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生命地球科学研究群 生物学学位プログラム Ragini Sarmah

As a part of my short-term internship, I got to work alongside a local NPO based in Tsukuba– Tsukuba Kankyou Forum (つくば環境フォーラム). This internship lasted for ten days, over the course of 10 months.

In addition to monitoring Satoyama landscape in and a round Tsukuba, this NPO a lso organizes local activities and events to promote local communities living alongside nature.  Through this internship, I had the opportunity to immerse myself in activities of the Satoyama Initiative at Katsuragi Ryokuchi forest of Tsukuba and assisted in various activities. Some were vegetation assessments (project by Dr. Obata, a former member of the Ibaraki Nature Museum), which allowed me to enhance my ability to spot and recognize plants (native and non-native) and also recognize the changes in flora with seasonal c ha ng e s. B eyond pla nt distr ibu tion assessments, I also assisted in monitoring owl activities in that area by checking the artificial owl nests placed by the NPO that promoted owl activity in that area by giving them shelter. As someone who studies forests, I have always enjoyed having opportunities to spend time in forests and in nature. So, these activities were a great learning experience for me in a field hat I have always been interested in. 

But beyond that, there was something unexpected that I gained from this internship. I assisted the NPO in several ‘Satoyama Sanpo’ nature walks, which consisted of many enthusiastic children taking a walk around the Satoyama landscape and learning about plants, animals, insects, etc. Through this experience, it was very refreshing and positive to see the huge interest young children had in nature. I was pleasantly surprised by how much knowledge kids already had and how much more they were w illi ng to learn about nature. I am also very grateful for the Forum to hav e given me opportunities to share nature facts about my own home country –India, with these young children who joined the walks. This led me to develop a new-found interest of promoting nature conservation among youth in Japan. Thanks to this experience, I am now able to contribute more to nature conservation youth activities within Japan and promote the Satoyama concept of ‘Living in harmony with Nature’.

Checking owl nests for activity and/or eggs.

写真　佐伯いく代