Brian J. Shaw

Fostering biocultural diversity in landscapes through place-based food networks: a “solution scan” of European and Japanese models

Many Japanese and European landscapes harbor biocultural diversity that has been shaped by human agency over centuries. However, these landscapes are threatened by widespread land abandonment, land-use changes, and urbanization. The aim of this study is to use a “solution scanning” method to identify place-based food networks in Europe and Japan that reinforce linkages between biological and cultural diversity in landscapes. In our analysis of 26 European and 13 Japanese cases, we find that place-based food networks are typically located in heterogeneous landscapes, are driven by civil society (and less by markets), and act at a local scale. Regional identity is the most frequently addressed societal issue. Scenery, rural tourism, and nature conservation are more important motivations in Europe, and physical well-being and revitalization of local economies are more relevant in Japan. European models are typically associated with achieving biodiversity conservation and socio-cultural tradition outcomes, and Japanese models more with public health and nutrition outcomes. We discuss the potential for transfer of approaches from Japan to Europe (e.g., models that tackle the aging of rural societies), and from Europe to Japan (e.g., models that build explicit connections between food production and biodiversity conservation). We conclude with a list of recommended policy measures, e.g., the creation of a flexible legal framework that protects the interests of and reduces political constraints for collaborative efforts to biocultural diversity in landscapes.

Contributions of citizen science to landscape democracy: potentials and challenges of current approaches

Abstract For landscape research to function in a democratic landscape governance, it must achieve two things. One, it must integrate stakeholder perspectives at multiple steps of the research process, and two, it must effectively communicate its knowledge and insights. Citizen science can be described as the involvement of the public in the scientific process, through a range of different approaches. We ask what such approaches can bring the landscape research and its stakeholders closer together. We survey the field of citizen science and present a number of typologies of approaches. Next, we introduce three applications of citizen science in the landscape context and examine them under the lens of the typologies. We find that each case employs citizen science to include stakeholders in different ways, but each of them limited to just one stage of the research process. Finally, we suggest ways forward for landscape research to achieve an integrative relationship between researchers and stakeholders.