Food Provisioning Services Via Homegardens and Communal Sharing in Satoyama Socio-ecological Production Landscapes on Japan’s Noto Peninsula

Abstract

Satoyama is a Japanese term for a socio-ecological production landscapes and seascapes (SEPLSs) with mosaic of ecosystems along with human settlements that have been managed to produce bundles of ecosystem services for human well-being. Although sharing of food provisioning service (mentioned in this chapter) in SEPLSs may substantially promote human well-being by not only maintaining nutrition but also building social relations, few studies have investigated the sharing practices by relating quantities and varieties of homegrown food to localized landscapes. The objective of this chapter is to characterize the quantity and varieties of home-based food consumed per household at the community level and to discover how food is shared in social relations. We conducted face-to-face questionnaires and interviews on Japan’s Noto peninsula and found that (1) households in inland and coastal satoyama communities consume greater varieties and quantities of food grown at home than households in semi-urban community; (2) the varieties and quantities correlated positively with the number of sharing partners, indicating that households with more connections to other households consume greater food varieties and quantities; and (3) rural households primarily share food within their communities, while among semi-urban households, social connections beyond their communities, particularly connections to rural communities, enhance non-market food consumption. However, urbanization and globalization in recent decades have weakened such sharing practices. Balancing market and sharing mechanism in food provisioning services would be one of the key challenges to build localized models of sustainable society in harmony with nature.