(Updated 20:14 with text) Kyodo News reported that due to concerns that increased tourist numbers could lead to environmental degradation on Japan’s Mount Fuji, UNESCO has urged Japan to take protective measures. In response, Japan’s Agency for Cultural Affairs held a Cultural Council meeting yesterday and introduced a plan to limit the number of hikers on Mount Fuji from 2017 to 2018 in order to protect the environment. In the future, people who wish to climb Mount Fuji will be subject to visitor controls.
Kyodo News also reported today that Japan’s Agency for Cultural Affairs held a Cultural Council meeting yesterday and outlined plans for the World Heritage Site Mount Fuji to begin limiting the number of hikers from around 2017 to 2018 to protect the environment, as well as to conduct research and studies on the history of Mount Fuji as an object of mountain worship.
The above plans will be included in a report on the protection status of Mount Fuji currently being prepared by Yamanashi and Shizuoka prefectures, which will be submitted to UNESCO by the end of February 2016.
Due to concerns that increasing tourist numbers may lead to environmental degradation on Mount Fuji, UNESCO has requested that Japan take action. The report will propose that from 2015, it will take about three years to primarily study and set carrying capacities for hiking trails above the Fifth Station (i.e., the halfway point up the mountain), along with implementing relevant measures.
Research on mountain worship is aimed at widely promoting Mount Fuji’s aspect as a cultural heritage site. This plan will mainly be advanced by the “Mount Fuji World Heritage Centre,” which the two prefectures plan to establish in fiscal year 2016.
In addition, the report also intends to incorporate lessons learned from the Ontake volcanic eruption, which caused multiple casualties, including enhanced evacuation guidance measures for hikers and others.