Satoyama

:"For the sumo wrestler Satoyama, see Satoyama Kosaku"

nihongo|"Satoyama"|里山 is Japanese term apply to the border zone or area among the foot of mountain and arable flat land, literary "Sato" (里) is arable and livable land or home land, and "yama" (山) is mountain. Satoyama has been developed from centuries of small scale of agricultural and forestry use, also presents biodiversity if property maintained by human activities.

The concept of "satoyama" has several definitions. The first definition is the management of forests through local agricultural communities. During the Edo era, young and fallen leaves were gathered from community forests to use as fertilizer in wet rice paddy fields. Villagers also used wood for construction, cooking and heating. More recently, "satoyama" has been defined not only as mixed community forests, but also as entire landscapes that are used for agriculture. According to this definition, "satoyama" contains a mosaic of mixed forests, rice paddy fields, dry rice fields, grasslands, streams, ponds, and reservoirs for irrigation. Farmers use the grasslands to feed horses and cattle. Streams, ponds, and reservoirs play an important role in adjusting water levels of paddy fields and farming fish as a food source.cite web| url=http://ambio.allenpress.com/perlserv/?request=get-document&doi=10.1639%2F0044-7447(2003)032%5B0307%3APCAFST%5D2.0.CO%3B2&ct=1 | title=Participatory Conservation Approaches for Satoyama, the Traditional Forest and Agricultural Landscape of Japan| accessdate =| author=Hiromi Kobori| coauthors =Richard B. Primack| date = |year =2003| month= June|work=AMBIO: A Journal of the Human Environment|publisher=Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences|location =Sweden| pages =Article: pp. 307–311|doi=|archiveurl=http://ambio.allenpress.com/perlserv/?request=get-document&doi=10.1639%2F0044-7447(2003)032%5B0307%3APCAFST%5D2.0.CO%3B2&ct=1 | archivedate =2008-10-09]

Human Relationship with "Satoyama"

Human Population, Ownership, Landuse

Population decline in villages is considered a significant driving factor in the disappearance of "satoyama" from Japanese mountains. The depopulation of villages has occurred because of recent economic events from 1955 to 1975, which have created significant social and economic gaps between people in modern cities and mountain villages. Moreover, natural conditions such as steep slope and snowfall have led people to stay away from "satoyama". Regarding ownership, inhabitants in "satoyama" determined the shared ownership of common forests near their village in the beginning of 19th century. These forests were logged for economic considerations and the construction of houses. Because people have cut down forests near their village, today we often see old-growth forests, including beech in high elevations far from a village. Inhabitants use the wood from their private forests and conifer plantations for fuel. By the 1960s, "satoyama" was utilized as rice fields, plowed fields, shifting cultivation, grasslands, thatch fields, Secondary forests for fuel, and giant bamboo forests. [Fukamachi Katsue, Oku Hirokazu, and Nakashizuka Tohru (2001) The change of a "satoyama" landscape and its causality in Kamiseyama, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan between 1970 and 1995. Landscape Ecology 16: 703-71]

Biodiversity in "Satoyama"

Various habitat types for wildlife have been provided by mixed "satoyama" landscape as a result of Japanese traditional agricultural system what also facilitates the movement of wildlife between a variety of habitats. The migration of wild animals can occur among the ponds, rice paddy fields, grasslands, forests, and also from one village to another. Because of these ecosystems, a rich biodiversity in the Japanese rural area has been maintained. Ponds, reservoirs, and streams in particular play a significant role in the survival of water dependent species such as dragonflies, and fireflies. In early stage of their life cycle, they spend most of their time in water. Through maintaining a mixture of successional stages by the agricultural activities and the management of "satoyama", the preservation and promotion of biodiversity are facilitated. For instance, Japanese oaks and Japanese chestnut oaks are planted by farmers to maintain deciduous broad-leaf trees. Succession to dense and dark laurel forest is prevented by farmers that cut down these trees for fuelwood and charcoal every 15 to 20 years. Most plant and animal species are able to live in these deciduous forests because of traditional management practices. Therefore, much more wildlife can be supported by well managed forests than dark unmanaged laurel forests.

Causalities of the Disappearing "Satoyama"

"Satoyama" has been disappearing due to the drastic shift in natural resources from charcoal and firewood to oil and the change from compost to chemical fertilizer. Also, the problem of aging in Japanese society can cause the disappearance of "satoyama" because there are fewer people who can work in "satoyama" which are considered as intermediate disturbance on forests such as harvesting trees for timber and charcoal, cutting shrubs for firewood and collecting litter as compost. These human impacts can help the success of the forest occur. As the final causality of the disappearing of "satoyama", pine dominated secondary forests in "satoyama" were increasingly destroyed since pine wilt disease devastated pine forests in the 1970s. [Morimoto Junko and Yoshida Hironobu (2003) Dynamic changes of native Rhododendron colonies in the urban fringe of Kyoto city in Japan: detecting the long-term dynamism for conservation of secondary nature. Landscape and Urban Planning 70: 195-204] [Satoyama. Takeuchi K, Brown R.D., Washitani I., Tsunekawa A., Yokohari M. (2003) The traditional rural landscape of Japan. Landscape and Urban Planning. 229 pp., ISBN 4-431-00007-0 ]

Conservation of "Satoyama"

Throughout the 80s and 90s, the "satoyama" conservation movement was implemented in Japan because people realized that "satoyama" were needed to maintain healthy ecosystems. Currently, there are more than 500 environmental groups that work for the conservation of "satoyama". The main challenge for "satoyama" conservation today is that depopulation in "satoyama" has prevented the harvest of old growth trees which can support less biodiversity in "satoyama" than secondary growth forests. To deal with this problem, volunteers from the groups monitor "satoyama" to determine when to harvest trees appropriately. They also educate young people to teach how "satoyama" is important historically and ecologically and how the conservation of "satoyama" should be managed. Because of their efforts, "satoyama" is becoming more prevalent in Japanese landscapes. [Takeuchi Kazuhiko, Wahitani Izumi and Tsunekawa Atsushi (2001) "SATOYAMA": The Traditional Rural Landscape of Japan. University Tokyo Press 133-135 ISBN 4-13-060301-9]

See also

* Terrace (agriculture)
* Laurel forest
* Insect - Relationship to humans
* Paddy field
* Deforestation
* Land use, land-use change and forestry
* Beneficial insects
* Vermin
* Temperate deciduous forest

References

External links

* [http://ambio.allenpress.com/perlserv/?request=get-document&doi=10.1639%2F0044-7447(2003)032%5B0307%3APCAFST%5D2.0.CO%3B2&ct=1 Participatory Conservation Approaches for Satoyama, the Traditional Forest and Agricultural Landscape of Japan] , AMBIO: A Journal of the Human Environment; The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
* [http://www.cyberoz.net/city/sekine/gallery.htm SATOYAMA Gallery] Pictures of "satoyama"
* [http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/satoyama/ NOVA online: Japan's Secret Garden] , Public Broadcasting Service
* [http://www.ias.unu.edu/sub_page.aspx?catID=130&ddlID=474 Human Well–Being and the Restoration of Satoyama] , United Nations University
* [http://homepage3.nifty.com/ytamaki/ Wildlife in satoyama; The Village Forest Environmental Biology Laboratory (里山と雑木林の生きものたち;里山環境生物学研究所)] (In Japanese)
* Satoyama in the world through NHK web site (In Japanese with photo gallery)
** [http://www.nhk.or.jp/special/onair/070819.html 世界里山紀行、フィンランド　森・妖精との対話] ;(World "satoyama" travel in Finland, Literally; Forest - Dialog with fairy), NHK
** [http://www.nhk.or.jp/special/onair/070826.html 世界里山紀行、ポーランド　水辺に響きあういのち] ;(World "satoyama" travel in Poland, Literally; The lives echoing around waterside), NHK
** [http://www.nhk.or.jp/special/onair/070827.html 世界里山紀行、中国・雲南、竹とともに生きる] ;(World "satoyama" travel in Yunnan, China, Literally; Symbiotic human life with bamboo), NHK