– ICLEI Japan Member Information –

Sado City

Message from the Mayor of Sado City 

Ryugo Watanabe

As part of its efforts to create a sustainable island, Sado City was selected by the Government as a ‘Decarbonization Leading Areas’ in April 2022 and an ‘SDGs Future City’ in May.

The initiatives of the Decarbonization Leading Areas selected as models for remote islands not only reduce greenhouse gas emissions and strengthen disaster prevention and mitigation capabilities by promoting the introduction of renewable energy, but also prevent the outflow of funds to outside the islands through local energy production for local consumption, leading to an internal circulation of the economy.

In addition, Sado City’s SDGs Future City Vision consider a society that realizes the inheritance of Sado’s unique history and culture, such as the Toki (Japanese crested ibis) and the Sado Gold and Silver Mine, as the 18th goal of the Sustainable Development Goals and promotes it through cooperation with diverse actors so that history, and culture can circulate with the environment, economy and society and people can continue to live prosperously.

In partnership with ICLEI, we will work towards even more sustainable cities and regions.

Overview of Sado City 

佐渡市

Sado City is located almost in the center of Niigata Prefecture in the Sea of Japan. It is the largest remote island in Japan, located in the region where measures to promote remote islands are being implemented.

From Tokyo Station, the Joetsu Shinkansen bullet train takes 1.5 to 2 hours to Niigata Station, then a 15-minute bus ride from Niigata Station to the Niigata Port Sado Kisen Terminal, where you can take a high-speed boat from Niigata Port to Ryotsu Port in about 1 hour to Sado. The shortest journey time is 3.5 hours.

Sado City, which started the certificate system for the co-inhabitant with the crested ibis, when the crested ibis was returned to the wild, was recognized as Japan’s first Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS) in 2011 for its efforts in farming methods that nurture living creatures in consideration of the rice paddy ecosystem, beautiful scenery such as terraced rice fields and traditional farming culture handed down from the past, with the aim of coexistence with the crested ibis. In addition, the Sado Island Gold Mines was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in July 2024, recognizing its gold production system based on Japan’s unique traditional handicrafts during the Edo period.

Basic Information

47,391

Population
(As of 31 May 2025) 

855

Area

Sado City Website

Environmental Initiatives 

In October 2022, Sado City made a Nature Positive Declaration, which includes expanding the number of places that contribute to biodiversity conservation and reducing the transfer and use of resources that reduce biodiversity in other regions. The city subsequently participated in the Fifteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP15 Part 2) held in Canada, where its activities on Sado were strongly communicated to the world. Along with the promotion of a zero carbon island, Sado City will work to promote environmental investment and a circular economy.

World Heritage Site ‘The Gold Mines of Sado Island’

Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS)

Sado Geopark

Nature Positive Sado Island Declaration

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