Satoyama Initiative: Society in harmony with nature

One important and sometimes overlooked component of biodiversity conservation are environments where humans are using land to support themselves – through activities such as farming or harvesting products from forests, rivers or seas – while maintaining healthy ecosystems that support an abundance of life.

Such areas are the focus of the Satoyama Initiative, officially launched Tuesday at the CBD gathering. Dozens of organizations from around the globe joined the Japanese government in celebrating this partnership dedicated to maintenance and rebuilding of human-influenced natural environments.

The vision of the Satoyama Initiative is to realize societies in harmony with nature – human communities where the maintenance and development of socio-economic activities align with natural processes. Many conservation organizations and initiatives are already supporting projects that nurture this kind of relationship between socio-economic activity and ecosystems, including CEPF and many, many of its partners around the globe. The Japanese Ministry of the Environment and the United Nations University Institute of Advanced Studies jointly launched the initiative to develop an international effort to promote such practices.

The partnership will be conducting activities such as collecting and providing data, case studies and lessons learned; encouraging research on topics such as how to integrate results into policy and decision-making; enhancing the capabilities of people involved in maintaining or rebuilding such production landscapes; and encouraging and expanding networks among those interested in the initiative’s goals and activities.

The launch event included remarks from Shoichi Kondo, senior vice-minister for Japan’s Ministry of Environment (who is scheduled to be a featured speaker at the CEPF presentation on Oct. 25), and Yoko Watanabe, program manager and senior biodiversity specialist for the Global Environment Facility, one of CEPF’s donor partners. The Government of Japan is also one of CEPF’s donor partners.

For more information on the Satoyama Initiative, visit http://satoyama-initiative.org