The government has submitted a proposal to UNESCO for adding two islands in Kagoshima Prefecture, the northern part of the Okinawa Prefecture's main island and a remote Okinawa island to the international organization's list of World Natural Heritage sites. Gaining the heritage status for these sites should not be the ultimate goal. Irrespective of whether they make it on the list, both the national and local governments should fulfill their responsibility and do everything necessary to conserve the sites for the heritage of humankind while protecting the livelihood of local residents.

Pristine subtropical forests of evergreen, broad-leaved trees grace Amami-Oshima and Tokunoshima islands of Kagoshima, Iriomote Island of Okinawa and the northern part of the Yanbaru area of Okinawa Island. These sites cover a total of some 38,000 hectares and their forests are home to rare species. In submitting the proposal to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, the government said that these islands, after they were separated from the Asian land mass, saw distinctive evolution, giving rise to a variety of indigenous species such as the Amami rabbit, the Okinawa rail and the Iriomote cat, and that the sites are important from the standpoint of biodiversity due to the existence of these valuable endemic species.

Given these characteristics, the sites have universal value. UNESCO's World Heritage Committee will decide whether to add them to its list in summer 2018, following on-site inspections. If the sites are put on the list, they will be the fifth area in Japan to receive World Natural Heritage recognition, following the Shirakami mountainous area of Aomori and Akita prefectures, Yaku Island of Kagoshima, the Shiretoko Peninsula in Hokkaido and the Ogasawara Islands of Tokyo.