Best Practices

Below are examples of best practices and application of methods and processes for the utilization of biodiversity to prevent its long term decline.

Japanese SATOYAMA Initiative

Satoyama is a Japanese expression composed of two words: sato, meaning small village, and yama, meaning mountain or forest. In a broader sense, Satoyama encompasses the Japanese countryside composed of various types of ecosystems in a mosaic pattern that have been created and maintained by the local inhabitants engaged in farming and forestry. Sustainable rural societies living in harmony with nature is the key to conserving the Satoyama.

Secondary nature like Satoyama provides various ecosystem services, such as food, fuel, and materials. Today, much of the land on earth is utilized in some form of cultivation, forestry, grazing and other human activities for people’s livelihoods. Thus, in order to promote the objectives of the CBD, much attention is required not only to the conservation of wilderness, but also to management and sustainable use of secondary nature like Satoyama..

The goal of the SATOYAMA Initiative is to collect and disseminate information on Satoyama like sustainable management practices worldwide, as well as to develop and propose a model of sustainable management of natural resources in secondary nature. In an effort to create further awareness of the SATOYAMA Initiative and exchange information on sustainable use of biological resources in secondary ecosystems in each country, the Ministry of the Environment of Japan convened an international workshop on the SATOYAMA Initiative in Tokyo, Japan, 6 March 2009.

The SATOYAMA Initiative can play an important role in further implementing the CBD and make usage of the tools developed under the convention such as the ecosystem approach and the Addis Ababa Principles and Guidelines (AAPG) for the Sustainable Use of Biological Diversity. The SATOYAMA Initiative will contribute greatly towards achieving the 2010 biodiversity targets through its contribution towards maintaining a harmonious balance between humans and nature. The progress made on the initiative will be presented at SBSTTA 14th and COP10.

For more information on the initiative and the workshop report, please click on the following links:

• Presentation on the SATOYAMA Initiative – Ministry of the Environment of Japan
• The Satoyama Initiative (brochure)
• Chair’s Summary of the SATOYAMA Initiative International Workshop, Tokyo, Japan, March 6, 2009