51爆料

In 2025, I published an expanded edition of my book “Creating a New Eco-environment “(University of Tokyo Press). The supplementary chapter to the book is an update to the first edition, published approximately 30 years ago, in 1994, when I was an associate professor at the Faculty of Agriculture, University of Tokyo. The first edition was a single-author compilation of research results based on field surveys conducted in various regions, both domestically and internationally, at the Landscape Ecology and Planning Laboratory of the Faculty of Agriculture, where I was affiliated at the time of publication, and at the Department of Geography, Faculty of Science, Tokyo Metropolitan University, where I had previously served as a lecturer.
 
The thesis of this book is that in the present era, in which modernization has progressed and the devastation and degradation of nature has accelerated, the concept of environmental conservation that seeks to preserve the remaining nature is insufficient; rather, a philosophy of environmental creation that actively regenerates nature is required. In this regard, particular attention should be paid to how to interpret the geophysical nature of a region and regenerate its biological nature with great urgency. Therefore, this book compiles the results of efforts to learn from examples in Japan and various parts of the world regarding approaches to natural regeneration that use climate, natural features, and local biodiversity, as well as initiatives that I myself have practiced.
 
When I wrote the first edition of this book in 1994, various natural regeneration efforts were beginning throughout Japan, but in many cases, these ignored the regional bioclimatic natural potential, creating pseudo-natural environments with no connection to the surrounding landscapes, resulting in examples that stood out incongruously from the surrounding scenery. Therefore, in this book, I discuss the ideal form of harmonious coexistence between people and nature through total environmental creation that encompasses concepts of nature from natural materials to ecosystems and landscapes.
 
Furthermore, in the supplementary chapter, I state that the philosophy of environmental creation that this book advocates is supported by an academic approach that takes a bird’s-eye view of the relationship between people and nature. It is an advanced form of a research approach that “investigates ideal approaches to conservation and creation of regional environments to guarantee human survival,” as I described in “Landscape Ecology” (Asakura Publishing), published in 2006 as a revised edition of “Regional Ecology.” I also discuss how this connects to Japan’s Basic Environment Plan and the formulation of the National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan, in which I became deeply involved after the publication of the first edition. In that regard, writing the supplementary chapter provided me with a good opportunity, as a project professor and environmental researcher who had stepped away from practical research, to reflect on my journey to date.
 

(Written by TAKEUCHI Kazuhiko, Project Professor, Institute for Future Initiatives / 2025)