It may not be the thing that’s at the top of people’s agendas in Japan at the moment, but one does wonder what the long-term effect of the tsunami will be on the satoyama of the region, their agrobiodiversity and the people who maintain it. ((That’s if this agroecosystem occurs in the region. Is there a map of its distribution?)) The BBC series on the satoyama from a few years back is no longer available on the BBC’s website, but some of the documentaries can be found elsewhere. ((I got the photo from Flickr, thanks to the New York Public Library.))
Protecting biodiversity entails not only preserving pristine environments, such as wilderness, but also conserving human-influenced natural environments, such as farmlands and secondary forest, that people have developed and maintained sustainably over a long time. These human-influenced natural environments are often inhabited by a variety of species adapted to and rely on these landscapes to survive, hence they play an important role in sustaining and enhancing biodiversity. But these landscapes – and the sustainable practices and knowledge they represent- are increasingly threatened in many parts of the world, due for example, to urbanisation, industrialisation, and rapid rural population increase and decrease. Measures are urgently needed to conserve these sustainable types of human-influenced natural environments through broader global recognition of their value.
http://satoyama-initiative.org/en/
And?
Luigi, while acknowledging with heartfelt sorrow the overwhelming suffering and dislocation of the people, I too have wondered about the impact on satoyama and satoumi.
I can’t imagine that the thinning web of increasingly elderly people who have sustained these landscapes will easily start over (if at all) in the impacted areas. I’d guess many or most who have survived will move to more urban areas.
What this would mean for these landscapes over time is obviously detrimental. Definitely a concern.
Satoyama I -Japan’s Secret Garden with Sir David Attenborough (1999), Pt1 at http://vimeo.com/21077544 and Satoyama I -Japan’s Secret Garden with Sir David Attenborough (1999), Pt2 at http://vimeo.com/21224715
This is the original Japanese documentary for which David Attenborough provided the voice-over.