Osamu SAITO

Natural Resources and Ecosystem Services

Principal Policy Researcher

As an expert in the field of biodiversity and ecosystem services, Osamu Saito has been working on the interlinkages between ecological, human and social systems through sustainability science approaches. His research experiences include socio-ecological studies on the ecosystem services provided by traditional rural production landscapes (Satoyama) in both Japan and other Asian countries. He worked for for the Advanced Study of Sustainability (UNU-IAS) as Academic Director from 2011 to 2020. He has been also actively promoting various activities for Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) as a lead author of both regional and global assessments. He has been a managing editor of the Sustainability Science journal published by Springer since 2011.

Publications
Projects

Results 1 to 10 of 26 (Sorted by date)

Peer-reviewed Article

December 2020

Post-2020 biodiversity targets need to embrace climate change

In Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

Recent assessment reports by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) have highlighted the risks to humanity arising from the unsustainable use of natural resources. Thus far, land, freshwater, and ocean exploitation have been the chief...

Keywords:

Biodiversity

ecosystem services

Sustainability

Policy

Book

September 2020

Sustainability Challenges in Sub-Saharan Africa II: Insights from Eastern and Southern Africa

The aim of this two-volume book series is to highlight some of the most pervasive sustainability challenges that Sub-Saharan Africa faces. The two volumes contain 20 chapters that illustrate very diverse sustainability challenges throughout the continent, adopting interdisciplinary and problem-oriented research approaches, and methods from the...

Book

September 2020

Sustainability Challenges in Sub-Saharan Africa I: Continental Perspectives and Insights from Western and Central Africa

The aim of this 2-volume book is to highlight how Sustainability Science approaches can help solve some of the pervasive challenges that Africa faces. The volumes collect a number of local case studies throughout Africa that adopt transdisciplinary and problem-oriented research approaches using methodologies from the natural and the social sciences...

Peer-reviewed Article

August 2020

Developing sustainable bioenergy systems with local bio‑resources: cases in Asia

In Sustainability Science

The concept of sustainability science is paramount to establish a development thinking with deep and thorough considerations of hybridized on-ground realities shaped by the interplay of energy, land, economic, and climatic elements. This special feature intends to engage sustainability science in understanding the role of bioenergy in sustainable...

Keywords:

Bioenergy

Bio-resources

Asia

Sustainability science

Forestry

Rural revitalization

Peer-reviewed Article

August 2020

Assessment of the growth in social groups for sustainable agriculture and land management

In Global Sustainability

For agriculture and land management to improve natural capital over whole landscapes, social cooperation has long been required. The political economy of the later twentieth and early twenty-first centuries prioritized unfettered individual action over the collective, and many rural institutions were harmed or destroyed. Since then, a wide range of...

Keywords:

collective management

land management

Social Capital

social groups

Sustainable agriculture

Peer-reviewed Article

August 2020

Projecting population distribution under depopulation conditions in Japan: scenario analysis for future socio-ecological systems

In Sustainability Science

This study develops a projection model of future population distribution on the basis of Japan’s current depopulation trend and applies this model to scenario analyses that assume population compactification and dispersion. The model enables a description of population migration at two levels. First, municipal populations are projected using the...

Keywords:

Depopulation

Population distribution

Projection model

Scenario analysis

Compact and dispersed

Socioecological system

Peer-reviewed Article

July 2020

Causes and consequences of reduced human intervention in formerly managed forests in Japan and other countries

In Sustainability Science

In Japan, abandonment of forest management and underuse of forest resources are substantial challenges to environmental protection and sustainable wood production, while in many other countries, leaving a forest untouched may be perceived as positive for conserving the forest. This study thus analyses the scientifc knowledge landscape on the causes...

Keywords:

underuse

reduced human intervention in formally managed forest

Satoyama

small-sacle private forest owner

Book Chapter

July 2020

流域治水の取り組みが生態系サービスの供給に与える影響

In 実践版!グリーンインフラ

3-20: 流域治水の取り組みが生態系サービスに供給に与える影響水害リスクの軽減を目的とした住宅地周辺部での水田・森林の保全（宅地転用の抑制）や水害リスクの高い地域における宅地から森林・水田への土地利用誘導をグリーンインフラの導入と位置づけ、政策介入の有無がグリーンインフラの多機能性にどのような影響を与えるか、滋賀県の流域治水条例を例に挙げながら、シナリオ分析の手法によって解明する。

Keywords:

グリーンインフラ

Peer-reviewed Article

July 2020

Enhancing Sustainability in Traditional Agriculture: Indicators for Monitoring the Conservation of Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS) in Japan

In Sustainability

The advent of modern technology in agriculture has increased the efficiency of our food production but also poses pressures on the sustainability of our planet. The Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS) of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has been developed to safeguard traditional agricultural...

Keywords:

agricultural heritage systems

traditional knowledge

Socio-ecological production landscapes and seascapes (SEPLS)

Peer-reviewed Article

May 2020

Scenario Analysis of Renewable Energy–Biodiversity Nexuses Using a Forest Landscape Model

In Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution

The introduction of renewable energy (RE) is essential for building a sustainable society. However, RE can cause conflicts between energy production and biodiversity conservation. This study conducted a scenario analysis to evaluate potential conflicts in the nexuses between energy and biodiversity for the Bekambeushi River watershed located in...

Keywords:

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Dr. Osamu SAITO

Principal Policy Researcher

Dr.
Osamu SAITO