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Preface
Over the past fifty years, Japan has experienced an economic, social and cultural revolution backed up by rapid
technological advancement. During this period, Japan has destroyed and polluted the surrounding environment while
failing fully to utilize domestic natural resources and abandoning agricultural industries. In recent years, there has
been a decline in the workforce and a drop in the GDP due to the decreasing population and aging society, generating
concern. Particularly, it is projected that in the future, the agriculture, forestry and fisheries industries will face
increasing difficulty resulting from this decreasing workforce and the promotion of trade liberalization. The agriculture, forestry, and fisheries industries have played an important role in providing ecosystem services. This alarming
situation has forced us to discuss, as a high-priority issue, an ideal nature-harmonious society where natural benefits(ecosystem services including provisioning, regulating, cultural and supporting services) are effectively used without
impairing the value of biodiversity and ecosystems.
Historically, through management and maintenance carried out by local communities based on traditional
knowledge and customary practices, the satoyama and satoumi in Japan provided ecosystem services needed forhuman livelihood in the region (e.g., charcoal wood, fertilizer, water, salt, algae and marine products). They also
generated harmony between human activities and the natural environment, at least up until a certain point in time.
Thus, the satoyama and satoumi ensured a certain degree of sustainable relationship between humans and nature. Inaddition, the satoyama and satoumi were formed in local communities traditionally and historically. In these ways, thesatoyama and satoumi can be referred to as traditional “commons.” Nevertheless, since the Meiji era, most satoyama
areas have undergone a decline in human use due to an increase in chemical fertilizer use and have been replaced withartificial conifer forests. Furthermore, the energy revolution and fertilizer revolution in the 1960s followed byimportation of low-priced agricultural and marine products over the past several decades have deprived domestic
agricultural and marine products of market value and impaired incentives for the use and management of thesatoyama and satoumi. Thus, the traditional satoyama and satoumi have been endangered to the verge of collapsing.
Marking the end of high economic growth, Japan has reflected on the destruction of its environment and issues ofpollution. At the same time, the general citizenry has become more aware of the importance of conserving the naturalenvironment. An increasing number of people have pursued “spiritual abundance” rather than “material abundance”
and have drawn attention to the therapeutic effects as well as spiritual, cultural and social aspects provided by thesatoyama and satoumi. In other words, in addition to material values provided by the satoyama and satoumi, immaterial values have also been reevaluated. In the midst of this, a review of sustainable traditional “commons” that represent a Japanese conventional satoyama and satoumi management practice at the regional level is required. Simultaneously, there is a need for reappraising ecosystem services provided by the satoyama and satoumi with consideration ofcurrent globalization, international competition and global environmental changes. Thus, it is necessary to design asystem of a “new commons” to reconstruct a nature-harmonious society based on regional needs in collaboration withvarious private entities such as local inhabitants, municipalities, and NPOs.
Many individuals and organizations have proposed a variety of definitions for the concept of the satoyama andsatoumi based on their respective standpoints or fields of specialty. The Japan Satoyama Satoumi Assessment (JSSA）
carried out between 2007 and 2010 reviewed and examined various existing definitions to establish a uniform definition in cooperation with more than 200 authors, involved people, and reviewers including international researchers.
Based on the concept of ecosystem services that has been developed in the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, theJSSA defined the satoyama and satoumi as follows: Satoyama and satoumi landscapes are dynamic spatial mosaics ofmanaged socio-ecological systems that bring about various ecosystem services for human well-being (Duraiappahet al., 2012).

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The current globalized society has become more aware of the risks of the impact of global changes, including climate change, food crises, and financial crises. In this society, there are many different conflicting viewpoints, such as
those critical of the history of exploitation of nature by humans, others having nostalgia for the good old days, andothers expressing optimism for a bright future. In order to overcome these conflicts and explore a nature-harmonious
society, it is important to make a scientific and objective assessment of ecosystem services produced by the satoyama
and satoumi to propose a political method for managing the satoyama and satoumi as a new commons. To achieve thisgoal, basically, this special edition has developed discussions according to the definition of “satoyama” and “satoumi”
examined in the JSSA as a comprehensive definition incorporating viewpoints from various fields based on the concept of ecosystem services. (There are several variations depending on the authors.)
This special edition has been compiled with the following objectives: to add political standpoints and international
viewpoints to the research results of the Environment Research and Technology Development Fund of the Ministry ofthe Environment (E-0902) “Assessment of Satoyama/Satoumi/Satochi Ecosystem Services and Reconstruction of aNature-Harmonious Society by a New Commons” and to reevaluate ecosystem services produced by the satoyama
and satoumi in Japan to deepen discussion regarding how to manage and utilize these ecosystem services in asustainable manner. This project was carried out for three years from FY2009. The objectives of the project were toassess ecosystem services provided by the satoyama and satoumi in Japan and to suggest political options forestablishing a nature-harmonious society by proposing a method for sustainably using ecosystem services whileconserving biodiversity as a new commons.
Specifically, this project has adopted the conceptual framework of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) toevaluate various elements comprehensively such as changes in ecosystem services produced by the satoyama, satoumi
and satochi in Japan, the direct and indirect drivers of these changes, and the impact on human well-being (Fig. 1).
Based on that, this project has gone on to discuss an optimal allocation level and optimal management standard for theuse of various resources that allow for the provision of these resources without impeding biodiversity and regulating
services. In addition, it has clarified the use of ecosystem services as a commons, the sustainability of the commons,and the history and changes of the commons to extract cultural values and interactions that contemporary people
expect from the satoyama and satoumi. Thus, this project has examined policy options for the reconstruction of asustainable nature-harmonious society. I hope that this special edition helps readers to obtain deep insight about
ecosystem services provided by the satoyama and satoumi and that it provides an awareness of the implications ofexploring a path to a nature-harmonious society.

MA Framework

Ecosystem services
provided by satoyama
and satoumi in Japan

Humanwellbeing

Indirectdrivers ofchange

Ecosystem
services
・provisioning・regulating
・cultural・supporting

Directdrivers ofchange

Sustainable conservation
and use of ecosystemservices in satoyama andsatoumi in Japan

Policy options fora nature-harmonious
societyFig. 1 Sustainable management of the satoyama and satoumi in Japan using MA framework.

Masataka WATANABE