Keep it alive, don’t freeze it: a conceptual perspective on the conservation of continuously evolving satoyama landscapes

Abstract

In recent years, efforts to conserve and restore satoyama landscapes have become increasingly prevalent throughout Japan. These efforts have conserved threatened landscapes, protected biodiversity and engaged civil society in land-use planning and management. However, the conservation of satoyama continues to present a paradox familiar to landscape planners and ecologists: how can we conserve, but avoid freezing, landscapes of dynamic change? This article works through this paradox by examining the dynamic and continually evolving history of satoyama woodlands. The history of satoyama presented here demonstrates that these landscapes have been, and continue to be, produced in tandem with the evolving needs of successive generations. Accordingly, it is imperative to consider how satoyama landscapes might mesh with present day social needs and values. Faced with curbing global climate change, we suggest that present day social needs and values are well aligned with utilizing satoyama woodlands as a source of renewable biomass energy to reduce carbon emissions and realize associated multifunctional woodland values. Thus, the conceptual perspective advanced here is that resolution of the continuing conservation paradox lies in taking the freeze off satoyama woodlands—and by extension other vernacular landscapes—and thereby letting them live.