sustainable use of biological diversity.pdf - India Environment Portal

Regional circulation that combines biogas power generation with agriculture and livestock husbandry in Kyoto, Japan
Regional circulation that combines biogas power generation with agriculture
and livestock husbandry in Kyoto, Japan
Takako Matsui 1 , Taito Kawashima 1 and Takehiro Kasahara 1
1
PREC Institute Inc., Email: t-kawashima@prec.co.jp
1. regional profile
Kyotango City, Kyoto, Japan, is an agricultural and
mountainous village area located approximately 90
kilometres from Kyoto City and 450 kilometres from
Tokyo.
The area has been associated with active interaction
with countries in Eurasia for centuries. It has
many historic remains and ruins, such as tumuli
constructed from the third to seventh centuries. This
area has been the stage of a variety of human activities
since then. The population of Kyotango City was
80,160 people in 1960. It decreased to 62,723 people
in 2000 and is expected to decrease to 48,691 people
in 2030. The main industries of Kyotango City
are agriculture, silk textile industry, machinery and
metal manufacturing industry, and tourism. Changes
in the industry structure, population outflow, and
aging society have been part of the reasons for the
overall stagnation of the local economy.
Most of Kyotango City is mountainous or hilly. The
altitude ranges from 0 to 697 metres. The climate of
the region is warm and humid; the annual average
temperature is approximately 15 degrees Celsius and
the annual precipitation is approximately 1,900 millimetres.
Most of the natural environment in Kyotango City
consists either of anthropogenically created secondary
forests or agricultural lands. Most of the area’s
vegetation consists of secondary forests of Pinus
densiflora (Japanese red pine) and Quercus serrata
(konara oak). Herbaceous plant community in rice
paddies cover the most flatlands located between the
mountains.
2. The use and management of natural resources
in the region
2.1 The use and management of natural resources
in the past and present
The total area of Kyotango City is 501.84 square
kilometres, of which mountains and forests cover
377.15 square kilometres (75.2 per cent of the total
area) and agricultural lands cover 35.93 square kilometres
(7.2 per cent of the total area).
Agricultural lands and small communities are located
on the narrow flatlands along rivers. Hilly areas
and mountains that surround the flatlands are
covered with forests. These land uses are distributed
in a complicated pattern, making a mosaic-style land
use distribution.
The current use and management of natural resources
are as follows:
• Rice, vegetables, and fruits are cultivated on agricultural
lands.
• Forest products including timber, charcoal, and
compost used to be produced in forests, but the
amount of production has been significantly reduced
in recent years.
• Silkworm raising to produce silk goods, cultivation
of mulberry trees as food for silkworms, and
cultivation of plants to produce dyes are conducted
in this area, but the amount of production has been
significantly reduced in the recent years.
• Fishery for human consumption is conducted in
the coastal area.
2.2 Problems associated with the use and
management of natural resources and its impact on
biodiversity
The decreased demand for firewood and charcoal
due to the increased use of fossil fuels and the decreased
demand for forest-based compost due to
the increased use of chemical fertilizers have significantly
lowered forest use. Under such circumstances,
the ecological succession has advanced in secondary
forests that had been maintained for a long time,
which is resulting in the deterioration of habitats and
paddy fields and biogas plant
© Amita Corporation
129