Shimokawa Town, Hokkaido

Shimokawa Town the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Report
Shimokawa Town the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Report

Shimokawa Town, Hokkaido

“Shimokawa Town the Sustainable Development Goals Report -The Shimokawa Challenge: Connecting people and nature with the future”

Issued: July 2018

Insights of the Report

Shimokawa Town set its “Shimokawa Vision 2030: The Shimokawa Challenge: Connecting people and nature with the future,” which basically translates 17 goals into 7 different localised goals in a very inclusive, engaging process. The core activity of Shimokawa Town in pursuing sustainability is a cyclical forest management that maximises the use of its rich forest resource.

Population
3,355 (Jan. 2017)
Area
664.2 ㎢ (Jan. 2017)
Population Density
Approx 6 per ㎢ (Jan. 2017)
Level of Government
Local
Carbon Emission
29,000 t-CO2 (2015)
Carbon Footprint per capita
Approx 8.8
Carbon Absorption
731,000 t-CO2 (2015)
Territorial Classification
Rural (Mostly Forest)
Budget Size
JPY 6.2 million /
USD 55,640 (FS2016)

City Profile

Shimokawa Town, located in the northern part of Japan, is a local municipality which is 90% covered by the forest and hence is a town rich in natural resources. By sustainably managing its natural resources and circulating them within its boundaries, it aims to become a self-sufficient, resilient society.

The town is recognised for its sustainable forest management efforts and actions to generate new value through local sustainability initiatives. It reached the height of its prosperity around 1960 with 15,555 residents but population declined thereafter, falling to a population of 3400 recently. In 1998, all stakeholders gathered in “the Shimokawa Industrial Cluster Research Group” and produced the Grand Design for Forestry Symbiosis in 2001, laying down the foundation for the development of sustainable community centred around forestry.

Selected one of the 29 cities in the SDGs Future City project, initiated by the Cabinet Office, Japan, this city has been leading efforts towards local sustainability. This report was produced in partnership with IGES.

The Report and more

The VLR report is available here:
https://pub.iges.or.jp/pub/shimokawa-town-sustainable-development-goals

About SDGs:
https://www.town.shimokawa.hokkaido.jp/gyousei/SDGs.html

Reference

For population, population density, Area, amd revenue, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (2017) Municipalities’ Financial statement Card of Fiscal Year 2016, http://www.soumu.go.jp/iken/zaisei/card-17.html.

OECD. (2011). OECD Regional Typology, Paris: OECD.

Independent town surveys on Carbon Emission and Absorption (2015) in Kataoka, Y., Asakawa, K., and Fujino, J. (2018). Shimokawa Town the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Report -The Shimokawa Challenge: Connecting people and nature with the future, Hayama: IGES.