United Nations University Institute for the Advanced Study of Sustainability
Operating Unit Ishikawa/Kanazawa

OUIK Newsletter

Vol.3 No.2
Sept.30, 2014

CBD COP 12 and OUIK’s Contribution
Tsunao Watanabe
Director
United Nations University Institute for the Advanced Study of Sustainability
Operating Unit Ishikawa/Kanazawa (UNU-IAS OUIK)Dear OUIK supporters,
Since its establishment in 2008, OUIK has been conducting policy-relevant
research and dissemination of information from the grassroots and regional
level up to the international research community level in the field ofconservation of biological diversity.
As you may know, the Aichi Targets, which define the strategy of theConvention on Biological Diversity from 2010 to 2020 were agreed by theConvention’s parties at COP 10, held in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture in 2010. Following discussions inHyderabad at COP 11 in 2012, one of the important agenda items for this year is to evaluate the progress
towards achieving the Aichi Targets at COP12, which will be held in Pyeongchang, Republic of Korea.
For OUIK, COP12 would be a good opportunity not only to share our activities and outcomes withparticipants, but also to sharpen our mission and contribution to the global arena. To report on its
activities, OUIK will hold an official side event titled "Traditional Agricultural Systems and BiologicalDiversity" on 7 October 2014, jointly organized with Rural Development Administration, National Academyof Agricultural Science, Republic of Korea. OUIK’s Sustainable Primary Industries (SPI) team has beenworking to assess the impact of Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS) designation inthe Noto Region of Ishikawa Prefecture, and the event will focus on the contributions of GIAHS designation
to the conservation of biological diversity. Best practices and experiences of local governments of GIAHS
designated sites in the Republic of Korea and Japan will also be shared.
The Satoyama and Satoumi (SAS) team is working on biological diversity and an ecological services
assessment at the local scale by compiling a thematic map of the Hokuriku area. The team has also started
to work on the Mt. Hakusan area (southern part of Ishikawa Prefecture) to support its revision process as aUNESCO Biosphere Reserve. The Cities and Biodiversity (CAB) team is continuing with theconceptualization of the interrelationship between biological and cultural diversity based on the case ofKanazawa City.
I expect the activities described above will form the basis for an exchange of views with participants,
especially from the local and regional level. Furthermore, through discussions at COP 12, I expect OUIK willfind a way to play a key role in connecting policies and initiatives at various levels extending from thecommunity, local and national government to the global level towards achieving the Aichi Targets by 2020.
OUIK’s Objectives:
1. To contribute to international research activities, in collaboration with local partners, towards asustainable society, and2. To develop communication and networks with local stakeholders through public outreach andcapacity building while sharing information on international trends.

Activity Report
Satoyama and Satoumi (SAS): Mt. Hakusan region selected as new area for research and collaboration
The Mt. Hakusan region, located in the southern part of Ishikawa Prefecture, will be the target researcharea of the SAS project. The Mt. Hakusan region was designated as the first Biosphere Reserve (BR) site ofthe UNESCO Man and Biosphere (MAB) programme1 in Japan along with three other sites. Since the launchof the programme in 1971, the number of BR sites has expanded to 631 reserves across 119 countries.
Since the 8th century, Mt. Hakusan has been considered one ofJapan’s sacred mountains along with Mt. Fuji and Mt. Tateyama.
The region sees some of the heaviest snowfall in Japan andprovides important natural resources for its downstream areas.
Until around the 1960s to 1970s, traditional livelihoods such asslash-and-burn agriculture and sericulture were still maintainedin the area. In recent years, some outstanding socio-educational
facilities and activities have emerged, including the Hakusan FolkMuseum, which preserves traditional houses and tools, and theTasting traditional food at Hakusan Folk Museum

Hakusan Nature Conservation Center for monitoring wildlife and promoting the nature of Hakusan tovisitors. The local farmers and NGOs engage in new approaches to the utilization of satoyama resources,including the restoration of abandoned paddy fields and pasture for grazing weeds in the ancient Kinameri
Village (Hakusan City, Ishikawa Prefecture).
The Hakusan region BR site involves six cities and one village spanning four different prefectures. They
formed the Mt. Hakusan Biosphere Reserve Council for the revision of the site to extend and include thetransition area with a greater scope of human activities and larger habitat in addition to the existing corearea and buffer zone.

In August 2014, OUIK was designated as one of the advisory members to theCouncil. Through its international network and close collaboration with UNESCO, OUIK would like tocontribute to the council and provide support towards creating the scientific basis for natural resource
management in the region in harmony with local communities.
Cities and Biodiversity (CAB): Series of Seminars on Biological and Cultural Diversity
From 12-13 August, the CAB team held a two-day seminar,
inviting university professors, policy-makers from the Kanazawa
municipal government and Ishikawa prefectural government, as
well as local stakeholders. The aim of this series of seminars is toi) conceptualize biological and cultural diversity in the context ofJapan’s natural environment, ii) seek to identify the biological andcultural
1

diversityofKanazawa,andiii)

makepolicy

Biosphere reserves are sites established by countries and recognized under UNESCO's Man and the Biosphere (MAB) Programme to promotesustainable development based on local community efforts and sound science.
http://www.unesco.org/new/en/natural-sciences/environment/ecological-sciences/man-and-biosphere-programme/

recommendations on how these can be effectively sustained. During the discussions, Prof. Shikida(Hokkaido University) stated that the biological and cultural diversity should be considered as aninterrelationship between cities and rural areas, while Prof. Nakamura (Kanazawa University) and Prof.
Yumoto (Kyoto University) pointed out the importance of continuous data collection on the biologicalcharacteristics of Kanazawa and its socio-economic impacts. At the end of the seminar, Tsunao Watanabe(Director, OUIK) said that it is very important to propose the “Ishikawa-Kanazawa Model” as a policy
recommendation whereby cities and rural areas can mutually provide support for the sake of theireconomic development and biological conversation. The seminar discussion will be compiled andpresented at a UNU symposium, which will be held as a memorial event during the UNESCO Creative City
Network Annual Meeting in Kanazawa, from 25-28 May 2015.
To empirically study the work conceptualized here, the CAB team and Kanazawa municipal government
interviewed Mr. Koichiro Toshioka, a prominent local ceramics maker in Kanazawa. The interview wasconducted to explore one of the traditional crafts of Kanazawa and to clarify how its manufacturing
process has been interrelated with the natural environment of the city. According to Mr. Toshioka, it isimportant to collect the specific soil produced in and around the Kanazawa area to maintain the highquality of Kutani pottery. The results of the interview will be compiled in a database of biological andcultural diversity of Kanazawa, and will be presented at the aforementioned symposium.
Sustainable Primary Industries (SPI): Monitoring GIAHS Conservation
The SPI team conducted interviews and surveys in areas of Noto
involved with the GIAHS designation. The surveys were conducted
to assess the impacts of GIAHS designation and develop monitoringmechanisms for the conservation of GIAHS from the viewpoint ofeconomic, social and biological diversity. The result of the surveys
will be shared with local governments for their process of revisingthe ‘Noto GIAHS Action Plan’.
The team also joined farmers from Noto on their exchange visit toSado City, Niigata Prefecture. This exchange visit was part of theSurvey at paddy field in Sado city

joint collaboration between Noto and Sado, which were both designated as GIAHS sites in 2011. During thevisit, farmers from Noto learned about Sado’s environmentally-friendly agriculture and its rice certification
system for “Villages in Harmony with the Crested Ibis”. Participants visited the Iwakubi Rice Terraces, attended a lecture at the Sado City Hall and also experienced how to conduct surveys of living creatures inpaddy fields. The learning experience during this visit provided inspiration and great encouragement to thefarmers from Noto, who have also just implemented their own certification system of “Noto Terraces Rice”
and “Noto Rice” this year. It also fostered their understanding of the importance and merits of environmentally-friendly agriculture. The team would like to continue the survey activities to involve more local
governments and communities in order to synergize the activities of the stakeholders.
The team is also working closely with local stakeholders on the use and conservation of satoumi in Noto,and will organize a public seminar focused on Noto’s satoumi next year.

OUIK News Topics
Climbing Mt. Hakusan (23-24 August 2014)
Marking the occasion of OUIK officially joining the Hakusan BR council as
an advisory member, the OUIK team attempted to conquer the summitof the sacred Mt. Hakusan. As a registered Man and Biosphere reserve
under UNESCO, Mt. Hakusan fosters tremendous biological resources
and provides many kinds of natural gifts to the region, where it has beenan object of worship through the ages. The team members enjoyed thenatural and cultural blessings of the mountains.
Visit of SGA Mentee from the Philippines (26 August 2014)
Ms. Mawen Inzon from the University of the Philippines,
Los Bafios visited OUIK. She has been invited to Japan
under the Sub Global Assessment Network mentoring
scheme. Her research is focused on applying the Japan
Satoyama Satoumi Assessment (JSSA) methodology tothe Philippines. She presented the case of Mulanay
Village of Bondoc Peninsula in her country, which hasvery different social and economic settings from those ofJapanese satoyama and satoumi. We spent a wonderful
Ms. Mawen (at the center), her mentor Prof. Nakamura,time
discussing the challenges and advantages of theKanazawa University (second from the left)
research.
Participation in Shiroyone Senmaida Rice Harvesting Event (21 September 2014)
In spring, the OUIK team participated for the first time in rice planting
event of the Shiroyone Senmaida terraced paddy fields, which are thesymbol of the GIAHS “Noto's Satoyama and Satoumi” site. At thebeginning of autumn, when the fields are covered in the golden colorsof the mature rice, our team visited the paddy fields again, this time forthe rice harvesting activities. All of the rice is cut by hand and thenhanged on bamboo poles for drying. When the work was done, we
enjoyed a locally made lunch of onigiri (rice balls) and miso soup, infront of the beautiful scenery of sea and paddy fields.
Ms. Evonne Yiu from Singapore first came to Japan on an Okinawa prefectural
scholarship, and has lived here for eight years in between her job with the Singapore
government. She served as an intern with OUIK in the summer of 2011 andsubsequently joined UNU after graduating from the Graduate School of Public Policy,
University of Tokyo in the fall of 2012. Evonne is now the lead researcher for theSustainable Primary Industries (SPI) project at OUIK, collaborating closely with local
people and municipalities on the conservation of Noto’s Globally Important Agricultural
Heritage Systems (GIAHS) and promoting the sustainable use of resources from Noto’s
Satoyama and Satoumi. Her hobbies include traveling, drawing, scuba-diving and eating!

About our staff

Issued byUnited Nations University Institute for the Advanced Study of SustainabilityOperating Unit Ishikawa/Kanazawa (UNU-IAS OUIK)
Shiinoki Cultural Complex Ishikawa Prefecture 3F, 2-1-1 Hirosaka, Kanazawa, Ishikawa, JAPAN 920-0962
Tel: +81-76-224-2266 Fax: +81-76-224-2271
Email: unu-iasouik@unu.edu
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