CompletedResearch

When a project moves to Completed Research (CR) status,
the contract with RIHN is concluded. Research teams
disperse to university research, teaching, and other duties.
Project publications and other communications andcontributions may follow for several years. At RIHN, eachproject forms part of the institute's heritage; project results
and data are entered into the RIHN archives upon which
future RIHN projects may be formulated.

34

Fiscal Year
CompletedLeader

Research Project

HAYASAKA Tadahiro

Emissions of Greenhouse Gases and Aerosols, and Human Activities in East Asia

KANAE Shinjiro

Global Water Cycle Variation and the Current World Water Resources Issues and Their Perspectives

WATANABE Tsugihiro

Impact of Climate Changes on Agricultural Production System in the Arid Areas

NAKAWO Masayoshi

Historical Evolution of the Adaptability in an Oasis Region to Water Resource Changes

YACHI Shigeo

Multi-Disciplinary Research for Understanding Interactions between Humans and Naturein the Lake Biwa-Yodo River Watershed

FUKUSHIMA Yoshihiro

Recent Rapid Change of Water Circulation in the Yellow River and Its Effects on Environment

ICHIKAWA Masahiro

Sustainability and Biodiversity Assessment on Forest Utilization Options

AKIMICHI Tomoya

A Trans-Disciplinary Study on Regional Eco-History in Tropical Monsoon Asia: 1945-2005

SEKINO Tatsuki

Interaction between Environmental Quality of the Watershed and Environmental Consciousness

TAKASO Tokushiro

Interactions between Natural Environment and Human Social Systems in Subtropical Islands

2009

SHIRAIWA Takayuki

Human Activities in Northeastern Asia and their Impact on Biological Productivity in the North Pacific Ocean

2010

TANIGUCHI Makoto

Human Impacts on Urban Subsurface Environments

YUMOTO Takakazu

A New Cultural and Historical Exploration into Human-Nature Relationships in the Japanese Archipelago

SATO Yo-Ichiro

Agriculture and Environment Interactions in Eurasia: Past, Present and Future

2006

2007

2008

2011

KAWABATA Zen'ichiro

Effects of Environmental Change on the Interactions between Pathogens and Humans

KUBOTA Jumpei

Historical Interactions between Multi-Cultural Societies and the Natural Environment
in a Semi-Arid Region in Central Eurasia

OSADA Toshiki

Environmental Change and the Indus Civilization

UCHIYAMA Junzo

Neolithisation and Modernisation: Landscape History on East Asian Inland Seas

UMETSU Chieko

Vulnerability and Resilience of Social-Ecological Systems

OKUMIYA Kiyohito

Human Life, Aging and Disease in High-Altitude Environments: Physio-Medical,
Ecological and Cultural Adaptation in “Highland Civilizations”

SAKAI Shoko

Collapse and Restoration of Ecosystem Networks with Human Activity

MOJI Kazuhiko

Environmental Change and Infectious Disease in Tropical Asia

HIYAMA Tetsuya

Global Warming and the Human-Nature Dimension in Siberia: Social Adaptation tothe Changes of the Terrestrial Ecosystem, with an Emphasis on Water Environments

NAWATA Hiroshi

A Study of Human Subsistence Ecosystems in Arab Societies: To Combat Livelihood
Degradation for the Post-oil Era

KADA Ryohei

Managing Environmental Risks to Food and Health Security in Asian Watersheds

2014

MURAMATSU Shin

Megacities and the Global Environment

2015

KUBOTA Jumpei

Designing Local Frameworks for Integrated Water Resources Management

2016

HABU JunkoLong-term Sustainability through Place-Based, Small-Scale Economies: Approaches from Historical Ecology

SATO Tetsu
KIKUCHI Naoki

Creation and Sustainable Governance of New Commons through Formation of Integrated
Local Environmental Knowledge

ISHIKAWA Satoshi

Coastal Area-capability Enhancement in Southeast Asia

TANAKA Ueru

Desertification and Livelihood in Semi-Arid Afro-Eurasia

2017

ENDO Aiko

Human-Environmental Security in Asia-Pacific Ring of Fire: Water-Energy-Food Nexus

2018

NAKATSUKA Takeshi

Societal Adaptation to Climate Change: Integrating Palaeoclimatological Data with Historical andArchaeological Evidences

2019

OKUDA Noboru

Biodiversity-driven Nutrient Cycling and Human Well-being in Social-Ecological Systems

TAYASU Ichiro

Proposal and Verification of the Validity of Isotope Environmental Traceability Methodology in EnvironmentalStudies

2012

2013

35

e-REC Project

Biodiversity-driven Nutrient Cycling and Human Well-being inSocial-Ecological Systems
Project Leader

OKUDA Noboru Center for Ecological Research, Kyoto University

A watershed is a basic unit of water and nutrient cycling
with hierarchical structure, in which a variety of local
communities are embedded. While nutrient imbalances
cause environmental issues at the watershed level, at thecommunity level there may be many urgent local issues
such as aging and lack of successors. Our basic idea ofwatershed governance is that both local and watershedissues can be solved through cross-level interactions
mediated by biodiversity, leading to enhancement of socialecological health of watershed systems (Fig. 1).
In the Yasu River sub-watershed of Lake Biwa, wefound that local communities are revitalized throughconservation of familiar nature, which provides ecosystemservices in the social-cultural context. Style and stage ofsuch community activities depend on social-historicalbackground and ecosystem types. Some case studies
revealed that these activities can have positive effects
on biodiversity and nutrient cycling at the local level,
and enhance community well-being. At least in thissub-watershed, our research suggests that biodiversity has
the potential to facilitate cross-level interactions, thoughdiffusion of such activities to the whole watershed remainsa challenge.
In the Silang-Santa Rosa sub-watershed of Laguna deBay, by contrast, biodiversity is critically endangered andmost residents have lost interest in aquatic environments.
Through interviews and stakeholder workshops, however,
we found that groundwater can be a shared object ofinterest among diverse stakeholders in the watershed.
Sharing knowledge on groundwater research directly
related to familiar nature meaningful for local peoples’ lives
and livelihoods facilitated active discussions in a watershed

forum as a platform for watershed governance.
Using social and natural scientific approaches, such as
action research and phosphate oxygen isotope analysis, tocompare different watersheds, we summarized key socialecological characteristics affecting governance processes.
Even when there is less explicit interest in biodiversity,
as in the case of Silang-Santa Rosa sub-watershed, there
is indication that stakeholder communication relevant
to familiar nature can be facilitated if a boundary object,such as groundwater, is taken as a key focus point.
Ultimately, since all lands around the planet can be seen
as parts of diverse watersheds, we believe that our basic
approach to watershed governance—adapted to individual
social-ecological contexts—can address many global
environmental issues.
As to social outcomes of our research project, in theYasu River sub-watershed, knowledge and experience ofcommunity activities have been shared between up- anddown-stream communities, enhancing discussionof watershed sustainability. In the Silang-Santa Rosa
sub-watershed, a Memorandum of Agreement wasconcluded between the Laguna Lake Development
Authority (national government) and Santa Rosa City(local government) in relation to installation of a water
quality monitoring facility at the watershed level, while
the women’s group was transformed from a mandatory“women’s desk” engagement to an environmentallyconscious group through conservation of sacred springas familiar nature. A textbook on watershed governancewill be published in FY2020, aiding the diffusion oftransdisciplinary approaches developed by our project todiverse stakeholders in other watersheds.

Social-ecologicalhealthEnhancement of
biodiversity &nutrient recycling

Enhancement of
human well-being
Integration ofknowledge

Assessment

Sharing of cultural values

Learning from local knowledge
Nutrient
CommunityBiodiversity
Well-being
cycling
activity
Empowerment
Scientist
Learning from scientific knowledge

Local community
Institutional support

ForestUrban
LakeRiverCropland

Figure 1 A conceptual schema of adaptive watershed governance36
https://www.chikyu.ac.jp/e-rec/index_eng.html

Government

Environmental Traceability Project

Proposal and Verification of the Validity of Isotope Environmental
Traceability Methodology in Environmental Studies
Project Leader

TAYASU Ichiro RIHN

This project investigated environmental traceability as a
key concept for solution of environmental problems. Stable
isotope ratios of elements, together with concentrationsof elements, can trace the flow of matter and chemicals
through the environment, better describe ecosystem
structure and conditions, and appraise the chemical
profiles of food products. Spatio-temporal variation ofmultiple isotope ratios can be used to study Earth systems
operating at local to global scales. This information canserve as an important decision-making tool for local
people considering water, food and environmental security,
all of which are fundamental for the sustainability ofhuman society.
We conducted two studies to evaluate the validityof “environmental traceability methodology” forenvironmental studies: 1) effectiveness of theenvironmental traceability concept, and 2) applicability
to the food traceability. For question 1, we asked of theeffective points of the methodology to solve environmental
problems using a survey by questionnaire and a workshop
among stakeholders. Field research took place in Japan
at sites in Ono City, Fukui; Otsuchi Town, Iwate; Saijo
City, Ehime; Oshino Village, Yamanashi; the Chikusa
river watershed, Hyogo; Lake Biwa and surrounding
watershed in Shiga; as well as in the Laguna de Bay andsurrounding watershed in the Philippines. Questionnaire
results indicated that certain types of stakeholder showed
special appreciation for the information obtained
from the environmental traceability methodology:a) people who are generally involved in the object ofconservation (groundwater or river depending on thestudy sites); b) people who have high concern about the
information obtained from the environmental traceability
methodology; and c) people who showed high level ofunderstanding about the explanation of the environmental
traceability methodology in the symposium at each studysite.
For question 2), we tested if the “environmentaltraceability” authentication by multi-isotope methods weremore effective in communicating production conditions
and building trust. We focused on food labels and madea web-based questionnaire online survey (N=10,000)
of consumers in Japan, the USA, Germany, China andThailand. We selected four food items that were previously
detected by isotopic analysis to be falsely labeled. We
set the sources of label information assured by farmer’s
photograph, by government institutions, by producer
association, by scientific experts (including in isotopicmethods), and by consumer reputation. Results showedthat the expert labels based on scientific analysis werehighly trusted regardless of food type or country andsuggested that expert labels might play an important role astrusted sources of information in the global food system.
Although causal relationships are complicated in global
environmental issues, we consider the environmental
traceability methodology is valid to tackle environmental
issues by sharing scientific information obtained from themethodology with various stakeholders. To disseminate
the knowledge and experience, we established an internet
website to serve as a platform that shares and develops
the environmental traceability methodology. As atransdisciplinary context, we use the results obtained fromour project research, and all the finding of Laboratory
and Analysis Division in RIHN, including the cooperative
research on “Environmental Isotope Study”. The website
will continue to connect providers of the environmental
traceability methodology with potential users.

Co-design of research
Verification of the validity of
isotope environmental
traceability methodology
Survey by questionnaire

Co-production of data
Presentation of the results
in a symposium

A schematic flow of the project in Oshino Village, Japan

The internet website we established to serve as a platformthat shares and develops the environmental traceability
methodology (a case in Oshino Village).

37
https://www.chikyu.ac.jp/rihn_e/project/2017-03.html