminate ideas and initiatives to promote biomass chemistry, realize woody and lumbery communities, and encourage innovation in the forestry industry in order to fully utilize forest resources to decarbonize the economy, strengthen economic security, and create local communities.
Aomori University's Research Center for Comparative Environmental Thought will hold its second research meeting for fiscal year 2025 on October 30. The theme of this year's meeting will be "Environmental Thought Linking Forests and People - Perspectives on Forest Aesthetics," inviting Dr. Takayoshi Koike, Research Fellow, Faculty of Agriculture, Hokkaido University, to speak on the topic.
In examining conservation management in forest ecology, Koike approaches environmental thought from the perspective of positioning forest aesthetics, a comprehensive and practical discipline that integrates all disciplines, as a literacy in forest management.
Aomori University established the Society for Comparative Environmental Thought in 2022 with the aim of reexamining environmental thought and practical activities that have developed around the world and exploring new thought. Since then, we have invited leading researchers and practitioners from diverse fields to engage in lively discussions. This year's theme was set as "Environmental Thought Linking Forests and People," and the first meeting, held in July, was entitled "From 'Brain and Forest' to 'Introduction to Symbiotic Evolution'".
The perspective of "environmental thought linking forests and people" explored by this study group provides an opportunity to reconsider forests not merely as a resource, but as the spiritual and cultural foundation of humankind. Understanding the multifaceted value of forests is essential to realizing a "circular economy of forests" that aims for sound conservation and utilization of forests. The ideas discussed in this workshop will provide important insights for integrating the rich value of forests into the economic cycle.
■Summary of the Second Conference on Comparative Environmental Thought for FY2025
"Environmental Philosophy Connecting Forests and People: A Forest Aesthetics Perspective."
Date & Time: Thursday, October 30, 17:30-19:30
Venue: Conference Room, Kankyo Innovation Information Organization (3F Torimoto Kogyo Bldg., 38 Kanda Higashimatsushita-cho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo)
Guest lecturer: Takayoshi Koike, Research Fellow, Faculty of Agriculture, Hokkaido University
Reference Links
The 2nd meeting of the "Society for the Study of Comparative Environmental Thought" will be held (Aomori University, Tokyo Campus)
