Satoyama is a Japanese word for the border country between the mountains and the arable flat, the managed woodland and terraced paddy and coppice that villages maintained for centuries. It is not wilderness, and that is the point. It is a landscape shaped by continuous, moderate human use, and the extraordinary thing is that this use made it more biodiverse, not less. Cutting the coppice on rotation, flooding the paddies, keeping the woods open: these practices created habitat that a great many species came to depend on.
The threat to satoyama is not development so much as abandonment. Rural Japan is emptying as the population ages and young people leave, and when the coppicing stops and the paddies dry, the mosaic collapses into uniform scrub and the species that needed the edges disappear. It is a strange kind of conservation crisis, one caused by people withdrawing rather than encroaching.
The organizations here work to keep the old practices alive, or to substitute for them, restoring paddy wetlands, managing woodland, and reconnecting an urban population to a countryside their grandparents farmed. Along the coasts they defend the tidal flats and seagrass beds that remain, in a nation that has concreted a startling proportion of its shoreline.
Environmental Organizations in This Bioregion
117 organizations working across this landscape.
Animal Welfare Corporate Partners Japan (AWCP)
The AWCP reduces animals used for suffering to an absolute minimum. From the perspective of animal welfare, we will work with companies that handle eggs to increase ...
Arakawa River Clean-aid Forum
Arakawa River Clean-aid Forum has been working to reduce river/ocean litter problems for over 25 years.
Asaza Fund
Asaza Fund is a 1% for the Planet nature nonprofit partner associated with freshwater ecosystems. Based in Ushiku-shi Ibaraki, NULL, Japan, it is included in the Ide...
B Market Builder Japan
B Market Builder Japan's mission is to transform the global economy to benefit all people, communities, and the planet.
Butterfly Project
Butterfly Project is a 1% for the Planet environmental partner in Hokuto-shi, Yamanashi, Japan, associated with food systems work. Its public 1% profile confirms its...
Certified Nonprofit Corporation Nationwide Children’s Cafeteria Support Center Musubie
こども食堂は、子どもたちへの食事提供にとどまらず、子どもから高齢者まで幅広い世代が食を通じて交流する「みんなの居場所」です。孤独・孤立や貧困といった社会課題の予防、地域活性化にも貢献する多様な価値がある場所です。 むすびえは、こども食堂が全国のどこにでもあり、誰もが安心して行ける場所となるよう環境整備を進めています。
Circular Life Institute
We raise awareness of a life emphasizing regional recycling. Specifically, we build nutrient-cycle recycling systems, develop manure-producing know-how, and train s...
Citizens Against Fukushima Aging Nuclear Power Plants (Fukuro-no-Kai)
Diamonds for Peace
Diamonds for Peace is working to improve the practices and livelihood of artisanal diamond miners in Africa.
Environmental investigation about the Sainokuni-resource of circulation factries
Environmental investigation about the Sainokuni-resource of circulation factries is a 1% for the Planet nature nonprofit partner associated with toxics & pollution. ...
Forest Stewardship Council Japan (FSC Japan)
FSC's mission is to promote environmentally sound, socially beneficial and economically prosperous management of the world's forests. FSC Japan promotes FSC forest c...
Fukushima Renewable Future Fund
Fukushima Renewable Future Fund is a 1% for the Planet nature nonprofit partner associated with climate adaptation. Based in Fukushima-shi, Fukushima, Japan, it is i...
Hokugen No Jugong Chosa Team- Zan
Hokugen No Jugong Chosa Team- Zan is a 1% for the Planet nature nonprofit partner associated with freshwater ecosystems. Based in Okinawa, Japan, it is included in t...
Japan Citizens' Network for Sustainable Food and Agriculture / Shoku Nou Net
Japan Environmental Action Network (JEAN) - International Coastal Cleanup (ICC)
Japan Tiger and Elephant Fund
JTEF is an NPO that supports conservation of wildlife in their natural habitats, reduce Japanese demand of wildlife products & works to protect wild tigers, ele...
Kamigo Segami No Shizen Wo Mamoru Kai
Kamigo Segami No Shizen Wo Mamoru Kai is a 1% for the Planet nature nonprofit partner associated with terrestrial ecosystems. Based in Kanagawa, Japan, it is include...
Kizugawa Ryuiki No Dam Wo Kangaeru Network
Kizugawa Ryuiki No Dam Wo Kangaeru Network is a 1% for the Planet nature nonprofit partner associated with freshwater ecosystems. Based in Iga, Mie, Japan, it is inc...
Koekizaidanhojin Shinjiko/Nakaumi Kisuiko Kenkyujyo
Koekizaidanhojin Shinjiko/Nakaumi Kisuiko Kenkyujyo is a 1% for the Planet nature nonprofit partner associated with freshwater ecosystems. Based in Shimane, Japan, i...
Mirai no Mori
Mirai no Mori creates life-changing outdoor programs for abused, neglected, and orphaned children in Japan, supporting their growth into happy and successful young a...
Mizumiyama No Midori To Mizu Wo Mamoru Kai
Mizumiyama No Midori To Mizu Wo Mamoru Kai is a 1% for the Planet nature nonprofit partner associated with terrestrial ecosystems. Based in Tokyo, Japan, it is inclu...
Mogamiogunigawa no Seiryu o Mamorukai
Mogamiogunigawa no Seiryu o Mamorukai is a 1% for the Planet nature nonprofit partner associated with freshwater ecosystems. Based in yamagata, Japan, it is included...
Mori wa Umi no Koibito
Our main stage is Kesennuma Bay and Okawa River that flows in there. Under our principle Mori wa Umi no Koibito, Forests are Lovers of the Sea, we work in forestatio...