Yambaru

Yambaru National Park was established on 15 September 2016 and protects the northern end of the island of Okinawa, the forested region that Okinawans call yambaru, "mountain field". In 2021 it became one of the four components of the natural property inscribed by UNESCO under the name Amami-Oshima Island, Tokunoshima Island, Northern part of Okinawa Island, and Iriomote Island, inscribed under criterion (x), that relating to the conservation of biodiversity.

The forest of Yambaru is a dense subtropical laurel forest, dominated by evergreen oaks and chestnuts, over a relief of hills and narrow valleys with very high rainfall. Its value comes from isolation: the Ryukyu Islands broke away from the Asian mainland millions of years ago and their fauna evolved separately, giving rise to a set of endemic species with minute ranges.

The two most emblematic live only here. The Okinawa rail (Hypotaenidia okinawae) is a flightless bird discovered by science in 1981, restricted to this forest and endangered by road deaths and introduced predators. The Okinawa woodpecker (Dendrocopos noguchii) is one of the most threatened woodpeckers in the world, also confined to this strip of upland. They are joined by endemic amphibians and reptiles such as Ishikawa's frog and several species of turtle and snake. Conservation of the area has been shaped for decades by the presence of military installations and by the spread of the introduced mongoose, whose eradication programme is one of the pillars of management.