Sobo, Katamuki and Okue
UNESCO Biosphere ReserveTaketa Area Locations

What are UNESCO Biosphere Reserves?

UNESCO Biosphere Reserves are a business launched by UNESCO in 1976 for the purpose of balancing the conservation and sustainable use of ecosystems. Regions regarded as models of achieving a symbiosis between nature and human society get registered as reserves.

About Sobo, Katamuki and Okue UNESCO Biosphere Reserve

The Sobo-Katamuki-Okue mountain range that spans across Oita and Miyazaki prefectures is made up of steep, mountainous terrain and beautiful valleys, offering unique, undisturbed natural scenery. It is also a precious area, and a home for a treasure trove of rare plants and animals such as the Japanese serow, iwame salmon, akebono-tsutsuji azalea, and oyama-renge magnolia. The local councils of the areas around the Sobo-Katamuki-Okue mountain range (Oita prefecture: Saiki City, Bungo-ono City, Taketa City; Miyazaki prefecture: Nobeoka City, Takachiho Town, Hinokage Town) worked together to acknowledge the area as one where people lived alongside, protected, and made use of their natural surroundings, and earned recognition as a Biosphere Reserve by the UNESCO Bureau of the International Coordinating Council of the Man and the Biosphere Programme (MAB) in June 2017.

UNESCO Biosphere Reserve Functions and Regions

UNESCO Biosphere Reserves are established into three regions for purposes of preservation, academic research, and economic and social development.

UNESCO Biosphere Reserve Functions and Regions

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What to See in the Taketa AreaThe Beauty of Water and Agricultural Heritage

While the rugged mountain terrain and rich forests and valleys offer many sights to behold, one thing the Taketa area offers is agricultural civil engineering heritage properties.
The terrain in the region is complex and difficult to traverse, and once made it difficult to secure adequate water sources. But through the passion and skill of engineering pioneers, dams and bridges were built throughout the area, turning it into one capable of producing excellent agricultural yields. These heritage properties are symbolic of the symbiosis between nature and human society here in the area.