species once they have settled down and expanded their distribution. For that reason, it is of course necessary to strengthen monitoring systems in order to prevent alien species from newly taking root, and also to systematically and adaptively eradicate alien species that have already taken root, according to the extent of their damage and the necessity of eradicating them.

As for the “Climate Change Crisis,” there is a possibility that irreversible effects may occur in fragile ecosystems such as alpine areas and coral reefs (Table 3-2-8: Relationship between Coral Bleaching in Sekisei Shoko and Temperature). It is also thought that changes in distribution, populations, and phenology that have already been identified may affect a broad scope of living beings for which some examples have already been confirmed, and may cause changes in interactions among living beings. In order to handle the climate change crisis, it is necessary to proceed with reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, but even if the best possible efforts are made such reduction may take time and it is thought that some degree of effects from warming cannot be avoided. For example, it is said that if the concentration of $ CO_{2} $ in the air exceeds 350ppm, coral reefs suffer irreversible damage due to increases in water temperature and acidification of ocean water, but that level has already been exceeded. For that reason, it is necessary to proceed with adaptive measures to deal with changes in the environment and ecosystems that occur due to global warming, but in order to proceed with specific adaptive measures, it will be important to clarify, through monitoring of ecosystems that are easily affected by global warming, the vulnerabilities to global warming and the level of impact on ecosystems and our daily lives that is caused by not being able to deal with the effects of global warming.

Meanwhile, loss of biodiversity is occurring not only in ecosystems and species, but also on the level of genetic diversity. JBO found that nearly all indigenous varieties of horses and cows have disappeared, with only 8 varieties of indigenous horse varieties remaining of what used to be nearly 50 called by area of production, and only 2 indigenous varieties of cows remaining. It is thereby assessed that, "There are only a few populations of indigenous types of livestock, and genetic diversity has declined."

As for rice, which is an important living resource and the closest resource to the Japanese people, it was grown in approximately 4,000 varieties during the Meiji Period, but as of 2005 only 88 varieties (crop land area of 500 hectares or more) were grown, and the number of types of cultivated rice is declining significantly. Two-thirds of the rice currently harvested in Japan consists of koshihikari or the top four varieties which are of koshihikari lineage. An example of a problem caused by the unification of varieties is that the ratio of damage suffered by that crop will be great if a disease or pest that inflicts significant damage to a certain variety arises. As another example, in the past there was a case in which cultivation of the most representative variety of banana, called Gros Michel, suffered devastating damage from a disease caused by a fungus called Race 1. Although today the Cavendish variety, which is resistant to Race 1, is widely cultivated, there are no varieties that are resistant to the newly emerged fungus Race 4, and therefore there are concerns that bananas, with their poor genetic diversity, could suffer catastrophic damage. It is true that such concerns do not apply identically to other species, including rice, but conservation of genetic diversity of domesticated animals, cultivated plants, and fish species is a task to be dealt with.

### 3. The Relationship between Biodiversity and Our Daily Lives

Our daily lives heavily rely on ecosystem services. Ecosystem services include not only supply services such as food, but also regulating services related to modulation of air quality and protection against natural disasters, cultural services related to cultural diversity and traditional and customary knowledge, and support services related to soil formation and water circulation. The “Japan Satoyama-Satoumi Assessment (JSSA),” which analyzed changes in satoyama-satoumi ecosystems in Japan over the last fifty years, found that there are many services, ranging from services of broad foundation to cultural services (Table 3-2-1: Changes in Ecosystem Services and Direct Drivers). In satoyama and satoumi we have used a wide variety of services since long ago through humans coexisting with nature, but in order to continue to use such ecosystem services in a sustainable manner, it is essential to conserve biodiversity into the future. In order to do so, it is important to use such services in a way that does not exceed ecosystems’ resilience and resistance. The “ecological footprint” is one indicator that measures the impact that our daily lives have on biodiversity. The ecological footprint is an indicator that shows the environmental load caused by human activities in the land area required for such activities. The ecological footprint is increasing every year due mainly to the carbon footprint (the land area necessary to absorb carbon dioxide caused by consumption of fossil fuels.). At present, a planet 1.5 times the size of the Earth is necessary to support our daily lives, and by the mid-2030s it is predicted that 2 times the size of the Earth will be required. In other words, it can be said that our current daily lives are barely viable by eating up all of the future’s resources (assets) (Figure 3-2-9: Shifts in the World’s Ecological Footprint).

Although in recent years Japan’s ecological footprint has been in a trend of decline, Japan’s 2006 ecological footprint was approximately 1.5 times the global average, and if all of the world’s people lived the same lifestyle as the people of Japan, a planet 2.3 times the size of the Earth would be required (Figure 3-2-10: Ecological Footprint in Japan). A characteristic of Japan is that the ecological footprint is large in comparison with its biological productivity (Figure 3-2-11: Ecological Creditor-Debtor Status by Country, including the Ecological Footprint to Bio-capacity Ratio). That means that many of the resources consumed in Japan rely on imports from other countries, causing impacts on ecosystem services in other countries.