Abstract:
Nature of the Japanese archipelago is characterized by diverse types of ecosystems, distinct seasons formed by the Asian monsoon, plenty of disturbances including floods, landslides and volcanos, all of which contribute to harbor diverse organisms in lands and seas. Humans also shaped the nature of Japan throughout the long history, and Satoyama landscapes and Satoumi seascapes were created as the result of lasting human-nature interactions, which flourished cultural diversity as well as maintaining biodiversity in local socio-ecological systems. On the other hand, nature challenges humans by disasters, for example, due to floods and landslides caused by heavy rain. Although modern engineering technologies prevented some but not all disasters, humans have long traditions to cope with disasters before those technologies developed, in which ambiguity of nature as challenges (disasters) and blessings (ecosystem services) underlies. This ambiguity is innate to the interaction between nature and humanity, and the plentiful knowledge around it has been passed down from generation to generation and still remains in local communities. I will talk about some examples of the traditional knowledge of how to avoid disasters and be given nature’s blessings at the same time in mountains, rivers, and lakes of Japan, based on the outcomes of our RIHN research project. My talk stresses that cooperation and collaboration by diverse actors are crucial for recognizing and utilizing the traditional knowledge in actual solutions and actions, and that those knowledge is significant for realizing the sustainability of local socio-ecological systems in the era of social and ecological instabilities.