Comparative Study on Conservation of Agricultural Heritage Systems in China,Japan and Korea

The paper compares the agricultural heritage conservation schemes of China, Japan and Korea and, in particular, the national programs and their implementation under Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)’s Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS). This comparison allows an understanding of the background of developments, designation criteria, application procedures and implementation structures of GIAHS and of the respective domestic programs in terms of the differences in national circumstances of Japan, China and South Korea. The sequence of implementation of GIAHS and the national program differs in each of the three countries. China introduced a national program after GIAHS designation, Japan has GIAHS but no national program, and Korea implemented a national program before its GIAHS designation. Thus GIAHS candidate sites in China and Korea are now selected from among their respective pools of national agricultural heritage sites. On the other hand, commonalities can be seen in the perspectives of the three countries with regards to agricultural heritage conservation through the common emphasis placed on the designation criteria: historical significance, cultural value, fostering partnerships, rural revitalization and biodiversity conservation associated with the agricultural heritage systems etc. Thus, the cooperation between China, Japan and Korea and the perspectives they have will contribute to proposals for improvements to the FAO designation criteria for GIAHS. These will be comprehensively applicable to both developing and developed countries.     

Least marginal environmental impact rule for reservoir development

Abstract

The needs of reservoirs grow with population, standard of living, urbanization in the form of water supply, flood control, hydroelectric generation, navigation, recreation etc. Their development inevitably involves a substantial degree of environmental impact. The impact of reservoirs, on an average, increases in an exponential way with their size. If the marginal net benefit were assessed at the margin of the capacity, many giant reservoirs for primarily hydroelectric purpose would not be justified when the negative environmental impacts are counted. The reservoir size should not exceed the size whose marginal negative environmental impact becomes more than that of any alternative means elsewhere that can provide the same level of incremental gain in the global objectives. This is called the least marginal environmental impact rule. In order to make such a rule operational, many alternative means should be made available that can be sought along a holistic approach to water problems, that is, integrated water resources management, where a reservoir is only one of many options to be chosen.     

影响日本佐渡岛农民实施野生动物友好型耕作的因素探究(英文)

野生动物友好型耕作(Wildlife-friendly Farming,WFF)实践是一种维持农田生态恢复的良好方式。本研究的目的在于探讨影响日本佐渡岛农民实施WFF的因素和提出影响这种实践传播的政策。对佐渡岛上把大米销售给日本农业合作社(Japan Agricultural Cooperatives,JA)的5010个农户进行了问卷调查,总共收到2231农户反馈问卷(反馈率45%)。通过与未经认证农民的态度和属性对比,我们确定了影响农民实施WFF的关键因素。与未经认证的农民相比,已认证的农民:(1)对生物多样性和WFF的经济效益表现出更高的兴趣;(2)拥有更多的已认证农民朋友;(3)感受到了来自消费者的更多的压力和期望;(4)当实施WFF时,不受恶劣劳动力或农田条件的限制。为了在佐渡岛进一步宣传WFF,我们建议把WFF实践对稻田生物多样性的有效性信息应用到公共教育中,并在非认证农民和已认证农民之间、农民与消费者之间创建交流的机会。     

Geological and microbial anomalies in the extinct submarine volcano, Shiribeshi Seamount, in the eastern margin of the Japan Sea

Abstract   The manned submersible Shinkai 2000 investigated yellow patches on the near-summit slope of Shiribeshi Seamount in the Japan Sea. Yellowish patches are often associated with seepage, and the possibility of seepage at Shiribeshi Seamount was tested by the following four lines of observation: (i) high subsurface temperature was measured at a ring-like patch, although no increase in subsurface temperature was observed at other patches; (ii) high gamma ray (γ-ray) intensity from the thorium series was recorded in the patch zone; (iii) the yellowish deposit was composed of calcite, quartz and amorphous iron compound, as seen at the yellowish patches in other seeps and volcanoes; (iv) lipid phosphate, a measure of microbial abundance, in sediments of the ring-like patch was determined, and the recorded microbial abundance was higher inside the patch than outside it. The four lines of observation are explained consistently by postulating that the seepage of warm fluid contained Fe and γ-ray sources. A hydrothermal origin of the yellow patches is not ruled out for the extinct but young (0.9 Ma) arc volcano.     

Detrital heavy minerals from Lower Jurassic clastic rocks in the Joetsu area,central Japan: Paleo‐Mesozoic tectonics in the East Asian continental margin constrained by limited chloritoid occurrences in Japan

Detrital chloritoids were extracted from the Lower Jurassic sandstones in the Joetsu area of central Japan. The discovery of detrital chloritoids in the Joetsu area, in addition to two previous reports, confirms their limited occurrence in the Jurassic strata of the Japanese islands. This finding emphasizes the importance of the denudation of chloritoid‐yielding metamorphic belts in Jurassic provenance evolution, in addition to a change from an active volcanic arc to a dissected arc that has already been described. Possible sources for the detrital chloritoids from the Jurassic sandstones are the Permo–Triassic chloritoid‐yielding metamorphic rocks distributed in dispersed tectonic zones (Hida, Unazuki, Ryuhozan and Hitachi Metamorphic Rocks), which are in fault contact with Permian to Jurassic accretionary complexes in the Japanese islands. This is because all of these pre‐Jurassic chloritoid‐yielding metamorphic rocks have a Carboniferous–Permian depositional age and a Permo–Triassic metamorphic age, whereas a Permian–Triassic metamorphic age on the Hitachi Metamorphic Rocks remains unreported. In addition, most metamorphic chloritoids imply a former stable land surface that has evolved into an unstable orogenic area. Therefore, the chloritoid‐yielding metamorphic rocks might form a continuous metamorphic belt originating from a passive continental margin in East Asia. Evidence from paleontological and petrological studies indicates that the Permo–Triassic metamorphic belt relates to a collision between the Central Asian Orogenic Belt and the North China Craton. The evolution of the Permian–Jurassic provenance of Japanese detrital rocks indicates that the temporal changes in detritus should result from sequences of collision‐related uplifting processes.     

DISTRIBUTION OF AEROSOL EXTINCTION IN THE LOWER TROPOSPHERE BY MICRO-PULSE LIDAR OBSERVATION

The profiles of aerosol extinction coefficients are investigated by micro-pulse lidar(MPL)combined with the meteorological data in the lower troposphere at Meteorological ResearchInstitute(MRI).Japan.Larger extinction values of aerosol are demonstrated in the nocturnalstable air layer with larger Richardson number,and light wind velocities are favorable for aerosolconcentrating in the planetary boundary layer(PBL).But aerosol extinction coefficients showlarger values over the altitudes of 2.0 to 5.0km where correspond to higher relative humidity(RH).The tops of PBL identified by the aerosol extinction profiles almost agree with ones byradiosonde data.The diurnal variations of aerosol extinction profiles are clearly displayed,intensive aerosol layers usually are formed over the period of mid-morning to 1400 Loeal Time(LT).then elapse in the cloudless late afternoon and nighttime.Thermal eonvection or turbulenttransport from the surfaee probably dominates these temporal and spatial changes of aerosoldistribution.     

DISTRIBUTION OF AEROSOL EXTINCTION IN THE LOWER TROPOSPHERE BY MICRO-PULSE LIDAR OBSERVATION*

The profiles of aerosol extinction coefficients are investigated by micro-pulse lidar(MPL) combined with the meteorological data in the lower troposphere at Meteorological Research Institute(MRI).Japan.Larger extinction values of aerosol are demonstrated in the nocturnal stable air layer with larger Richardson number,and light wind velocities are favorable for aerosol concentrating in the planetary boundary layer(PBL).But aerosol extinction coefficients show larger values over the altitudes of 2.0 to 5.0km where correspond to higher relative humidity(RH).The tops of PBL identified by the aerosol extinction profiles almost agree with ones by radiosonde data.The diurnal variations of aerosol extinction profiles are clearly displayed,intensive aerosol layers usually are formed over the period of mid-morning to 1400 Loeal Time(LT).then elapse in the cloudless late afternoon and nighttime.Thermal eonvection or turbulent transport from the surfaee probably dominates these temporal and spatial changes of aerosol distribution.     

Improved version of BTOPMC model and its application in event-based hydrologic simulations

In this paper, a grid-based distributed hydrological model BTOPMC (Block-wise use of TOPMODEL) is introduced, which was developed from the original TOPMODEL. In order to broaden the model’s application to arid regions, improvement methodology is also implemented. The canopy interception and soil infiltration processes were incorporated into the original BTOPMC to model event-based runoff simulation in large arid regions. One de-signed infiltration model with application of time compression approximation method is emphasized and validated for improving model’s performance for event hydrological simulations with a case study of Lushi River basin.