At BASE 101%, A0 expands its local partnerships. BASE 101% offers a restaurant serving game meat and locally grown vegetables, a café with strawberry-based treats, and out- lets for local artist-made crafts. Visitors can also explore wood-based projects they can do in their homes and view products from Nishiawakura Mori no Gakko, connecting the community with A0’s broader mission of realizing the “Satoyama of the Future.” Through these diverse projects, A0 creates a triple bottom line impact, defining success in the three areas of people, planet, and profit. 32 For A0, impact is about the long-term sustainability of its projects, the health of the ecosystems it manages, and the well-being of the people it serves. A0’s forestry program, for example, generates revenue and has a goal to restore forest health, create local jobs, and strengthen community ties. Working with SIIF, each project is designed with a systems approach, and considers how the various pieces—people, nature, and economy— work together. This relationship with the SIIF team is new and impact data will be generated in 2025. As graphically communicated in the human security framework shown in Chapter 2, the aspects of political, economic, social, and environmental factors, are all interrelated. A0 team members understand this and embody this framework in their work. As Daisuke Maki comments, “Because various things are intertwined and interconnected, it just doesn’t work to focus on only one thing.” 33 Solutions that embrace a systems lens can be For A0, the vision for the ecosystem and its implementation has always been rooted in its understanding of the local community. However, finding consensus with those communities has often been challenging. Maki speaks candidly about this tension. “There might be agreement on the results, but my creativity, even if it leads to something new, can’t possibly be understood immediately by others. Although I hoped it would lead to happiness, I sometimes faced aggressive reactions,” he reflects. 35 Addressing this challenge—pushing for necessary change while maintaining community trust—has been a central part of A0’s journey. Bringing new ideas to the table is one part of the task, but it is equally important to listen carefully to the people whose lives those ideas will affect. A0 has learned this firsthand and now strives to design programs with communities, rather than for them. While the initiatives are based on the wishes and aspirations of the village, the company must balance this with its own priority to scale its business model for sustainability. more resilient, adaptive, and impactful. 34 Importance of Community Support
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Ten Years in the Making
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