**"Protecting the Greenery of the Land of Fire: A Record of Aso Grassland Restoration, 1996"**

**"Protecting the Greenery of the Land of Fire: A Record of Aso Grassland Restoration, 1996"**

Grassland conservation in the Aso region of Kumamoto Prefecture was closely linked to the structural challenges facing Japan's farming and mountain village regions in the mid-1990s. Aso boasts one of the world's most prominent caldera topographies, and its vast grasslands have long been used for pasture and grazing, but their maintenance has long depended on human activities, especially "wild burning" in early spring. Burning was an important means of farming and landscape management that encouraged the renewal of silver grass and chigaya, and prevented the invasion of forbs and invasive alien species.

However, in the 1990s, the aging of farmers and the lack of successors became apparent, and the number of people responsible for grassland management plummeted. In addition, the stagnation of agricultural product prices and the revision of the Agricultural Land Law made the business environment for livestock farmers more difficult, and as the number of cattle grazing decreased, grasslands began to deteriorate and forestation progressed. Against this backdrop, the grasslands were reevaluated for their value as a tourism resource and their ecological function as a habitat for rare species, and conservation activities were developed in collaboration with the government, academics, and citizen groups.

Specifically, Aso City and surrounding towns and villages took the lead in organizing local farmers and volunteers to develop a system to improve the safety and efficiency of field burning operations. In addition, local universities and research institutes conducted vegetation surveys and evaluated the impact of the burning on the ecosystem, and the results were used for tourism and environmental education. Collaborative organizations such as the "Aso Grassland Restoration Council" were also created during this period, and grassland restoration projects were initiated using government subsidies and prefectural environmental funds.

In addition, the 1990s was a time when the concept of "conservation of nature unique to each region" was incorporated into policy in Japan, following the Earth Summit (1992) and ratification of the Convention on Biological Diversity (1993). Conservation of the Aso Grasslands was positioned as part of this trend, and it attracted attention not only as a means of maintaining the landscape, but also as an initiative to conserve biodiversity and revitalize the local economy.

Thus, in 1996, the Aso grasslands were once again in the limelight as a symbol of the symbiosis between people and nature, and the spring burning of the fields was not just an act of farming, but a flame that would light up the future with local pride.