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Concept of Satoyama System of Resilience and Vulnerability ofBioproductive Ecosystems in Asia
Mitsuru OSAKI
Research Faculty of Agriculture, Hokkaido University, Japan
N9, W9, Kita-ku, Sapporo, 060-8589, Japan*e-mail: mosaki@chem.agr.hokudai.ac.jp

Abstract‘Satoyama’ is a Japanese term meaning ‘farm forest’ (Mori, 2001), and the satoyama represents a buffer
area between the ‘sato’ (society or [society-humans]) and ‘yama’ (nature) (Iinuma, 2010). As used in the‘SATOYAMA Initiative’ of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO),
however, it is said to mean ‘socio-ecological production landscapes.’ To differentiate the ‘satoyama’ here
from the original ‘satoyama’ and UNESCO’s ‘SATOYAMA initiative’, the ‘satoyama’ discussed in thispaper is part of the ‘Satoyama System,’ which embodies a form of stratification using universally available
low-intensity solar energy effectively, based on the idea of a society with nature-human coexistence. A
representative example of the Satoyama System discussed in this paper exists in the ‘Asian Crescent,’
comprising stratification and a complex three-dimensional structure and including different levels of a
Satoyama System, from limited regions to the entire geographical area (the extremely wide area encompassing the Himalaya-Tibetan Plateau, through Borneo, to the Japanese archipelago).
The Satoyama System in the Asian Crescent as described in this paper is a sustainable organic farming
system that has been established over a uniquely long span of years. The driving force for this system isuniversally available low-intensity solar energy, specifically featured in the water circulation system.
Key words: Asian Crescent, low-carbon society, Mesopotamian Crescent,society with nature-human coexistence, trilemma

1. Introduction
Ever since the Cabinet adopted the Strategy for an
Environmental Nation in the 21st Century (proposed by
the Central Environment Council of Japan) on June 1,
2007, a variety of efforts have been undertaken to realize
a sustainable society based on three ideas: low carbon,
recyclability and nature-human coexistence. Of these, themost ambiguous idea is that of society with naturehuman coexistence, which is based on neither clear
definitions nor concrete policies. The idea of a lowcarbon society involves issues related to energy andgreenhouse-gases (specifically carbon dioxide) emissions, and to realize such a society it will be necessary to
explore solutions by reducing CO2 emissions, developing
technology to store CO2, and introducing renewableenergy sources. The idea of a recycling society addresses
the problems of resource depletion and waste disposal,
and these will be solved by developing technology forreuse and recycling. Little is known, however, about theidea of a society with nature-human coexistence--What
type of problems does it pose, and what kind of technology (measures) does it need?
Global Environmental Research
18/2014: 113-123
printed in Japan

Assuming coexistence with nature as an inter-related
system involving nature (ecology and environment) andhumans, nature-human coexistence becomes a conceptthat integrates the two, society/nature (ecology and environment) and people (humans), as they relate to eachother and are interpreted as causal factors. Considering
this, it becomes possible to see societies with naturehuman coexistence as presenting an unstable problem,comprising a nature–people–society framework that may
be solved by developing an arrangement that stabilizes
the relationship. Basically, a nature–human–society system is an integrated entity made possible by the presenceof solar energy. Since the 19th century, however, social
systems based on fossil fuels have dominated societal
development, resulting in the creation of a nature/humanresource-based society, where people deal with natureand fellow humans as natural resources and human resources. Such a society based on natural resources inaccord with human resources is mainly sustained byfossil fuels and renewable energy, including nuclear
power. It is clear that such a society cannot be sustained,
due to resource depletion and waste disposal problems(greenhouse gases and nuclear waste).
©2014 AIRIES

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M. OSAKI

In a nature–human–society system based on solar
energy, humans serve to connect society and nature, andare a guiding structural factor for society ([societyhuman]) and nature ([nature-human]). Commonly, inWestern developed countries, nature disregards people
and the bases of nature conservation and maintenance do
not consider the influence of humans. On the other hand,in a nature–human–society framework, the main components are society (sato) and nature (yama), and aframework where humans are closely involved in both ofthe other components, and this is defined as the Satoyama
System. The nature (yama) in the Satoyama Systemrefers to a state where ecology, the environment andresources are components independent of the concept andmanagement/control, and the society ([society-humans])
exists within the limits of what nature (yama) allows,with the yama an independent component (Fig. 1).
‘Ecology,’ which is a component of nature, is mainly thebiosphere; the ‘environment’ is mainly the air, water andsoil; and the ‘resources’ are made up of the ground,minerals and fossil fuels. The natural conditions on
which the self-supporting symbiotic system of this social(sato)-nature (yama) can be maintained for long periodsof time (thousands of years), however, are subject to clear
restrictions. Because the natural, undisturbed conditions
that maintain this independently coexistent system ofsociety (sato) and nature (yama) are very restricted, itwould be appropriate to think of the sustainable
Satoyama System as largely limited to parts of East,
Southeast and South Asia.
A sustainable Satoyama System has remained
unrealized (repeatedly suffered failure) due to the rapid
increase in availability of fossil fuels from the 19th century, and presently a deterioration of the global ecology
and environmental conditions have become strikingly
obvious in conjunction with the failures and denial ofopportunities for it to develop. The low-carbon and recycling societies that have been proposed to make up forthis can be realized in principle through improvement oftechnology and economic efficiency; however, it will bea challenge to realize a society with nature-human coexistence because it would interfere with the ideology
and principles of contemporary capitalism. It is impossi-

Fig. 1 Satoyama System: relationship between the community(sato) and nature (ecology, environment, and resource
spheres) (yama).

ble to discuss all the issues a society with nature-humancoexistence is faced with on a wide-ranging global scale,and this paper attempts to discuss the Satoyama System
as it can be applied to the 21st century based on the concept of satoyama as rural woodlands, which is the original model of this form of sustainable society with naturehuman coexistence.

2. The Trilemma Structure
Before the 19th century when people depended onsolar energy as their source of energy, humans lived in
coexistence with nature. Even when urban cities appeared and hegemonous states came into being, there wasno basic principle for the economy but coexisting withnature. Since the era of colonization that began in the
16th century, with slave trade and enslavement of native
peoples, this was part of a large-scale pre-mechanizedfarming practice based on an indentured labor force.
Until the introduction of machinery in plantations, it isplausible to consider that human society then was basedon a system exclusively utilizing solar energy and humanresources. However, after the advent of fossil fuels in the
19th century, specifically in the latter half of the 20th
century, the natural sphere (ecosphere, environment/
resource spheres) and the humano-sphere that includes
people and society began to interact and influence eachother. Further, the economic sphere that attempts to control the rights of the other spheres spread its tentacles into
the natural sphere. This change increased the importanceof the natural sphere, and the traditional natural sphere
was sidelined and integrated as an environment/resource
sphere (Fig. 2). In this way, lemma (mutual conflicts)
arose between ‘society’ and the surrounding spheres(economics sphere, resource sphere and ecosphere/
environment sphere), and these have become outstanding
features in the second half of the 20th century. We havetermed the mutual lemma relationships among thesethree spheres the ‘trilemma.’
Economic development to date was realized by consuming all resources available worldwide in their naturalstate as technology advanced. With sufficient resources,
the global environment permits discarding the contami-

Fig. 2 Trilemma structure: conflicts in the relationship between
society and the surrounding spheres (ecology, environment, resources, economic issues).
red: economic sphere, blue: resource sphere, green:
ecology/environment sphere

Concept of Satoyama System of Resilience and Vulnerability of Bioproductive Ecosystems in Asia

nation arising from using the available resources, and thegeneral understanding is that such an economic development structure will bring affluence to humanity. In reality,
however, it is not possible to define what the permissible
range within nature is, and as a result we live in an era ofintense competition for economic development. Further,
due to rapid unprecedented economic development, thetrilemma structure has become globally dominant. The
result of the excessive economic growth may be summed
up as having led to the following problems: (1) scarcity
of resources, which has become a restricting factor for
economic development, (2) global warming due to CO2emissions resulting from the large amounts of fossil fuelconsumed, and (3) negative effects on human healthbecause chemicals contaminate the earth. Further, thedecrease in forest resources and the deterioration in soil
quality, which is the foundation for food production,worsens the global environment further and this is forcing restrictions on economic development. If we wish topreserve the global environment, we have to control
economic development, and we can protect resources in
the process of doing so. However, this may lead toneglecting environmental preservation and restoration
with the less plentiful availability of investment capital
resulting from the suppression of economic development,
and this encourages resource expropriation, in turn despoiling other avenues of resource utilization. In thisprocess, the relationships among the economics sphere,
resource sphere and the ecosphere/environment spheregive rise to the trilemma structure as a result of extensive
economic development.

3. The Concept of the ‘Satoyama’
The term ‘satoyama’ has roots in Japanese societythat go back a very long time. However, it is Tsunahide
Shidei (1911–2009), a forestry ecologist, who conducted
research focusing on material circulation (production,
consumption and decomposition of organic matter), who
defined ‘satoyama’ as a ‘farm forest’ from which we
obtain the fertilizers required for farmland fertility. Since
then, the term ‘satoyama’ has come to be used to express
such a ‘farm forest’ concept (Mori, 2001). It is also
known that the term ‘satoyama’ first appeared in literature in the so-called Kiso-onzaimoku-hou, which wasedited by the Owari domain in 1759, defining ‘satoyama’
as a village in mountains with people and dwellings inclose proximity (http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/). The full
history of the origins of ‘satoyama’ is not clearly known,
and the popularization and general use of ‘satoyama’ canbe ascribed to Shidei.
Kenji Iinuma conducted research focusing on thesatoyama-like scenery of Tashibunosho (a manorial
village in the Ozaki district of Tashibunosho), andreported that the structure of the traditional scenery inTashibunosho was comprised of three features, yama,
centered on a rocky peak, sato and satoyama, which waswhat was between the two others (Iinuma, 2010). There
are springs, dams and ponds that serve as water reservoirs

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within the space occupied by a satoyama, and places ofreligious worship such as shrines are located at thereservoirs. Villagers in the sato preserved the woods
around the shrine, and recognized the woods as a part of
the natural reservoir.
Today the term ‘satoyama’ is sometimes used withother meanings, making the term ‘satoyama’ appear to bea long-established term in Japan. Today the impression isthat the satoyama concept has existed since ancient times
in Japan. If the concept of the ‘satoyama’ had been
deeply ingrained into daily life, there would have been noneed to elaborate on or even coin the term (symbol) as an
accepted and commonly understood truth. The present
author assumes that basically, ‘satoyama’ is a concept
discovered in the modern age. It may be a concept that
became real after it suddenly became commonly known
while we were exploring the voids where a familiar andordinary thing that had already disappeared used to be.
Considering the above and the idea of the ‘farm
forest’ and the scenery of the manorial village in medieval times, the concept of the‘satoyama’ may be seen to
represent a boundary (intermediate area) between the‘sato’ (society) and ‘yama’ (nature). At the same time, insome cases the ‘satoyama’ represents the integration of
the state, or general concept, in which the ‘sato’ (people)
and ‘yama’ (nature) coexist. Nowadays, this latter usage
appears to be the more common. Takeuchi et al. (2002)
explained that they felt it necessary to express‘satoyama’ as ‘satoyama’ in English because the English
language has no term or concept equivalent to‘satoyama.’ According to their interpretation, thesatoyama is secondary woodland, grasslands and meadows adjacent to a residential area where people live. Put
differently, Takeuchi et al. defined ‘satoyama’ as general,
secondary nature areas or cultivated woodlands (including natural woodlands, cultivated fields, inhabited areasand swamps). This satoyama concept was developed andthe ‘SATOYAMA Initiative’ for the benefit of biodiversity and human welfare was adopted in a declaration at
the general meeting of the United Nations Educational,
Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)in January, 2010 (http://satoyama-initiative.org/jp/wpcontent/uploads/353/Paris-Declaration-JP-26042010-pdf,2010). Here, SATOYAMA is defined as ‘socio-ecological production landscapes’ (secondary natural areasthat provide for the welfare of the residents while protecting biodiversity through human intervention).
The satoyama type productive ecosystem discussed inthis paper exists typically in the Asian monsoon region
and embodies the idea of a water cycle framework and asociety with nature-human coexistence. For example,
assuming the Himalaya-Tibetan Plateau as the ‘yama,’
the Asia monsoon, which is obstructed by the cliff-likewalls of this yama, is the cause of large rainfalls as far
away as Hokkaido in Japan as well as the nearer surrounding areas. The glaciers and snow in the yama act
as a huge reservoir which melts and flows away into
the Indus, Ganges, Bhramaputra, Salween, Mekong,
Changchiang, and Yellow rivers. Assuming the lifeM. OSAKI

spheres of the populations of these river basins (the Asianmonsoon region) as the ‘sato,’ we see a very strong andwide ranging satoyama (mega-satoyama) formed aroundthe Himalayas and the Tibetan Plateau (Osaki, 2007).
The features of this mega-satoyama type productive
ecosystem are as follows: an abundant water supply,
fertile soil formed from volcanic ash and/or clay from theHimalayas and Tibetan Plateau, and high productivity.
Here live 40 percent of the world’s population, with awide range of distinct ecologies, cultures, peoples andlanguages. The satoyama concept discussed in this paper
is termed the ‘Satoyama System’ because it differs fromthe traditional concept of the satoyama in that it involves
a range of scales from communities at the single community level to extensive areas on a continental scale.

4. Types of Agriculture Worldwide, by
Climate and Farming Methods, and the
Resilience-Vulnerability Relationship
Iinuma (1982) proposed a classification of farming
based on annual precipitation (high/low) and the time of
the rainy season (whether the farming season had sufficient precipitation). The aridity-index of de Martonne (I)which distinguishes arid and humid regions by climate isevaluated as follows:
I = R/(T+10)
where, R stands for the accumulated precipitation (mm)and T for the average temperature (°C). Here, classifications into arid, humid and desert regions are made as
follows: regions with annual aridity indexes above 20,
below 20 and below 10, respectively. For agriculture,
because the summer aridity index is more important than
the annual index, calculations focusing on only June toAugust classify regions with aridity indexes above 5 andregions with indexes below 5 as summer rain and winterrain types, respectively. Thus, based on the annual aridity
indexes and summer aridity indexes, the agricultural
regions of the world can be classified into the following
four:
Region I (annual aridity index below 20 and summer
aridity index below 5), Southwest Asia, the Mediterranean (south) and Russia (south): arid regions, where ‘dry
farming’ is practiced by growing drought-resistant crops
and preventing moisture evaporation from the soil. Heremoisture is conserved by cultivating shallow layers of thesoil (with moisture conservation in fallow land). Thiskind of region is a region with winter rainfall.
Region II (annual aridity index above 20 and summer
aridity index below 5), the Mediterranean (north) andRussia (south): Moisture conservation in fallow land islike that in Region I. The stability of crop yields, however,is much higher than that of Region I because the annual
aridity index is above 20.
Region III (annual aridity index below 20 and summer aridity index above 5), the Punjab and North China:
As for Region I, the annual aridity index is below 20.

However, it is possible to grow summer crops, andmoisture conservation is achieved by repeated plowing
during the rainy reason (moisture conservation tillage).
Region IV (annual aridity index above 20 and summer aridity index above 5), northern Europe, Siberia,
Southeast Asia and East Asia: This region has the wettest
climate among the four regions and it is possible to growsummer crops here. Weeding is necessary, however, because of the rapid growth of weeds. There are two types
of weeding: In northern Europe, commonly a three-fieldrotation arrangement in which fields are rotated between
winter crops and summer crops, with one year fallow inthree years. In Southeast Asia and East Asia, weeding isoften performed while growing summer crops (weeding
during growth of crops). Across the European continent,
glaciers have shaved the landform to flatten it and fertile
soil has been lost. Here crop yields are not high. This has
made large-scale planting necessary and contributed tothe practice of the three-field system, where grazing is
the main practice as it is suitable for soils with low
productivity.
Figure 3 shows the relationship between resilienceand vulnerability in each of the agricultural regions of theworld based on the annual and summer aridity indexes.
For production, when resilience increases and vulnerability decreases, productivity increases and production
becomes more stable in the order of Region I to Region
High

R and V
relationship

Upgrade by Human Activity
for R and V relationshipWeeding

Region IV

Resilience116

Weeding
Region III

Region II

Region I

Moisture
conservation intillage
Moisture
conservation in
fallow land

Low

Vulnerability
Fig. 3 Classification of world agricultural regions by annual
aridity and summer aridity indexes, in the resilience–vulnerability structure.
Region I (annual aridity index below 20 and summer aridity
index below 5): Southwest Asia, the Mediterranean(south), Russia (south)
Region II (annual aridity index above 20 and summer aridity
index below 5): the Mediterranean (north), Russia(south)Region III (annual aridity index below 20 and summer aridity
index above 5): the Punjab, North China
Region IV (annual aridity index above 20 and summer aridity
index above 5): northern Europe, Siberia, Southeast
Asia, and East Asia

Concept of Satoyama System of Resilience and Vulnerability of Bioproductive Ecosystems in Asia

IV. Further, with optimal production practices,
productive ecology becomes further stabilized. In
Regions I and II, Region III and Region IV, moisture
conservation accomplished through fallow land, tillage
and weeding, respectively, is effective for achieving this.
In sum, for Regions I to III, efforts to conserve moisturein the top soil layers are important, while in Region IV
dealing with fast growing weeds is more important thanmoisture conservation.

5. Soil Fertility and Population Density
Relationships
As is well known, there are large differences in
population density around the world. The question may
be asked, what are the natural factors that contribute tothis population distribution, thinking from a macro perspective? Toshiyuki Wakatsuki and Eitaro Miwa investigated food productivity, using population density as anindex and also based on precipitation and soil fertility(1993). Figure 4 shows the worldwide population density
and annual precipitation distribution. Here, areas withmany black dots represent densely populated areas. The
population density distribution is clearly affected by
restrictions in precipitation (or water supply by rivers).
Excluding Egypt in the Nile Delta, high population
densities are found only in regions with annual precipitation above 500–1000 mm in the temperate zone,
where there is little evapotranspiration, and regions with
precipitation of 1000–2000 mm or more in the tropicalzone, which has high evapotranspiration. However, theZaire basin (the present Congo) has a low population
density with few dots although there is adequate
precipitation to support a larger population. Indonesia
in Southeast Asia shows significant differences in
population density in different regions: Java (almost
1000 persons/km2), Sumatra (60 persons/km2) and117

Kalimantan (14 persons/km2). The population density inthe tropical rain forests of the Amazon basin in SouthAmerica is extremely low. The population density of the
volcanic region of Central America is high. From this it
may be inferred that in areas with high population density
there is sufficient water available per unit area, and the
population density depends on natural soil fertility(geological fertilization effect). Such geological fertilization effects come from alluviation by rivers (water),transportation of fine soil particles (loess) by wind, andsupply of volcanic ash and lava by volcanic activity.
Considering these elements, geological fertilization
effects that contribute to high soil fertility may be classified into the following five:
Sediment transportation and sedimentation by rivers:
Floods occur repeatedly at intervals of five years to several decades and generate fertile inceptisols. In the tropical zone of Asia, generation of deltas is specificallyimportant due to erosion of the Himalayas and the monsoon. The Nile Delta is also very fertile, as a result ofreceiving the benefits of fertile volcanic ash deposits
distributed across the upper Ethiopian plateau and around
Lake Victoria.
Supply of volcanic ash and lava by volcanic activities:
The volcanic ash supplied brings about fertilization of thelands affected and generates andosols, which are fertile,
vital soils. The Ethiopian highlands, the area surrounding
Lake Victoria and the Pacific Rim volcanic zone benefit
from volcanic activities. It can be inferred that the Mayanand the Incan civilizations were established based on thehigh productivity of agriculture made possible by fertile
volcanic ash soils.
Wind borne loess: The loess of the Sahara Desert isrich in basic components and very fertile. Southern
Nigeria benefits from this. Eastern China is fertile because of loess supplied by the Gobi and inland Loess
Plateau.

Fig. 4 Relationship between precipitation and population.
Dots indicate population destribution and lines enclose areas with a given annual precipitation.
(Based on Wakatsuki & Miwa, 1993).

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M. OSAKI

Soil fertilization by moderate erosion: The Indian
Deccan Plateau was formed by flood basalts welling up
when the Indian subcontinent passed over the Réunion
hot spot (now east of Madagascar) about 66 million years
ago (Sakai, 2007). The flood basalts which flowed out invery large volumes over a relatively short period of time,covering the area, when a plume rising from deep in theearth reached the surface and created the hot spot. Thisbasalt is rich in basic components, and vertisol, a fertile
black soil mostly composed of bases, was generated here.
It is estimated that it takes this vertisol less than 10,000
years to mature. The vertisol here is fertile because abalance is maintained between soil erosion and soil formation. Excessive erosion brings about loss of soil layers
and causes desertification. However, in cases where
erosion is very small compared with soil formation,
excessive erosion causes leaching and exhaustion of soil
nourishment over long periods, resulting in exhausted,
aged soil (oxisol).
Differences in fertility due to clay supplied from thecrust: Sixty-nine percent of the continental crust consistsof rock older than 2,500 million years, so-called craton,
while the upper part of the continental crust mainly consists of arkosic rock (about 70% SiO2) (Sakai, 2007).
Arkosic rock is rich in silica but contains little in the wayof basic nutritional components, and the soil fertility is
low compared with that of basaltic rock. In the stableparts of continents, clay is continuously blown away by
erosion. When there is much precipitation, the rain isstrongly acidic because of carbonic acid dissolved in therain. As a result, the basic components leach out, and thesoil becomes poor in nutrition and strongly acidic.
Further, North America and the European continent werecovered by glaciers, which shaved off the topsoil, and thesoil fertility there is low. Here, newer crust was formedby orogenic movements, and there are many places
where sediments from seabeds were raised above sea
level, prioviding a supply of more fertile clays than arefound in continental crust. Specifically, the Himalayan
mountain chains, Tibetan Plateau, Andes, Alps andRockies are steep and subject to intense erosion. They
supply nutritious clay minerals to fields in the plains
areas. Therefore, fertile soils are found in the foothills
and plains at the base of mountain chains.

classified into the same group. Considering the various
aspects of the water circulation, however, it becomes
clear that northern Europe and Southeast Asia/ East Asia
in Region IV belong to different groups when considering biological productivity (Fig. 5).
In the three-field rotation practices developed innorthern Europe, stability and sustainability of productive ecosystems are maintained by integrating grains,root crops, vegetables, feed crops, livestock and forestry,
specifically for improving the fertility of soil. However,here weeding only during the fallow period is adequate,
and productivity is not high in general. The productive
ecosystem developed here is maintained by farming large
land areas. For modern American agriculture, developedon that continent, the agricultural system of the 20th
century using large amounts of chemical fertilizers,
pesticides and herbicides and involving the use of heavymachinery is economically the most effective, although
its unit productivity is low due to the low soil fertility andlimited water availability. At the start of the 21st century,complex problems including deterioration of the soil
environment, depletion of groundwater, changes in thevolume of precipitation and precipitation patterns anddepletion of cheap fossil fuels have become obvious, andthese problems are accelerating the instabilities present in
the American productive ecosystem.
The productive ecosystem established in some partsof Southeast, East and South Asia, which is called the‘Satoyama System’ in this paper shows an extreme, flourishing and productive ecosystem requiring constantweeding while growing crops. This productive ecosystem is based on a plentiful water supply and benefits fromfertile soils and biodiversity. At one time in the
Tigris-Euphrates River basins, where the Mesopotamian
civilization first developed, there was high food

6. Regions and Features of the ‘Asian
Crescent’With the importance of water to organisms and its rolein ecosystems, it seems appropriate to classify farming
methods based on annual precipitation (high/low) and therainy season (whether the farming season has sufficientprecipitation). It is also important to take account of soil
fertility and other important factors driving the water
cycle and affecting potential water supplies and storage,
including water circulation as well as precipitation patterns. In Region IV (annual aridity index above 20 andsummer aridity index above 5), as previously described,
northern Europe, Southeast Asia and East Asia are

Fig. 5 Distinguishing northern Europe from Southeast Asia andEast Asia of Region IV in the resilience – vulnerability
structure.

Concept of Satoyama System of Resilience and Vulnerability of Bioproductive Ecosystems in Asia

productivity with fertile soils and an abundant watersupply, making this fertile area the so-called ‘Mesopotamian Crescent.’ The civilization it supported, however,collapsed due to soil exhaustion (increased salinity).
There are some regions in Southeast, East and South Asia
that have maintained the highest population densities in
the world throughout recorded history, with soils that are
more fertile than those of the Tigris-Euphrates Riverbasin and where it has been possible to establish sustainable biological production arrangements. We call thisregion the ‘Asian Crescent’ (Fig. 6). It is this region thathas established the Satoyama System and developed theidea and culture of communities with nature-humancoexistence. In Region IV of northern Europe, as described above, the three-field farming system was invented and its sustainability was improved with highproductivity (resilience increased and vulnerability decreased). Here large-scale dramatic measures forcontrolling’ nature were successful, but these areas did
not give rise to the idea and culture of ‘societies withnature-human coexistence’ (Fig. 5).
This paper assumes the range of the ‘Asian Crescent’to encompass the Japanese archipelago, the Yangtze
River basin, Southeast Asia, the Ganges basin and areas
around the Himalayas and Tibetan Plateau. In the Amurand Okhotsk areas at the northern extremity of the area, akind of cycling arrangement is formed: Here, mineral
nutrition from the taiga reaches the Sea of Okhotsk
through the Amur River, supporting the flourishingbio-productivity of this sea area, and salmon and sea
birds return the mineral nutrition to the terrestrial ecosystem. This geographical area with its resource cyclingis also included in the Satoyama System. The environmental, ecological and geographical features of the Asian
Crescent are (1) abundant water resources, (2) fertile
soils and (3) biodiversity, and these features interact andreinforce each other with positive feedback.

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Abundance of water resources: The Asian Crescentbelongs to Region IV by the precipitation classification(regions with annual aridity indexes above 20 and summer aridity indexes above 5), and it has large rainfalls,
with summer aridity indexes ranging between 9 and 108
in Southeast Asia and East Asia–high compared withthose of northern Europe (5 to 11). The driving force forthe water cycle is the Asian monsoon, which is stopped
by the cliff-like walls of the Himalaya-Tibetan Plateau
and turned to the east, supplying water to this region.
When the Tibetan Plateau warms in summer, a highpressure area forms in the upper atmosphere, and the jetstream, which affects the weather, shifts from the south of
the Himalayas to the north of the Tibetan Plateau. As it
shifts, moist air from the Torrid Zone is directed northacross India, and brings heavy rain there. The factors
forcing the air to the north are much stronger than inother areas. Then, propelled by forces deriving from the
Pacific Ocean warm current, this air reaches Japan and
the Korean Peninsula as the East Asian monsoon. Further,the Himalaya-Tibetan Plateau receives snow and theresulting glaciers serve as huge reservoirs, which melt,with the water flowing down into the Ganges,
Bhramaputra, Salween, Mekong, and Changchiang (theIndus and Yellow rivers lie outside the Asian Crescent).
The Himalaya-Tibetan Plateau and Asian monsoon supply abundant water in summer when crops grow rapidly,
and this abundant water enables rice cultivation in thisregion and contributes to its high productivity. Further, as
the sea is shallow over the Sunda sea shelf, the mechanisms affecting global climate change manifest clearly inthis region: shallow sea and islands cover a large area,
and cumulonimbus clouds form due to the warm sea
water, which serves to transport water and heat.
In the Japanese archipelago, water from the snow inthe mountain ranges provides a steady supply to irrigate
paddy fields in spring. Both the snow and forests in theFig. 6 Mesopotamian Crescent and Asian Crescent.

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M. OSAKI

mountain ranges act as reservoirs and ensure a stablesupply of water to the lowlands. In Borneo, the tropicalrain forests in the lowlands store large amounts of carbon
and water underground. The ‘Heart of Borneo’ zone
stores huge amounts of carbon above ground (biomass)
and water underground, influencing each other in a positive feedback relationship (Fig. 7). If either is destroyedby development, first the water cycle will disintegrate
and subsequently carbon storage will cease to function inits present manner. Borneo stores tens of gigatons ofcarbon, and if this is emitted, it will accelerate warming
on a global scale.
The Asian Crescent is composed of the human, ecology and environment hyperlinkage (HEEH) system. The
key components of the Asian Crescent are as follows(Fig. 8).
Fertile soils: most of the earth’s crust in the Asian
Crescent is relatively new, formed mainly in the Tertiary
period, and it is fertile and richer in minerals than thecontinental parts of this area. Southeast Asia, southern
China and Japan are on the fringe of the continent, andhave mountainous geographic features due to orogenic
movements and volcanic activity. Geological fertilization
effects in these areas include (1) rivers in the Himalayas
and Tibetan Plateau that supply huge amounts of clay,and (2) continuing volcanic activity supplying volcanic
ash and lava and contributing to fertilization of the soil in
the Pacific Rim volcanic zones of Indonesia, the Philippines and Japan.
Biodiversity: the ecosystem and biota of the Asianmonsoon region are highly diverse when compared withother areas of the earth due to (1) the high bioproductivity, and (2) geographical/historical factors in
the formation of these biota (Nakashizu, 1998). The mostFig. 7 Positive water/carbon storage feedback between thetropical peat forest of Borneo and tropical rain forests inthe ‘Heart of Borneo.’ (Effects of development andclimate changes may change the relationship to negative.)remarkable feature of this region is that the area with ahumid climate and fertile soil extends unbroken from theTorrid Zone around the Tropic of Capricorn to the Frigid
Zone above 60 degrees latitude N. In many other areas ofthe earth there are arid regions, and deserts and prairies
divide forests because of high atmospheric pressure due
to trade wind convergence zones around the subtropicalzone. Further, in the zone from the Asia monsoon region
to New Zealand in the Oceania region, specifically in the
coastal area, there is a forest vegetation belt, the so-called‘green belt.’ Tokyo, Japan and Calcutta in eastern India
are located about 25 degrees longitude away, east andwest, of the 4,101 m high Mount Kinabalu, which rises
high over northern Borneo. The region covered by thelongitudes between Tokyo and Calcutta has been called
the Asian Green-belt (Matsumoto, 2006).
About 12,000 years ago, during the ice age when thesea level was about 100 m lower than now, the region
known as the Sunda sea shelf on charts of Southeast Asia
connected the present Indochinese Peninsula, Malay
Peninsula, Sumatra, Java, Borneo and the Philippine
Islands, forming the Sunda continent (Fig. 9). It may beinferred that this Sunda continent contributed to the formation of the Asian Green-belt which connects the
Torrid, Temperate and Frigid Zones. Also, in bathymetric charts of the Sunda sea shelf, there are clear traces ofrivers. The Chao Phraya River in Thailand ran about
1,500 km further to the southeast through the Bay ofThailand and flowed into the South China Sea. The
Kampar River flowing from Sumatra, Indonesia passed
by Singapore and flowed into the Chao Phraya River.
The Musi and the Batanghari rivers in Sumatra, as well as
the Kapuas in west Kalimantan flowed into the South
China Sea, and the Mekong flowed into the South China
Sea now 400 km away from the present coastline. The
arc-shaped coastline of the Sunda continent facing theSouth China Sea has the appearance of a waxing crescentmoon, and it may be inferred that the soil was extremely
fertile with an abundant supply of nourishment andminerals (volcanic ash and different types of clay). Big
deltas on the Sunda continent would have formed at themouths of the Chao Phraya River (from the Himalayas
and Tibetan Plateau), big rivers from Sumatra (Kampar,
Batanghari and Musi rivers), and the Kapuas river from
Borneo Island. Therefore, we have called this area the‘Fertile Crescent of Sunda’ (‘Sunda Crescent’). In thissea area (the Sunda sea shelf) which was part of the thenSunda continent, biodiversity is extremely high, andabout 90 percent of the world’s mangrove, seaweed andcoral species grow here (Groombridge & Jenkins, 2002).
As a result, this sea area is also rich in fish and shellfish.
Further, it may be presumed that this area has the richest
biodiversity in the world because northern animals andplants migrated to Borneo during the ice age. Then, whenthe earth became warmer, the species that had migrated
from the north became isolated and remained inhabiting
Borneo.

Concept of Satoyama System of Resilience and Vulnerability of Bioproductive Ecosystems in Asia

121

Fig. 8 The human, ecology and environmental hyperlinkage (HEEH) system in the Asian Crescent. (The four colors in the box (bottom
of figure) relate to the color of each issue in the figure.)

Fig. 9 The Sunda continent and rivers in the glacial age. (The
Sunda continental shelf is a shallow sea area which is therichest worldwide in biodiversity of mangroves, seaweed,
coral, fish and shellfish resources.)

7. Conditions for Achieving Satoyama
The Satoyama System in this paper stands for abiological production system established in the Asian
Crescent. In the Asian Crescent, there are a variety of

productive ecosystems, with the characteristic environmental, ecological and geographical features of thisregion: (1) abundant water resources, (2) fertile soils and(3) biodiversity. The Satoyama System is created anddeveloped by utilizing these features effectively andconstantly working to improve the potential these features offer (Fig. 5).
Success of the Satoyama System depends on how
efficiently we are able to harness the very low averageintensity of solar energy reaching the earth. Solar energy
directly serves as an energy source for plants, creating
carbohydrates from carbon dioxide. It also indirectly
drives the water cycle, ocean currents, weather and entire
climate overall. The unique structure of the Satoyama
System lies in that the mountainous areas and plains areconnected by rivers, with the mountainous areas acting as
huge reservoirs of snow or ice, and providing the rain that
falls over the forests and is the source of ground water.
By using these stored, stable water resources in paddy
fields, including terraced fields, it is possible to create aregional water re-circulation cycle: the length of time
water is available is extended, the water can be used forhydrating crops (plants) repeatedly, then by evapotranspiration it is transported inland as clouds and throughprecipitation returned to the soil, where it again becomes
available. In this way, controlling the water cycle within
the region helps maintain an ever rich, productive ecosys-

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M. OSAKI

tem, as well as ensuring diversity of plants (biodiversity)(Fig. 5).
In the Asian Crescent region, rivers are rich in mineral
nutrition, and clay minerals are also abundant. Thisnutrition flow ensures a productive ecosystem, providing
a constant supply of nutrition, with organic matter composted, and it accumulates in the soil. In 1909, Franklin
Hiram King, an authority on U.S. agricultural physics,
visited Japan, China and Korea and investigated the traditional agriculture of East Asia (King, 2009). The purposeof his research was to analyze and understand details of
East Asian agricultural arrangements that had been able
to maintain high agricultural yields for 4000 years, while
the farmland of the U.S.A. had become exhausted and thesoil’s fertility was decreasing. He reported that East
Asian farming featured intensive cultivation and use oforganic refuse and wastes and was served by water supply networks with canals and waterways, in which floods
were controlled with banks and levees that prevented
fertile soils from eroding away. He also remarked on his
surprise at finding low-cost recycling in farming, withcomposting of human and animal waste as well as
vegetable matter and the absence of chemical fertilizers,
using available resources efficiently. This description is
only one aspect of the Satoyama System practiced in the
Asian Crescent. A new study has reported that the native
peoples of Brazil have improved the poor Amazoniansoils, using biochar (applying low quality charcoal to thesoil) to make terra preta soil, a fertile black soil, and at
the same time, achieved remarkable improvements in the
soil’s carbon storage (unlike organic matter charcoal
decomposes with difficulty), and improved the biomass
production (Lehmann et al., 2006). From Japan, it has
been reported that with accumulated andosols, charred
plants contribute to the generation of Type A humic acids
and fulvic acid as well as increasing the soil’s carbon
storage (Miyazaki et al., 2009). Andosol (a black volcanic soil) combines humic substances with the aluminum contained in the volcanic ash as it weathers andmixes with plant material decomposing in the soil. Whenlarge amounts of aluminum-containing minerals andhumic substances are weathered the color turns black,and is indeed called ‘black carbon soil’ (kurobokudo).
This kind of andosol has a low pH, and as phosphorous
combines with aluminum to make it unavailable as anutritional element, it is necessary to control the pH ofandosols. If the pH of andosol is lowered, the soil will
become very fertile.
As explained here, the regions of the Asian Crescentare blessed with natural advantages, having an excellent
water supply, and generally, the chemically basic components of the soil here being rich in mineral nutrition.
The process of developing a Satoyama System includes
changing the water supply system into one that maintains
recycling by building waterway networks in paddy fields
that absorb the mineral nutrition and clay minerals fromthe water supply and help them accumulate in the soil,
and improving the soil using organic matter or carbides(carbon-rich matter). When climate change on a global

scale upsets the water cycle, ecosystems in regions without the kind of waterway networks the Satoyama System
possesses become highly unstable. This illuminates thegreat importance of the Satoyama System as a measure
for alleviating global climate change.

8. Conclusion
The Satoyama System in the Asian Crescent as described above in this paper is a sustainable organic farming system that has been established over a uniquely longspan of years. The driving force of this system is universally available low-intensity solar energy, as specificallyfeatured in the water circulation system. Another featureof the Satoyama System is a pump-like function for supplying the land territory with water provided via themechanisms of the East Asian monsoon and the Sundasea shelf (a large area of shallow sea and islands where
cumulonimbus clouds form over warm sea water) (Fig. 9).
These are affected by the warm currents and mountainous
walls guiding the Asia monsoon around the HimalayaTibetan Plateau. The water transported to the mountain
ranges/mountainous districts sinks into the ground in theforests and is stored in this huge underground reservoir(water tower) or in the form of glaciers and snow, and isgradually supplied to the lower flat land areas. In thismanner water flows throughout the productive ecosystemthrough waterway networks, preventing the loss of clay
minerals and nutrition. Most of the crust in the Asian
Crescent is relatively young, and the soil throughout thearea is extremely fertile, benefiting from volcanic ash andriver clays. The high productivity of the fertile soils
promotes circulation of organic matter and supplies thesoil with carbon (for example, biochar). Human-madecontrol mechanisms have further improved the soil’s
fertility. In this paper, a system that establishes a society
with nature-human coexistence that utilizes the circulation of water and organic matter for improving thealready fertile soils that have been blessed additionallywith geographic advantages, is defined as a Satoyama
System.
In the Asian Crescent there are three high-density
carbon ecosystems (peat, mangroves and permafrost).
These have accumulated a huge store of carbon and water,
and throughout history they have helped control thebalance of carbon and water on a global scale. Today,
however, there are fears that huge amounts of greenhousegasses will be emitted and the earth’s ability to store
water will be imperiled if these three ecosystems aredestroyed and that, in turn, the global ecosystem andenvironment will be negatively affected due to development and climate change. Along the outer edge of the
Asian Crescent there are three locations that give rise tounusual climatic conditions and have a significant impact
on climate change in the Asian Crescent. The Sunda sea
shelf (Figs. 7 and 9), which acts as a huge reservoir forwater, also has a global impact on the circulation of waterand heat. Therefore, the Satoyama System in the Asian
Crescent is a central ecosystem that affects the stability ofConcept of Satoyama System of Resilience and Vulnerability of Bioproductive Ecosystems in Asia

the climate globally.
In Europe, three-field rotational farming has been
traditionally practiced for improving the fertility of soils
to maintain productivity, which is lower than that of the
Asian Crescent, creating a need for large areas of farmland. However, even in this type of organic farming system, it is possible to practice energy farming as well as togrow crops. This rotational farming is practiced byindividual farmers or villages creating a mosaic-likestructure by combining farms or farmland as a patchwork. In each patch, cyclic organic farming (manmade,induced rotation) is simply conducted with weak mutual
connections that are not in a stratified but rather a horizontal structure. In the Satoyama System of the Asian
Crescent, remarkably high productivity has been maintained in organic farming for a long period of time, by
making good use of the nutrient supply in fertile soils andbiodiversity, as well as basing farming practices on natural water circulation and measures to improve soil fertility (artificial circulation: clay and nutritional mineral
supplementation, organic matter and biochar input). This
Satoyama System, which is established in each basin,region and district of the extensive Asian Crescent andthe Himalaya-Tibetan Plateau, has a stratified rather thanmosaic structure, and is three-dimensional. A systemwith this type of stratification is complex, as there have to
be interactions in or between layers and elements.

Acknowledgements
The results presented in this paper were mainly
obtained from the SATREPS (Science and Technology
Research Partnership for Sustainable Development) project entitled “Wild fire and carbon management in peatforest in Indonesia” founded by the JST (Japan Scienceand Technology Agency) and JICA (Japan International
Cooperation Agency).

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Mitsuru OSAKI
Mitsuru OSAKI has been a professor at the
Research Faculty of Agriculture, Hokkaido University and at the Graduate School of Agriculture, Hokkaido University since 2006. He wastrained as a plant physiologist and soil scientist,and obtained his doctorate degree from theFaculty of Agriculture, Hokkaido University, inJapan in 1981. He worked as an associate scientist at the Maize Unit of
CIMMYT in Mexico from 1982 to 1984. Until 2006, he worked with the
Graduate School of Agriculture, Hokkaido University in Japan, to implement research and teaching on rhizosphere management. He has also
carried out many collaborative research and teaching projects on tropicalland management and rehabilitation of tropical forests. He has published
200 academic papers and 45 books, presented more than 200 papers at
international symposiums, workshops and forums, and organized 14
international symposiums and workshops thus far.

(Received 6 July 2014, Accepted 28 November 2014)