Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2025

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1080/14742837.2025.2554609

Publication Title

Social Movement Studies

Volume

Pre-Print, Accepted Version

Pages

1-17

Abstract

Previous studies have found that when activists’ demands are not met by their home government, activists may adopt transnational strategies to levy international pressure on their government. While a growing body of literature explores how civil society organizations may take their causes to IGOs like the United Nations (UN) to exert pressure on their home governments, it overlooks the variation in the forms of IGOs and the ways that activists use them to exert leverage. The anti-helipad/Osprey movement in Okinawa, Japan, shows how activists may use state-initiated processes of international recognition, such as the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s (UNESCO) World Natural Heritage (WNH) status, to levy international pressure. Drawing on interviews and other primary sources, I demonstrate how environmental activists leveraged the Japanese government’s 2017 nomination of Northern Okinawa (primarily encompassing the Yambaru Forest) to garner international attention for the Northern Training Area (NTA) and its environmental impacts. I argue that this strategy was especially salient in Japan, given the Japanese government’s efforts at crafting a national identity and image as a global environmental leader and a tourist destination. While the WNH designation was ultimately granted, activists’ efforts pressured the Japanese government to release previously private information about the US military presence in the area, as well as opened a channel for future international pressure.

Rights

This is an Accepted Manuscript version of the following article, accepted for publication in Social Movement Studies.

Willis, C. N. (2025). Not seeing the forest for the helicopters: UNESCO recognition and resistance to the US military in Okinawa. Social Movement Studies, 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1080/14742837.2025.2554609

It is deposited under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Original Publication Citation

Willis, C. N. (2025). Not seeing the forest for the helicopters: UNESCO recognition and resistance to the US military in Okinawa. Social Movement Studies, 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1080/14742837.2025.2554609

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