Satoyama Initiative Regional Workshop in Africa

The Satoyama Initiative Regional Workshop in Africa was held from 10 to 12 August 2015 in Accra, Ghana. This was the first Satoyama Initiative Regional Workshop to be held in Africa, following on earlier Regional Workshops in Asia (Kathamandu, Nepal, 2013) and Europe (Florence, Italy, 2014).

The Workshop brought together around 75 participants from 13 African nations and around the world for in-depth discussions of the issues facing SEPLS particularly in Africa. The event was co-organized by the IPSI Secretariat and, from the Government of Ghana, the Ghana National Biodiversity Committee, the Forestry Commission of Ghana, and the Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation (MESTI). Local cooperating organizations A Rocha Ghana and Conservation Alliance also provided assistance in its organization. The opening ceremony featured guest addresses by the Honourable Dr. Bernice Heloo, MP for the Hohoe Municipality and Deputy Minister for Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation (MESTI) of Ghana, and Daniel Pelle of the Forestry Commission of Ghana.

The event was Chaired by Prof. Alfred Oteng-Yeboah, Chair of the Ghana National Biodiversity Committee, with plenary discussions moderated by Dr. Wanja Dorothy Nyingi, Coordinator of the Kenya Wetlands Biodiversity Research Team and Dr. Maurizio Farhan Ferrari, Environmental Governance Coordinator at the Forest Peoples Programme. Keynote speeches were provided by Prof. Kazuhiko Takeuchi, Senior Vice-Rector of the United Nations University, Dr. Tanya Abrahamse, CEO of the South African Biodiversity Institute (SAMBI) and Prof. Alfred Oteng-Yeboah, Chair of the Ghana National Biodiversity Committee. These were followed by working group sessions, where participants engaged in in-depth discussion of SEPLS in Africa.

Building on the success of this event, the IPSI Secretariat looks forward to working more intensively at the regional level and organizing further Regional Workshops around the world in the future. The IPSI Secretariat also plans to produce a publication about SEPLS in Africa in addition to the official workshop report, which will be available on the IPSI website soon.

For more information on the Workshop, including presentation files, please see the IPSI website here.

Parallel Session at ISAP 2015

The International Forum for Sustainable Asia and the Pacific (ISAP 2015) was held on 28 and 29 July 2015 at the Pacifico Yokohama Conference Center in Yokohama, Japan. ISAP is a major event held each year, with speakers on sustainability from around the Asia-Pacific region and the world. The theme of this year’s event was “Solutions for Change: Forging Multi-stakeholder Partnerships towards 2030″, with a focus on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and climate change.

The United Nations University Institute for Advanced Studies (UNU-IAS) and the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES) held a parallel session titled “Satoyama and Sustainable Development:Bridging Project Financing and Knowledge Generation” on 29 July. The event featured presentations from experts from:

• Kazuhiko Takeuchi, Senior Vice-Rector at United Nations University (UNU) and Director and Professor at the Integrated Research System for Sustainability Science (IR3S) of the University of Tokyo, who gave a keynote speech on the importance of the focus on SEPLS as one of the major landscape components in implementing SDGs in Asia-Pacific region, priority means of implementation of SDGs in SEPLS: project funding and knowledge co-production, and an introduction of relevant international initiatives, including IPSI and IPBES

• Wataru Suzuki, Senior Coordinator at UNU-IAS, who introduced the panel discussion

• Kazuaki Hoshino, Visiting Professor at UNU-IAS, who provided opening remarks and moderated the panel discussion

• Yoko Watanabe, Asia Regional Coordinator of Programs at the Global Environment Facility (GEF), who was a panelist and spoke on "International financing architecture for enhancing SEPLS sustainability and resilience"

• Yasushi Hibi, Vice President for Asia Policy / Managing Director for Japan Program at Conservation International, who was a panelist and spoke on a "New GEF Project for mainstreaming biodiversity conservation and sustainable management in priority SEPLS"

• Prasert Trakansuphakon, President, Indigenous Knowledge and Peoples (IKAP) Network, Thailand, who was a panelist and spoke on "A spearhead from SDM – Interpreting traditional knowledge in the modern context as key for sustainability"

The event was also featured in detail on the ISAP 2015 website here.

"Satoyama: The Way of Coexistence": A Podcast on The Good Land Project

The Good Land Project is an Australia-based website "about cultivating life from land", and featuring a number of articles closely related to the Satoyama Initiative and SEPLS. It recently published a podcast featuring Matthew Cawood interviewing William Dunbar of the IPSI Secretariat about topic ranging from the origins and development of the satoyama concept in Japan, to activities under the Satoyama Initiative and IPSI, to sustainable consumption in general.

The audio and a transcript of the podcast can be found at The Good Land Project's website here.

Recent Case Studies: Hokusetsu Satoyama Museum Steering Council

The IPSI Secretariat recently received a case study report from partner organization the Hokusetsu Satoyama Museum Steering Council, titled "Hokusetsu Satoyama Leader Training Session".

Since its establishment in 2012, the Hokusetsu Satoyama Leader Training Session has aimed to acquire a deeper understanding of Japan'ssatoyama landscapes and develop active human resources for enhancing satoyamaactivities. Satoyama forests in the Hokusetsu region, located near urban areas in Hyogo Prefecture, Japan, are unique in that they have maintained their traditionalsatoyama landscapes and contain various virtues, such as history, culture, and biodiversity, as well as in that many citizens in this region are taking part in a wide range of activities related to thesatoyama forests.

The Hokusetsu Satoyama Leader Training Session was launched in fiscal 2012 with the aim of acquiring a deeper understanding of satoyama and developing active human resources forsatoyama activities. Targeted at current and future satoyama supporters, including forest volunteers and environmental organization members, Hokusetsu Satoyama College aims to develop generalistic human resources through its entire curriculum, ranging from introductory lectures to application classes focusing on practice, which provide participants with opportunities to study, experience, think about, and communicate with satoyama and satoyama people, and finally to contribute to the sustainable conservation and vitalization of Hokusetsu satoyama.

Much more information about these activities can be found in the full case study write-up on the IPSI website here.

Contact

Please be sure to let the Secretariat know if there are any changes in your e-mail address or contact information.

Secretariat of the International Partnership for the Satoyama Initiative
5–53–70 Jingumae
Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 150-8925
Japan

Tel: +81 3-5467-1212
Fax: +81 3-3499-2828

Email: isi@unu.edu

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