Kiichiro Hayashi

Assessing impacts of forest conversion on terrestrial vertebrates combining forestry cost with HSI and InVEST: case of Toyota city, Japan

Abandoned conifer plantation forests in Japan have been a major concern regarding ecosystem function and biodiversity conservation. Responding to local demands of sustainable forestry and considering the roles of mixed forests in conserving biodiversity, national and regional strategies are being prepared to partly convert the plantations into mixed forests and secondary forests in turn. In this paper, as a case study, we assessed the potential impacts of the forest conversion on the habitats of large-sized vertebrates of endangered (Ursus thibetanus and Accipiter gentilis) and common (Sus scrofa and Cervus nippon) status in Toyota city, Aichi prefecture. In the assessment, we applied an approach that combines multiple indices including habitat suitability index (HSI), InVEST (Integrated Valuation of Environmental Services and Tradeoffs) biodiversity model and forestry costs. We used various spatial data including vegetation maps and species occurrence data. We devised two scenarios of the forest conversion, based on economical and ecological analysis, in line with future forestry plans of the city and the prefecture. The analysis revealed that forest conversion results into increase in good quality habitat of the endangered species keeping the habitat of the common species unchanged.

Economics and Economic Valuation of Ecosystems and Biodiversity in Japan

The United Nations Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (2005) warned that human activities have induced dramatic degradation in biodiversity and serious loss of ecosystem services. It stated that biodiversity needed to be addressed at the global level. Considering the significance of the relation between biodiversity and socioeconomic systems, recent studies have scaled up the economic approach to biodiversity. One of the events that pushed the intertwined issues of biodiversity and economy onto the global agenda of international environmental policy was the G8 Environment Ministers Meeting held in 2007 where reference was made to the economic significance of the global loss of biological diversity. In response, the European Union (EU) and the German government-led “The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB): An Interim Report” (TEEB 2008) was announced in May 2008, drawing global attention as the “Stern Review” of biodiversity. It had been intensively compiling economic findings worldwide for the final synthesis report to be presented at the Tenth Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD-COP10) in 2010.

Connection to the Ecosystem Service Studies

This section explains the relationship between landscape management (LM) and ecosystem services (ESs). A proper LM would have two aspects, namely pros and cons, from the perspective of biodiversity and ESs. Improper LM may cause negative impacts on the ESs and ecosystems. On the other once an LM is done properly, several positive benefits can be derived from it. Then the trade-off between the impacts on wildlife habitat and the ES provisions made by the LM also needs to be considered. Currently, LM has been reviewed for many fields. However, information about the priority of the increase of ESs and the decrease of ecosystem disservices in this area is not readily available. This section also describes a simple spatial ES assessment for an urban area, namely Nagoya City, which was conducted using the method for estimating ES potential supply and land use priority, by taking LM into consideration.