Traditional paddy rice-based landscape production systems—known as satoyama in Japanese—have been maintained for more than a thousand years throughout the monsoon East Asian region. Such systems are now experiencing drastic socio-economic change, however, that affects their biodiversity and ecological productivity. This study evaluates the current management systems of satoyama ecosystems and presents prescriptions designed to maintain the diverse functionality of satoyama systems within the context of contemporary social and ecological change.

A typical satoyama landscape in Yunnan Province, China.