Ryo Kohsaka

Developing biodiversity indicators for cities: applying the DPSIR model to Nagoya and integrating social and ecological aspects

Capturing the trends and status of urban biodiversity is challenged by current rapid changes, including increasing population flow into urban areas and multiple pressures on neighboring ecosystems. For this reason, this article aims to highlight relevant findings from both ecological and social sciences in the development of urban and biodiversity indicators. It examines the applicability of a model to an urban city in Japan. The objectives of this study are threefold. First, it reviews and summarizes the historical development and relevant existing studies of urban and biodiversity indicators, the “Drivers-Pressure-State-Impact-Response” (DPSIR) model is presented, and its main critiques are summarized. Second, trends in scientific studies in specific journals are identified. Third, practical lessons for a Japanese local municipality, the city of Nagoya, are derived from two previous sets of reviews. The applicability of the “DPSIR” to current practices in the city of Nagoya is examined to assess the relevance of the model to real situations.

Mapping and characterizing ecosystem services of social–ecological production landscapes: case study of Noto, Japan

Improving our understanding about ecosystem production, function, and services is central to balancing both conservation and development goals while enhancing human well-being. This study builds a scientific basis for conservation and development planning by exploring the types, abundance, and spatial variation in ecosystem services in the Noto Peninsula of Japan, a Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems. Although the Noto Peninsula is recognized as an important social–ecological production landscape, limited quantitative information about ecosystem services is available. This study evaluates and maps ecosystem services and explores their spatial variation using original data obtained through questionnaire surveys and secondary data from literature, statistics, and geographic information systems. The hilly and mountainous geography of the Noto Peninsula and its remoteness from large consumption markets work as constraints for agricultural provisioning services by limiting water resources, labor productivity, and choice of economically viable crops. However, the rich forests, and marine and coastal resources provide various economic opportunities for forest-, fishery-, and livestock-related provisioning services. Geographical conditions such as land use and cover type also play an important role in differentiating the spatial variation of regulating services, a variation that starkly differs to distribution patterns in other areas. Unlike provisioning and regulating services, natural and artificial landscape components including traditional and cultural constructions such as shrines and temples work as an anchor to help people appreciate intangible and tangible cultural services, linking different services to specific locales across the Noto Peninsula.

Indicators for Management of Urban Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services: City Biodiversity Index

Capturing the status and trends of biodiversity and ecosystem services in urban landscapes represents an important part of understanding whether a metropolitan area is developing along a sustainable trajectory or not. However, this task also represents unique challenges for policy makers and scientists alike, challenges that lie at both the methodological (scaling, boundaries, definitions) and institutional levels (integrating biodiversity and ecosystems with social and economic goals). In this chapter we report on the experiences from municipalities in several countries where the newly developed City Biodiversity Index (CBI) has been applied and tested. The purpose here is not to compare or rank different municipalities but rather to deepen our understanding of the science underlying the indicators and contribute improvements to the CBI in different contexts. Based on experiences in implementing the CBI in 14 cities in Japan, and in Lisbon (Portugal), Helsinki (Finland), Mira Bhainder (India) and Edmonton (Canada) it is evident that the CBI has limitations that need to be addressed: (1) lack of data and the scale and boundaries need careful consideration, (2) the scoring represents a challenge as the bio-geographical differences or the profile of the cities varies largely, (3) the number and scope of ecosystems captured are limited and a broader range of ecosystem services should be included, and (4) the integrated social-ecological dimension of cities needs further development. However, it is also evident that CBI has some unique features, and can perhaps most importantly serve as both a tool that brings managers, scientists and other stakeholders together to act on the role of biodiversity and ecosystem services in the cities as well as a tool for assessing the impacts of different policies and land planning options on urban biodiversity.

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.

Local Assessment of Tokyo: Satoyama and Satoumi – Traditional Landscapes and Management Practices in a Contemporary Urban Environment

This assessment explores the Japanese concepts of satoyama and satoumi (land and coastal), as possible strategies for sustainable management and governance of common urban ecological resources. Satoyama and satoumi are described as landscape types, and management approaches to land and coastal areas that build on a mosaic composition of ecosystem types and their inherent interlinkages. The management practices and the rich biodiversity of the landscapes are thus mutually interdependent. It is acknowledged in the assessment that local governments play a critical role for the management of urban ecosystems and conservation of biodiversity, which is especially important in the face of the unprecedented urban growth currently ongoing globally. This assessment provides an overview of the urbanization trends in Japan, with related challenges to ecosystem provisioning, and the opportunities for sustainable management that a satoyama and satoumi approach can present. Some international examples of ecosystem management that in different ways can inspire transformation of governance structures in Japan to support urban satoyama and satoumi are highlighted. Open image in new window

Analysis of Japanese Municipalities With Geopark, MAB, and GIAHS Certification

We analyzed the discussions of Japanese municipalities in their process for obtaining certifications for the Geoparks by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the Man and the Biosphere Programme (MAB) by the UNESCO, and the Globally Important Agricultural Heritage systems (GIAHS) by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations. The official records at the municipality diet were analyzed in a quantitative manner from 2011 to 2013. As the first step, we analyzed the eight municipalities of Noto and Sado for the GIAHS, the cities Itoigawa and Hakusan for the Geopark, and Katsuyama Yamanouchi village from Nagano for the MAB. As individual examples, we analyzed City of Suzu with GIAHS, Itoigawa (Geopark), and Yamanouchi town (MAB) with the text-mining approach. For the GIAHS, it was clear that the larger municipalities with city status tended to discuss certification issues more frequently than the smaller towns and villages. Terms such as conservation and certification tended to be used with GIAHS at the Suzu City. The term brand was used with GIAHS and MAB but not for the Geopark. The findings using quantitative methods are at initial stage for analysis of municipality strategies and require further future research.

Interactions of knowledge systems in shiitake mushroom production: a case study on the Noto Peninsula, Japan

This paper examines the relationships between traditional and modern scientific knowledge regarding shiitake mushroom production in the Ishikawa Prefecture of Japan. In the Noto Peninsula in Ishikawa Prefecture, the success of a new variety of shiitake, the Noto-Temari brand, has boosted the number of farmers, the majority of whom are new to mushroom production. Looking at the production of raw and dried mushrooms of the Noto-Temari brand, the paper compares the knowledge systems of conventional farmers and the newcomers to mushroom production. In the case of the premium-quality Noto-Temari brand, the newcomers achieve a higher rate of production than the conventional mushroom producers do. We apply the knowledge conversion framework of Polanyi (1966) to understand the dynamics of the knowledge system, and find that, in our case, traditional knowledge and techniques can be productive but can also represent obstacles to the adoption of new technology. In other words, it is possible that a knowledge of conventional technology interferes with the utilization of modern knowledge to grow the premium-quality Noto-Temari brand.

Greening the Cities with Biodiversity Indicators: Experience and Challenges from Japanese Cities with CBI

For scientists, and other stakeholders in biodiversity monitoring systems (including AP-BON), capturing and understanding the status and trends of biodi- versity and ecosystem services are a main focus. In the policy-science interface, communicating the complex results in comprehensible ways has been one of the key challenges. Development of indicators, maps, and other visualization tools is instrumental for identification, understanding, and support of the relevant policy decisions and processes. In recent years, different cities have explored the development of such indicators in the urban context through negotiation. The development of indicators for urban ecosystems and biodiversity is shown here. The potential challenge of the applica- tion and use of such indicators in Japanese urban contexts is reviewed based on interviews and existing data. This chapter discusses and reviews the advantages and limitations of urban biodiversity indicators. The review focuses on applying the newly developed City Biodiversity Index (CBI), modifying the Singapore city biodiversity index adjusted so Japanese local municipalities can easily use it practically. The data are based on a research project implemented by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, Japan (MLIT). The existing literature points out that policy makers tend to emphasize ecosys- tem services for justification of their policies whereas scientists tend to focus on biodiversity. Kohsaka R (2010) Developing biodiversity indicators for cities: applying the DPSIR model to Nagoya and integrating social and ecological aspects. Ecol Res 25:925-936. Such twists are not a major problem if the status of biodi- versity correlates with ecosystem services: this is true at a global or at a regional

Tourist Expectations: A Comparative Study between Non-Asian and Taiwan/ Hong Kong Tourists in Kanazawa, Japan

International tourists to Japan have attracted considerable attention in the Japanese tourism sector. In particular, tourists from Asia, China in particular, are increasingly recognized as an important target group. To accommodate the demands of foreign tourists, the tourism industry must investigate the satisfaction and preferences of such tourists, as well as the challenges encountered by both tourists and gastronomy sectors. By comparing the responses of tourists with those in the service sector, this study identified future tasks for inbound tourism. This study focused on tourists from Hong Kong and Taiwan. In a parallel questionnaire, employees of restaurants in Kanazawa City were interviewed. The results of the survey on tourists from Hong Kong and Taiwan were compared with the results from non-Asian tourists. A significant difference was observed as regards the communication between tourists and staff (i.e., the language barrier) between the two groups. In addition, the level of satisfaction on Wi-Fi Internet access is the lowest amongst all the survey items regardless of the tourists’ nationality.

Fostering cooperation between farmers and public and private actors to expand environmentally friendly rice cultivation: intermediary functions and farmers’ perspectives

ABSTRACT This study investigates the intermediary functions and the farmers’ perspectives in the development and implementation of agri-environmental schemes in Shiga Prefecture of Japan by employing the innovation journey analysis and the statistical analysis. The innovation journey analysis demonstrates that the prefectural government served as an ‘innovation intermediary’ to: (1) provide a clear vision of sustainable agriculture for farmers and other actors, (2) create and reinforce both technological and market niches and (3) develop actor networks involving local actors. It also identifies the following roles of the Japan Agricultural Cooperatives (JAs) and the specialist wholesaler as innovation intermediaries to: (1) develop new farming materials such as fertilizers, (2) translate and deliver practical farming knowledge for farmers and (3) establish the market of environmental-friendly rice. Statistical analysis uncovers that farmers more appreciated the supports from the JAs than those from other intermediaries to participate in the schemes. Complemented by the innovation journey analysis, our findings suggest that the keys to increasing farmers’ participation in the schemes include a clear vision and economic incentives for farmers as well as the coordination among intermediaries who have different expertise.