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2024 November 20 - 26 [SOCIAL ISSUES]

Endangered orchid vanishes during Japan-US joint military exercise in Tokunoshima World Natural Heritage Site

An endangered orchid plant was damaged during a military training drill jointly conducted by the Self-Defense Forces and the U.S. military forces on a mountain in Kagoshima’s Tokunoshima Island, a UNESCO’s World Natural Heritage site, Akahata reported on November 21.

The military drill in question was conducted between October 25 and 28 as part of the massive Japan-U.S. joint military exercise “Keen Sword 25 (October 23-November 1)” on Mount Inokawa and two other mountains, the core area of the Tokunoshima World Natural Heritage Site.

According to Akahata, a local natural conservation NPO activist discovered swelling buds on a plant of the Goodyera sonoharae orchid which is listed in the Environment Ministry’s Red Data Book in Mt. Inokawa on the morning of October 26. However, on the following day, the plant was found trampled under foot.

It is very rare for the Goodyera sonoharae to flower. The last observation of the orchid flowering was more than a decade ago.

In response to an Akahata inquiry, an official of the Defense Ministry’s Joint Staff, while admitting that the SDF held a joint military training exercise with the U.S. military in the World Natural Heritage Site’s core zone, argued, “The ministry cannot confirm that the SDF trampled the precious orchid buds.”

Secretary General of the local NPO, Minobe Mutsumi stressed that the World Natural Heritage core zone is an “important place for the entire world”. Mt. Inokawa is the home of a large diversity of rare and endangered flora and fauna, such as the Amami rabbit and Tokunoshima spiny rat. She in disbelief said she really wondered why the ministry intentionally chose the “world’s treasure” island as a site for joint military drills.