The Multilocality of Satoyama Landscape, Cultural Heritage and Environmental Sustainability in Japan

Using the versatile concept of multilocality, the paper analyses the close interrelation between Japanese landscape, cultural heritage and social construction of spatial meaning in the context of satoyama (mountain village). Originally intended as a peripheral space of subsistence within the rural economy, satoyama is considered today one of the main expressions of the Japanese local culture guided by identity mechanisms and based on complex discursive constructions of native place-based and environmental rhetoric. At the same time, the satoyama landscape has also become a transnational symbol promoted by the Japanese government which is used in national and international research programmes for environmental sustainability. The sense of multilocality of the satoyama landscape is here interpreted in its double identity value that can be put to a wide variety of political and cultural constructions of place.

Analyzing Opinions on Sustainable Agriculture: Toward Increasing Farmer Knowledge of Organic Practices in Taiwan-Yuanli Township

Local farmer knowledge is key to sustainable agriculture when organic farming promotes biodiversity conservation. Yet, farmers may not recognize ecosystem service (ES) benefits within their agricultural landscape. Surveys were administered to 113 farmers, and the opinions of 58 respondents toward organic farming were analyzed to identify influential variables when deciding to farm organically. We classified responses by geographic category within a socio-economic production landscape (SEPL), and by social influence categories. With principal component analysis (PCA), a two-scale, four-phased analysis was conducted. Coastal farmers (n = 22) were the most positive towards organic farming trends due to consumer demand. Plains farmers (n = 18) were highly interested in future opportunities for achieving consumer health and food safety objectives. Mountain farmers (n = 18) perceived the most organic transitioning barriers overall, namely irrigation. In all three geographic categories, farming decisions were not primarily related to biodiversity conservation or ES management, but rather to farming community patterns, consumer feedback, and a lack of barriers. Further, farmer opinions toward organic practices were more influenced by their life experiences than by school-taught concepts. Since no previous studies have assessed the knowledge, values, and opinions on organic farming of Taiwan’s west coast farmers from an ES perspective, the proposed approach both identifies farmers’ knowledge and opinions, and verifies a satoyama landscape with PCA results for informed decision making.

Crises of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services in Satoyama Landscape of Japan: A Review on the Role of Management

Satoyama is a Japanese term used to describe the traditional rural landscape in Japan. It has changed continuously from overuse to underuse stages under the development of economy and society, which caused the loss of both biodiversity and ecosystem services. In this paper, we summarized the interactions of biodiversity and ecosystem services affected by human management in Satoyama landscape. The results indicate: (1) the concepts of Satoyama forests and Satoyama landscape varied with researchers and their objectives. The most popular one is a mosaic landscape consisting of Satoyama (secondary) forests, rice paddies, grassland, ponds, irrigating systems, and rural settlements; (2) traditional management regimes on Satoyama landscape were the disturbing mechanisms to provide multiple ecosystem services, as well as a series of semi-natural habitats for species; (3) due to significant progress in economy and technology in Japan, the aging problems of farmers, industrialized agriculture, the import of ecosystem services and goods from international markets, and global climate changes eventually caused the simplification of crop plants, the invasion of alien species, the fragmentation of habitats, and the decreasing of ecosystem services; (4) future research should pay more attention to the complex mechanisms of biodiversity crises and ecosystem services at the landscape scale, considering pattern-process relationships.

Human Nature Interaction in Ifugao Satoyama Landscape; UNESCO Inscribed Heritage Site and GIAHS

<p>The photography of satoyama landscape was made to document and appropriately label the different heritage sites &amp; GIAHS in Ifugao to include the various human interactions with regards to their series of activities in the rice terraces. Descriptive analyses of the photographs were presented in narrative form in a simple approach that can be understood and be appreciated by every audience.</p><p>Satoyama landscapes found in Ifugao were built and developed through prolonged interaction between humans and their surrounding ecosystems , as one of grounds that Ifugao is in the UNESCO Heritage Sites (In 1996, the Ifugao Rice Terraces was declared a World Heritage site by the UNESCO) and the only Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Site in the Philippines (GIAHS) and one of the few first listed GIAHS in the world . GIAHS are defined as “ Remarkable land use systems and landscapes which are rich in globally significant biological diversity evolving from the co-adaptation of a community with its environment and its needs and aspirations for sustainable development” (FAO 2002).</p>The researcher used the photos as resources of analysis, defined and labeled the landscapes and human interactions in the heritage sites. The five Ifugao world heritage clusters (Hungduan, Batad, Bangaan, Nagacadan, and Mayoyao,) were considered in this study.