The NPUST Community Forestry Center is committed to the development of Satoyama “deep economies” and is working with the Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency (Ministry of Agriculture) to help further their cause. Recently, the pair jointly organized the “2023 Taiwan-Japan Satoyama Exchange Seminar” and invited six experts and scholars from Japan to come to Taiwan to collaborate on the Taiwan Satoyama Initiative together with Taiwanese community forestry scholars and experts, government agencies, and industry operators. With the flights of several Japanese scholars experiencing delay due to a passing typhoon, the physical seminar which was scheduled for 9:00 am on August 16 (‘23) was changed to an online broadcast (website: https://ppt.cc/fmmPXx). The opening ceremony, however, was held according to the original plans at the International Conference Hall on the 4th floor of the NPUST Library and Exhibition Hall, with NPUST Vice-President Shang-Min Ma and President Nakamura Nobuyuki of the Satoyama Exchange Conference co-hosting the event.
NPUST’s Vice President for Education, Shang-Min Ma, said “over the years, National Pingtung University of Science and Technology and the Forestry Bureau have been working in cooperation, and have actively organized a series of Community Forestry 2.0 courses. Each time a course has been held, it has received an enthusiastic response from people around the country. Our school is also making use of the Ministry of Education’s Higher Education’s Sprout Project to promote related activities, and has even set up an Under-Forest Economy teaching site at the school to facilitate the education of teachers, students and residents of tribal communities. In 2018, NPUST successfully joined the International Partnership Network of the Satoyama Initiative (IPSI), becoming the 10th organization and first technical university in Taiwan to join the cause. We are very happy to work with our Satoyama partners across Taiwan and hope that Taiwan’s experience can also be shared internationally. The speakers at this seminar include important promoters of the policy, theory, and practice of Taiwan’s biodiversity conservation, community forestry, and the Satoyama Initiative. Six experts from Japan with rich practical experience will also be sharing on the touching actions that they have been involved in on the Satoyama front. With many exciting topics to share on, I believe the event will be very inspiring and rewarding for everyone.”
President Nakamura Nobuyuki of the Satoyama Exchange Conference said “We are constantly thinking about how to achieve the goal of protecting natural resources while allowing for the co-prosperity of rural communities. The Satoyama spirit is the most appropriate way to do this. We can achieve the coexistence of the two by building a common sense of community and applying the cycle of natural resources. We are reshaping the Satoyama into an important source of capital for society, with the hope of also slowing down the consumption and waste caused by industrialized societies. Through this discussion, we are very happy to brainstorm on ideas with the Community Forestry Center as we embark on this adventure together.”
Deputy Section-Chief Hsiu-Chuan Huang of the Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency said “it is a great honor to represent the Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency at the 2023 Taiwan-Japan Satoyama Exchange Seminar. I hope to share valuable experiences and learn from the speakers both from Taiwan and Japan. I also thank the NPUST Department of Forestry, along with Professor Meihui Chen and her team, for working together with us on the path of sustainability in the Satoyama.”
Representing Taiwan, Section Chief Chih-Chin Shih of the Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency explained Taiwan’s “Satoyama Initiative and Biodiversity Policy”, and Professor Meihui Chen, who proposed Taiwan’s community forestry program in 2002, shared on the Community Forestry and Satoyama Initiative cases she has come across during her 20 years of related experience. Professor Kuang-Chung Lee of National Dong Hwa University who introduced Taiwan to the idea of the International Satoyama Initiative in 2010 shared on “Taiwan’s Satoyama Initiative Promotion and Development Network”. Each of the Taiwanese speakers play important roles in promoting Satoyama policy, theory and practice in Taiwan.
The six Japanese experts included Nakamura Nobuyuki, president of the Satoyama Exchange Conference, who focuses on the creation of Satoyama environments for children; Kawai Tsuguo, a registered landscape architect, who has been devoted to the environmental education of the West Lake Ecological Trail in Shiga Prefecture for many years and who also supports local environmental conservation affairs in Myanmar; Nakagawa Masanori, assistant president of Nara Prefectural Medical University, who has rich experience in placemaking and urban development and who also established the “Kaseyama Club”, which is a group for Satoyama activities in Kyoto; Takashima City Council Deputy Speaker Korenaga Hiroshi, who revitalized 140-year-old local bungalows and transformed them into an exchange base for urban residents, and who develops immigration and cultural exchange projects to revive mountain villages; Nishizawa Saiki of Seta Forest Kindergarten who aims to help children connect with the natural environment from an early age through childhood education, and who is actively involved in policy reform; and Omori Jumpei, the head of OM Environmental Planning Research Institute Co., Ltd., who works with local residents and the government to promote the rural revitalization movement. The six experts play diverse roles in Japan’s Satoyama story—and all have been involved in Satoyama work for many years. With the rich experiences brought to the seminar, the time of exchange was an opportunity for all the parties, whether from Taiwan or Japan, to gain new insight and find new inspiration for their Satoyama activities.
