This book guides readers to the new concept of “Satoumi” and explains how its practice works to solve challenges in complex social-ecological systems of coastal areas. The book describes the significance of Satoumi Science as a transdisciplinary process. It starts with introducing the definition of Satoumi, highlights the important distinction between active measures (direct actions to improve ecosystem functions and services) and passive measures (a variety of management activities), and presents the concept of Integrated Local Environmental Knowledge (ILEK) as a knowledge base for Satoumi activities. It also introduces residential researchers and bilateral knowledge translators as the key actors of Satoumi co-creation through the transdisciplinary processes. The concept of Satoumi goes beyond the idea of protecting pristine nature by eliminating humans. It is about creating coastal environments where humans closely connect with the sea, which leads to the effective conservation and sustainable management of various natural resources and ecosystem services. This book will be of high interest to managers, governments, environmental groups, and the research community. Chapters cover current and emerging concerns, such as over- and under-use of natural resources, restoration of damaged ecosystems, and co-creation of new relations between humans and coastal seas, from transdisciplinary approaches to tackle with complex and 'wicked' challenges of coastal social-ecological systems.

Integrated Coastal Management in the Japanese Satoumi: Restoring Estuaries and Bays provides an in-depth exploration of the integrated costal management (ICM) used in the Japanese Satoumi. The lessons of Satoumi?coastal areas where biological productivity and biodiversity have increased through human interaction?are important for the rest of the world, given the political consensus reached in Japan to truly restore estuaries and bays. The book will discuss and explain how this method could be modified to apply to other cultures in the world. Integrated Coastal Management in the Japanese Satoumi: Restoring Estuaries and Bays presents chapters from experts in the relevant fields and includes chapters about each study field of the Satoumi, making it a valuable resource for researchers, field practitioners, and policymakers in coastal area management and development. This includes the Shizukawa Bay as an open coastal sea, the Seto Inland Sea as semi-enclosed coastal sea, and the Japan Sea. The book moves on to explore the economic evaluation of ecosystem services, a four-step management system, and the negotiation between marine protected areas and fisheries, and concludes with a full section covering a comparison of ICM with Europe and the United States, and how Japan's policies could be integrated. - Introduces a four-step system of local, regional, national and international management for successfully Integrated Coastal Management that can be deployed globally - Presents a new concept for ICM which worked on the Satoumi - Includes both Ecosystems Based Management (EBM) and Community Based Management (CBM) - Proposes a common platform for ICM, clarifying the scientific topics involved and their significance regarding the environment

This book focuses, in seven chapters, on the perspectives and solutions that different research groups offer to try to address problems related to SDG 14: Life Below Water. The different objectives developed in SDG 14 are treated independently, with an attempt to give a global vision of the issues. The mechanism used to select the book's content was through an Artificial Intelligence program, choosing articles related to the topics by means of keywords. The program selected those articles, and those that were not related to the topic or did not focus on SDG 14 were discarded by a subject matter expert. Obviously, the selection was partial and the entire subject is not covered, but the final product gives a very solid idea of ​​how to orient ourselves to delve deeper into the topic of SDG 14 using published chapters and articles. The AI program itself selected the text of these contributions to show the progress in different topics related to SDG 14. This mode of operation will allow specialists (and non-specialists) to collect useful information for their specific research purposes in a short period of time. At a time when information is essential in order to move quickly by providing concrete answers to complex problems, this type of approach will become essential for researchers, especially for a subject as vast as SDG 14.

How Japanese coastal residents and transnational conservationists collaborated to foster relationships between humans and sea life Drawing the Sea Near opens a new window to our understanding of transnational conservation by investigating projects in Okinawa shaped by a “conservation-near” approach—which draws on the senses, the body, and memory to collapse the distance between people and their surroundings and to foster collaboration and equity between coastal residents and transnational conservation organizations. This approach contrasts with the traditional Western “conservation-far” model premised on the separation of humans from the environment. Based on twenty months of participant observation and interviews, this richly detailed, engagingly written ethnography focuses on Okinawa’s coral reefs to explore an unusually inclusive, experiential, and socially just approach to conservation. In doing so, C. Anne Claus challenges orthodox assumptions about nature, wilderness, and the future of environmentalism within transnational organizations. She provides a compelling look at how transnational conservation organizations—in this case a field office of the World Wide Fund for Nature in Okinawa—negotiate institutional expectations for conservation with localized approaches to caring for ocean life. In pursuing how particular projects off the coast of Japan unfolded, Drawing the Sea Near illuminates the real challenges and possibilities of work within the multifaceted transnational structures of global conservation organizations. Uniquely, it focuses on the conservationists themselves: why and how has their approach to project work changed, and how have they themselves been transformed in the process?

The author proposed the satoumi concept, analogous to the satoyama concept on land, as “coastal sea with high biodiversity and productivity in harmony with human interaction” in 1998. The concept for environmental conservation in the coastal seas has been widely accepted and was included in the Japanese national policy of “Strategy for Establishment of an Environmental Nation” in 2007. This book is a translation of the author’s Japanese book (2010) in response to concerns and questions about satoumi, including: Does biodiversity increase as a result of human interaction in coastal seas? Do the economics of fishing villages need to be considered in detail? What legal support is necessary for the creation of satoumi? Is there a relation between the concepts of God and Nature in satoumi? What is the relationship between fishermen and city dwellers? Chapter 1 presents the basic concept of satoumi. In Chapter 2 the relation between biodiversity and human interaction, economic problems related to satoumi, legal support for satoumi creation, satoumi from the point of view of landscape ecology, and the relation between society and science with regard to the satoumi movement are discussed. In Chapter 3 examples of satoumi creation in Japan are presented, and in Chapter 4 the overseas dissemination of the satoumi concept is introduced, with Chapter 5 providing the conclusion. Chapter 1 presents the basic concept of satoumi. In Chapter 2 the relation between biodiversity and human interaction, economic problems related to satoumi, legal support for satoumi creation, satoumi from the point of view of landscape ecology, and the relation between society and science with regard to the satoumi movement are discussed. In Chapter 3 examples of satoumi creation in Japan are presented, and in Chapter 4 the overseas dissemination of the satoumi concept is introduced, with Chapter 5 providing the conclusion.

Through this book, readers will gain a comprehensive overview of transdisciplinary knowledge co-production in local contexts as an issue-driven and solution-oriented process, and will come to understand its relationship to societal transformation processes toward sustainability. In a single volume, the theory, approaches and academic implications of this novel type of knowledge production are addressed, together with its societal impacts. In the midst of global anthropogenic impacts that affect various environments, over the past few decades we have observed autonomous initiatives in local communities around the world to tackle these environmental challenges. It is vital that such local actions be scaled up to achieve sustainable societies, which requires societal transformation on larger scales. Thanks to numerous collaborative actions in local communities, transdisciplinary knowledge co-production among diverse stakeholders has successfully been mobilized, resulting in the development of Integrated Local Environmental Knowledge (ILEK); knowledge that can inform and support decisions and actions promoting the sustainable transformation of society. This book uses comparative case studies in communities around the world to illuminate and clarify processes and factors promoting the co-production and utilization of ILEK to facilitate decision-making. In addition, readers will gain deeper insights into the science-society interactions that can contribute to finding collaborative solutions to a wide range of critical environmental problems. Though the book is ideally suited for researchers and students, it also offers a valuable resource for practitioners, government agencies, and stakeholder agencies.

This book explores the nature of marine conservation based on the case study of Hinase, a fishing village in Okayama, Japan. It focuses on the fishers’ self-motivated eelgrass restoration activity which has been continued for more than 30 years. This activity in Hinase recently attracted international attention as a case under the name “Satoumi” and “Marine Protected Areas” in several governmental reports, but detailed information, such as the historical background and social structure of Hinase, has not yet been analyzed. This book, therefore, fulfills this gap by providing its ethnographic information. In addition, this book offers some points for critical thinking by concluding that marine conservation activities cannot always be evaluated or arranged under the standardized approach with limited time and space. This viewpoint reaffirms the importance of local initiative and highlights the value of qualitative research to seek the way forward for promising marine conservation. This book is suitable for an academic audience in the field of social sciences, such as applied anthropology, as well as ecologists, government officials, environmentalists, and citizens who are interested or engaged in environmental issues or natural resource management.