Sustainable and Traditional Environmental Conservation in Asia Concept, Approach and Case Studies of Satoyama

This book articulates the traditional Japanese concept of conservation, called Satoyama, for effective management of nature’s goods and services at a community–ecosystem interface in the climate milieu. The term Satoyama refers to socio-ecological production landscapes and seascapes, which are mosaics of diverse land uses and ecosystems that have long been shaped through sustainable human interactions with nature. This multilevel study of conservation science, therefore, serves an interdisciplinary academia, consistent with conventions on climate change, biodiversity and sustainable development, to establish links between conservation priorities and development objectives. In this book, the Satoyama is introduced as a rights-based neo-economic conservation paradigm for production-linked sustainable development, supplemented with case studies from Asia. The International Partnership for the Satoyama Initiative was established at the 10^th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity in 2010 to protect and revitalise Satoyama. However, even after a decade, this panacea for sustainability remains unfulfilled for practitioners and policy planners in the global south. Satoyama have been disappearing as a result of irresponsible consumption of natural resources and drastically changing agro-farming practices, threatening wildlife inhabiting those areas as well as the life and livelihood of marginal communities in the vicinity. In consideration of the global pandemic crisis, the present monograph aims for introspection within a traditional sustainable practice of Asia to augment community resilience and preparedness.

Introduction.- Community and Conservation.- Nature-based Solutions (NbS).- Revisiting Sustainability.- Asian Conservation Consciousness.- Socio-ecological Production Landscape.- Satoyama: The Japanese SEPLs and Global Sustainability.- Satoyama: Analysing Few Case Studies.- Nexus Approach in Conservation of SEPLSs.

Dr. Ayyanadar Arunachalam has more than 25 years of experience in teaching, research and research management in his principal areas of expertise: forest ecology, biodiversity, climate-resilient agriculture and ecosystem-based adaptation. He is also experienced in agroforestry, ecosystem services, biological conservation, climate change, agricultural biotechnology, medicinal and aromatic plants, remote sensing and GIS. Currently, he is a principal scientist in forestry in the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, having special responsibilities as the principal scientific officer to the secretary, Department of Agricultural Research and Education; a director-general in the Indian Council of Agricultural Research; and an assistant director-general (international relations) in the Indian Council ofAgricultural Research. He has taught in more than 15 universities in India and other countries, with a Ph.D. in restoration ecology from the North-Eastern Hill University, Shillong, India, and a postgraduate diploma in environmental management and planning, as well as having completed the advanced training program in biodiversity monitoring and restoration ecology at the University of Massachusetts, Boston, USA. He has edited 17 books, written 117 book chapters and has more than 200 research publications.