Kei Kabaya

Co-design of national-scale future scenarios in Japan to predict and assess natural capital and ecosystem services

Although the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services has revealed that the development of scenarios is crucial for helping decision makers identify the potential impact of different policy options, there is a lack of reported scenario approach studies in Asia. A new 5-year research project (PANCES) has been developed for predicting and assessing the natural capital and ecosystem services in Japan using an integrated social–ecological system approach via the participation of 15 research institutions and more than 100 researchers. PANCES conducts the development of national-scale future scenarios for exploring potential changes in natural capital and ecosystem services, as well as human well-being, up to 2050 using key direct and indirect drivers including climate change, depopulation, and super-aging, as well as globalization and technological innovation. The Delphi method is employed to generate key drivers that determine different future pathways. Based on the two drivers for scenario axes identified by the Delphi survey and extensive discussion with project members and policy makers, four future scenarios are created, “Natural capital-based compact society”, “Natural capital-based dispersed society”, “Produced capital-based compact society”, and “Produced capital-based dispersed society”, respectively, in addition to the business-as-usual scenario. This study describes a novel approach for collectively designing national-scale future scenarios with qualitative storylines and a visual illustration of the developed scenarios in Japan.

Development of land-use scenarios using vegetation inventories in Japan

Abstract Changes in land use and land cover (LULC) have major effects on biodiversity and ecosystem services. Land change models can simulate future trends of ecosystem services under different scenarios to inform the actions of decision makers towards building a more sustainable society. LULC data are essential inputs for predicting future land changes. It is now possible to derive high-resolution LULC maps from satellite data using remote sensing techniques. However, the classification of land categories in these maps is too limited to sufficiently assess biodiversity and ecosystem services. This study aims to develop land-use scenarios, using an appropriate LULC map, to enable assessment of biodiversity and ecosystem services at the national scale. First, we developed an LULC dataset using vegetation inventories based on field records of vegetation collected throughout the country in the periods 1978–1987, 1988–1998 and 1999–2014. The vegetation maps consist of over 905 vegetation categories, from which we aggregated the most prevalent categories into 9 LULC categories. Second, we created a business-as-usual scenario and plausible future scenarios on the land use change maps using the Land Change Model tool. In the process of developing the model, we considered key drivers including biophysical and socio-economic factors. The results showed some key land changes as consequences of intensive/extensive land-use interventions. These derived scenario maps can be used to assess the impacts of future land change on biodiversity and ecosystem services.

Investigating future ecosystem services through participatory scenario building and spatial ecological–economic modelling

Scenario analysis with integrated quantitative modelling has become a common approach to investigate possible future socio-ecological systems in sustainability research. Facing several barriers on the use of scenarios, however, a participatory scenario approach has gained wider attention in place-based environmental research communities. In this paper, we investigate future ecosystem services (i.e., food production, carbon sequestration, nutrient retention, and habitat provision) in the explorative manner in the Sado island, Japan, using a participatory scenario approach and spatial ecological–economic modelling techniques. The contributions of this paper to the existing literatures are twofold: the one is collaborative use of morphological analysis and participants’ votes for more fair and transparent scenario building, and the other is a suite of spatial modelling techniques, inter alia, land-use projections using a spatial multinomial logit model, for more robust and accurate simulations. Taking such innovative approaches and constructing the ecosystem service index reflecting local perceptions, we built distinctive six scenarios and projected future ecosystem services. As consequences, we could (1) illuminate the trade-offs between land-based ecosystem services, (2) highlight the importance of adequate mosaic structures in providing bundle of ecosystem services, and (3) visualize the spatially heterogenous impacts of alternative scenarios that imply one scenario does not fit all areas. We also discussed the interpretation of a sink service from sustainability perspectives and lessons learned from the parallel approach of participatory scenario building and quantitative modelling exercises.

Scenario analysis of land-use and ecosystem services of social-ecological landscapes: implications of alternative development pathways under declining population in the Noto Peninsula, Japan

Population-decline and subsequent underuse of social-ecological landscapes are increasingly being recognized as one of the crucial drivers behind the loss and deterioration of biodiversity and ecosystem services. In line with this, the study aimed to explore how alternative development pathways influence future land-use patterns, biodiversity and ecosystem services against a rapidly declining population in the Noto peninsula of Japan. By combining land-use simulation and evaluation of ecosystem services, the study formulated four exploratory scenarios for 2050, assuming a contrasting level of the society’s reliance on domestic natural capital and different demographic patterns. At first, we analyzeds historical land-use changes between 1997 and 2007 and thereby simulated four plausible alternative scenarios using the Multi-Layer Perceptron Neural Network model. These scenarios were further used to quantify ecosystem services and landscape heterogeneity (as biodiversity indicator). The scenario analysis demonstrated that future land-use pattern could vary drastically depending on how the society utilize local natural capital even under the severe depopulation trend, whereas demographic patterns, in general, did not make discernible differences in land-use, biodiversity and ecosystem services. Nevertheless, a land-use change made considerable differences in the level of ecosystem services and landscape heterogeneity with varying degrees. Our analysis suggested that ecosystem services such as food production and nitrogen retention as well as landscape heterogeneity would decrease considerably by 2050 under the scenarios where the utilization of local natural capital decline and a significant amount of farmland are abandoned. Our findings highlight the vital role of land-use and agricultural policy in shaping the future availability of ecosystem services and biodiversity in this area.