CORALCOLLABO

Video

Description

The Yaeyama Islands are a group of islands centered around Ishigaki Island. The Yaeyama Islands are famous for some of the world's best coral reefs, but in recent years, coral reefs have been dying off rapidly in the waters off the Yaeyama Islands. The causes include global warming and the outbreak of crown-of-thorns starfish, but the main cause is actually the inflow of red soil and nutrients from farmland, domestic wastewater, and other things into the sea, in other words, the impact of our activities on land. Based on this, we have compiled coral-friendly initiatives as guidelines for each department, and are working to certify businesses that meet these guidelines as Coracolla Certified. We believe that a series of environmental conservation efforts from land to sea will lead to environmental conservation not only for coral reefs, but for the natural environment in general.
Using a tool called local certification, we are working to design an economy that is kind to both people and the planet.

Story

It all started when an organic farmer, who had heard about local certification cases both in Japan and overseas, called on fellow farmers, food service and accommodation workers who were interested in food to hold a study session.
The first study session was held in May 2019, and eight study sessions were held over the course of a year to learn about the overview of local certification and create guidelines. At the study sessions, people from different industries gathered and talked regardless of age, gender, achievements, or years in the business. It is also important to break down horizontal walls and work together to come up with ideas to tackle this environmental issue, so the initials of the words coral and collaboration were combined to form the name "CoraColla."
Guidelines for "agriculture," "food service," and "accommodation" were completed in 2020, and activities began as participatory certification in 2021. We are creating a system that involves the general public, not just businesses.
Korakora certification initially started with seven businesses, but the number of certified businesses has steadily increased every year, and as of October 17th, there are 21 certified businesses (in the agriculture, food and beverage, accommodation, and relaxation sectors).

Link

• https://coracolla.wixsite.com/ishigaki

Images

Judge’s Comments

Renaud Haerlingen

Architect, former Principal at Rotor and Co-founder of Rotor Deconstruction

Stewardship Award

I’m not a fan of certification systems; I sometimes suspect them to take the spotlight instead of the actual field work. CoraColla's entry to the crQlr Awards and the context of Yaeyama islands offered me a focus on scale. I like the story of how the idea came about, how it led to study-sessions and how it created spaces to address the stakes and engage with stakeholders. The tool, intentionally humble, is an appropriate stewardship mechanism: the acceptance of responsibility to shepherds and safeguarding the valuables of others. It supports backwards investigations of potential cause-and-consequence chains, and through finding the forms and language to reach out widely, people from all walks of life will contribute to regenerating coral reefs. In practice, to prevent red soil erosion, I want these sticks to be stuck in the field for more than 1 meter!