Abandonment of Cropland and Seminatural Grassland in a Mountainous Traditional Agricultural Landscape in Japan

Imai, Nobuo; Otokawa, Hinata; Okamoto, Atsumi; Yamazaki, Kaito; Tamura, Takuya; Sakagami, Tsubasa; Ishizaka, Shingo; Shimojima, Hijiri

doi:10.3390/su15107742

Open AccessArticle

Abandonment of Cropland and Seminatural Grassland in a Mountainous Traditional Agricultural Landscape in Japan

by

Nobuo Imai

^1,†

,

Hinata Otokawa

^1,†,

Atsumi Okamoto

^1,2,

Kaito Yamazaki

^1,3,

Takuya Tamura

¹,

Tsubasa Sakagami

¹,

Shingo Ishizaka

⁴ and

Hijiri Shimojima

^1,*

¹

Faculty of Regional Environmental Science, Tokyo University of Agriculture, Sakuragaoka 1-1-1, Setagaya-ku 156-8502, Tokyo, Japan

²

Toyota City Museum of Local History, Jinnakacho 1-21-2, Toyota 471-0079, Aichi, Japan

³

Japan Wildlife Research Center, Kotobashi 3-3-7, Sumida-ku 130-8606, Tokyo, Japan

⁴

NPO Tama Genryu Kosuge, Kosuge 1911, Kitatsuru-gun 401-0211, Yamanashi, Japan

^*

Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

^†

These authors contributed equally to this work.

Sustainability 2023, 15(10), 7742; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15107742

Submission received: 30 March 2023 / Revised: 29 April 2023 / Accepted: 5 May 2023 / Published: 9 May 2023

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Development in Mountain Areas)

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Abstract

The abandonment of traditional agricultural land is a global phenomenon, especially in mountainous areas. Although there are many mountainous villages where traditional agriculture, based on wild-plant mulching systems, is still practiced in Japan, the extent of land use change in these areas has not been quantitatively assessed. Economic theory predicts the systematic allocation of land to its maximum net value in response to distance from residential centres or demand. We tested this theory to determine whether: (1) grassland and cropland abandonment occurs far from residential centres and (2) new grassland becomes established near residential centres because its products (i.e., wild plants) are essential to traditional agriculture. We interviewed farmers from the traditional mountain village of Kosuge, Japan, to examine land use change at a parcel scale over the period 1940–2019. Our predictions were confirmed in that cropland and grassland were abandoned, while regrowth forests and plantations became established thereafter in the more inaccessible areas, in terms of distance from the village centre and slope aspect. Furthermore, new grassland developed near the centre of the village, leading to the ‘advance’ of grassland into the residential centre. Our results indicate that spatiotemporal patterns of land use change in traditional agricultural landscapes can be predicted and used to inform policies designed to sustainably maintain these landscapes and their ecosystem function.

Keywords: agricultural abandonment; Miscanthus sinensis; Satoyama; steep slope; unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV); von Thünen

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MDPI and ACS Style

Imai, N.; Otokawa, H.; Okamoto, A.; Yamazaki, K.; Tamura, T.; Sakagami, T.; Ishizaka, S.; Shimojima, H. Abandonment of Cropland and Seminatural Grassland in a Mountainous Traditional Agricultural Landscape in Japan. Sustainability 2023, 15, 7742. https://doi.org/10.3390/su15107742

AMA Style

Imai N, Otokawa H, Okamoto A, Yamazaki K, Tamura T, Sakagami T, Ishizaka S, Shimojima H. Abandonment of Cropland and Seminatural Grassland in a Mountainous Traditional Agricultural Landscape in Japan. Sustainability. 2023; 15(10):7742. https://doi.org/10.3390/su15107742

Chicago/Turabian Style

Imai, Nobuo, Hinata Otokawa, Atsumi Okamoto, Kaito Yamazaki, Takuya Tamura, Tsubasa Sakagami, Shingo Ishizaka, and Hijiri Shimojima. 2023. "Abandonment of Cropland and Seminatural Grassland in a Mountainous Traditional Agricultural Landscape in Japan" Sustainability 15, no. 10: 7742. https://doi.org/10.3390/su15107742

APA Style

Imai, N., Otokawa, H., Okamoto, A., Yamazaki, K., Tamura, T., Sakagami, T., Ishizaka, S., & Shimojima, H. (2023). Abandonment of Cropland and Seminatural Grassland in a Mountainous Traditional Agricultural Landscape in Japan. Sustainability, 15(10), 7742. https://doi.org/10.3390/su15107742

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Abandonment of Cropland and Seminatural Grassland in a Mountainous Traditional Agricultural Landscape in Japan

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