Last Call for Abstracts:

 IPSI-4 Poster Session

The IPSI Secretariat and Fukui Prefectural Government will organize a two-day poster session during IPSI-4, parallel to the Assembly and Public Forum (13-14 September 2013). All IPSI members are encouraged to submit a poster and abstract by 28 June 2013. In collaboration with the ‘Ink-jet Cartridge Satogaeri Project’, a poster award will also be conferred. Please see the website for further details.

Save the Date:

Fifth International Forum for Sustainable Asia and the Pacific (ISAP2013)

When: 23-24 July 2013 Where: Yokohama, Japan (Pacifico-Yokohama) Language: English/Japanese (with translation) Free online registration: website ISAP2013 will showcase advanced and concrete examples of a Green Economy and will feature lively discussions with diverse stakeholders. The parallel session “Green Economy and Satoyama Initiative – Building Resilient Societies at Local Level” will be held on 23 July 2013, featuring several distinguished speakers. For further details and free online registration, please see the ISAP2013 website.

AERF Promotes Conservation and Sustainable Use of Satoyama Landscapes in the Western Ghats, India

By: Jayant Sarnaik (Deputy Director, Applied Environmental Research Foundation)

Applied Environmental Research Foundation (AERF), a conservation NGO based out of Pune, India has been involved in participatory conservation of biodiversity since1996 in the North Western Ghats.  A member of IUCN and IPSI, AERF’s focus has been conservation of traditional practices associated with natural resource management since beginning. The organization has been successful in convincing local communities from the Western Ghats for conservation of sacred groves – biodiversity rich forest fragment protected over ages through tradition. Similarly, AERF is among the few organizations from India which has documented traditional knowledge of tribal communities from Eastern Himalaya (state of Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh) related to agro-biodiversity management. Its efforts over the last decade were recently rewarded when AERF in collaboration with University of Kent received the Darwin Initiative grant to understand the role of socio-agricultural landscapes from North Western Ghats in biodiversity conservation and climate change adaptation. In addition to that, AERF’s innovative approach to use incentives for conserving unprotected forests from North Western  Ghats  has  also  been  recognized  at  international level. The Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF), a multi-donor funding mechanism, has supported AERF to scale up the incentive mechanism for conservation of multi functional forest landscapes from North Western Ghats.

 New Publication: “Satoyama and Satoumi of Ishikawa”

Authors: Bixia Chen (UNU-IAS OUIK), Aida Mammadova (UNU-IAS OUIK), Evonne Yiu (UNU-ISP) Description: Ishikawa Prefecture, located along the Sea of Japan, is home to 1.16 million people and many stunning satoyama and satoumi landscapes. This new volume published by the United Nations University Institute of Advanced Studies Operating Unit Ishikawa-Kanazawa (UNU-IAS OUIK) provides glimpses into the activities and lives of people in Ishikawa Prefecture. Download the booklet today to learn the stories of the people of Ishikawa and to be transported to a world of oyster farming, traditional charcoal manufacturing, terraced rice paddies, fields filled with local vegetable varieties, and much more. Download “Satoyama and Satoumi of Ishikawa” online.