As the concept of environmental culture has spread throughout the island through research for national park designation and CEPA efforts, Kagoshima University has developed a human resource development program based on a reaffirmation of Amami's environmental culture in order to halt the decline of the local culture and community due to the decline in the local population and the spread of modern lifestyles. The program is designed to help local people to develop their own business skills. More than 100 people participated in the program, including local entrepreneurs and local government officials. Participants in the program, who learned to integrate environmental culture with modern knowledge and skills, are now independently developing product development and experiential tour businesses, school education, and welfare programs. Municipalities are incorporating environmental and cultural ideas in rebuilding aging meeting halls. In addition, the number of outside collaborators and immigrants is increasing, and local communities that had been on the decline are becoming more active. In addition, as an extension of the environmental culture that has been used in the past, efforts are underway to consider how to interact with the natural environment in the future. The environmental culture approach has improved livelihoods and enhanced the spirit of the local community by strengthening ties between them, resulting in increased attachment to the island and improved community well-being.

Through the efforts of the government, local government, and local residents, the Amami Islands were designated as a NP in 2017.　
Subsequently, the extermination of non-native species such as mongoose and wild cat etc. became a challenge in maintaining the island's biodiversity in preparation for the registration as a World Natural Heritage site, and preserving the unique natural environment that forms the basis of the island's environmental culture.  The mongoose, the biggest challenge of all, has been exterminated under the government's initiative and will be completely eliminated by 2024. Meanwhile, measures against wild cats and monitoring of non-native plants were carried out with the cooperation of Kagoshima University, the Ministry of the Environment, local governments, and local residents. In the case of wild cat countermeasures, precedents from overseas were introduced and considerations for owners in their daily lives were shared. In terms of invasive plant monitoring, continuous training sessions for local residents have been held to improve their capabilities and share the results.
 

When the Ministry of the Environment was seeking the designation of the Amami Islands as a national park fr the purpose of regstration as the World Heritage site, it proposed two management concepts, “ecosystem management type” and “environmental culture type,” with the support of Kagoshima University, which had launched the Kagoshima Environmental Studies Project, a public-private collaboration aimed at solving environmental problems in the region. The “Ecosystem Management Type” concept aims to preserve the area as a registered World Natural Heritage site, while the “Environmental Culture Type” concept supports cultural value by providing visitors with a chance to experience the history and culture of people who have lived in harmony with nature in the area, and have skillfully used and passed it on to future generations. The purpose of Japan's national parks is to protect natural scenic areas, promote their use, and contribute to conservation of biodiversity. Amamigunto National Park was the first national park to propose the concept of an “environmental culture type” national park that focuses on the nature and culture of the region. The term “Amamigunto” means “the Amami Islands.

The Ministry of the Environment and Kagoshima University conducted a collaborative interview survey with local residents in the satoyama area of Amami, a candidate area for a national park, to visualize the language and spirit that represent the culture of the islanders and the way of life that uses nature, and to understand the local environmental culture that has coexisted with nature. The results were also shared with local residents and people from Amami living in the city through a number of workshops and symposiums, which also made use of the Internet, and the participants shared the awareness that the local environmental culture has the potential to strengthen the identity of the community and to be a seed for independent economic development of the region.

Explanation of Amami NP's definition of “environmental culture”.
“The general consciousness, lifestyle, and production style that local people have formed and acquired while interacting with nature and influencing each other.”

Case Studies of Environmental Culture
Example 1) The topography of the “high island” and “low island” in the Amami Islands determines the amount of water in the rivers, which in turn determines how the islanders secure water for daily use and how they obtain firewood. On the “high islands,” waterwheel-powered sugar production using the abundant river water became more active, and trade flourished, strongly influencing the culture and consciousness of the islanders. This culture and consciousness has influenced the islanders' approach to nature and has defined the island's natural environment.

Example 2) The awareness of the forbidden by the yokai Kenmun in the island's folklore has become a means of appropriate control of natural resources and coexistence with nature.　The “yokai” is closely English word for “ghost”.
 

One of the biggest barriers to large-scale restoration is cost. Our solution eliminates the need for costly nurseries and reduces labor-intensive efforts, enabling efficient large-scale planting. The drones can plant up to 2,000 seeds in under 10 minutes, drastically reducing time and labor costs. This affordability makes restoration feasible for low-income regions and opens up opportunities for scaling in areas previously deemed inaccessible. The process is adaptable to other restoration challenges, such as reforestation or agricultural regeneration, making it versatile across multiple applications.

Restoration is not just about planting—it’s about ensuring long-term impact. Our AI-powered MRV system provides real-time tracking of restoration progress and environmental health. It also addresses critical issues like illegal fishing, poaching, and deforestation, empowering communities to protect their restored ecosystems. This system integrates satellite data, drone imagery, and AI analytics to provide actionable insights, which can be adapted to other restoration or conservation efforts. It also supports transparency and accountability, ensuring stakeholders can measure progress and outcomes effectively.

Our licensing and training platform equips communities to independently build, operate, and maintain drones. This approach is hands-on and collaborative, fostering local expertise and enabling communities to adapt the technology to their unique needs. The platform goes beyond technical skills, creating a foundation for communities to innovate and modify drones for additional applications such as surveillance, mapping, and precision agriculture. Importantly, the platform fosters a feedback loop where communities share their innovations, enriching the broader global network of users.

Our modular drones are designed for accessibility, adaptability, and sustainability. Initially crafted using wooden components with fewer than six screws and zip ties, they are simple to assemble, repair, and replicate using local materials, empowering communities to lead restoration projects independently.

As we’ve advanced, we’ve integrated hydrogen fuel cells and hybrid-electric propulsion systems, enhancing flight endurance, energy efficiency, and environmental sustainability. These innovations enable drones to cover larger areas and operate in remote environments while reducing their carbon footprint.

The modular design ensures flexibility for continuous adaptation, allowing communities to upgrade drones with tools like cameras or sensors for monitoring. This approach combines simplicity and cutting-edge innovation, bridging grassroots empowerment with scalable, impactful environmental restoration.

Waterbird monitoring is the foundation of protection and management strategies for almost types of wetland ecosystems. With the continuous improvement of wetland conservation infrastructure in China, including remote devices for collecting large amounts of acoustic and visual data of wildlife, the demand for data filtering and analysis technology is increasing. Deep learning based object detection has become a fundamental solution for big data analysis and has been tested in multiple application areas. However, these deep learning techniques have not yet been tested for detecting small waterbirds in real-time monitoring videos. We propose an improved detection method that adds additional prediction heads, SimAM attention modules, and continuous frames to YOLOV7, called YOLOv7 Waterbirds, for real-time video surveillance devices to identify attention areas and perform waterbird monitoring tasks (identification, counting, and density estimation). Based on the waterbird dataset, the average accuracy (mAP) value of YOLOv7 waterbird is 67.3%, which is about 5% higher than the benchmark model. In addition, the recall rate of the improved method is 87.9% (accuracy=85%), and the recall rate for small waterbirds (defined as pixels less than 40x40) is 79.1%, indicating that its performance in small object detection is superior to the original method and many other popular deep learning algorithms. This algorithm can be used by protected area management departments or other organizations to use existing surveillance cameras for higher precision monitoring of aquatic plants, which to some extent contributes to wildlife conservation.

Through a series of scientific measures such as micro terrain modification, water level regulation, and wetland ecological restoration, we aim to create a habitat environment that can meet the needs of various migratory birds. After the completion of the restoration project, in daily management, the high tide roost site needs to maintain a certain proportion of bare flats, shallow water areas, deep water areas, and controlled low vegetation areas. By manually controlling the water level to ensure the relative stability of different water level areas, controlling the height of weeds to maintain the bare flats area, in order to provide the habitats of different migratory waterbirds such as shorebirds, herons, gulls, ducks, etc. Using unmanned devices such as video surveillance to assist in monitoring waterbird communities, in order to evaluate the patterns of habitat use by these migratory birds and subsequently assess habitat quality.

Under the application of the trap for intermittent harvest, the best results were achieved with the following combination of variables: maize bran (supplementary feed) x maize bran (trap bait) x O. Shiranus (species) x 2 fish/m2 (stocking density).

The total yields under this combination were 25 percent higher than in the control group with single batch harvest. A higher stocking density (3 fish/ m2) led to a slightly higher total harvest in the control group, but to a lower net profit. The use of pellets reinforced both effects and was the least economical.

Results from the on-farm trials (see Figure 1) have demonstrated the functionality and the excellent catch effect of the traps. Over the three-month on-farm trial period, the trap was used 2 to 3 times a week and a total of 27 times. On average, around 120 small fish – an equivalent of 820 grams – were caught each intermittent harvest. With the use of the trap, all households reported that they now eat fish twice a week. Before that, fish consumption was between one and four times a month.

The benefits:

• Reducing the competition for oxygen and food among the fish in the pond and thus measurable increase in yield.
• Improved household consumption of small, nutritious fish and better cash flow.

Success factors:

• Traps are easy and inexpensive to build (USD 3).
• Traps are easy to use, also for women.
• Directly tangible added value thanks to easy and regular access to fish.

Examples from the field

Overall, the user experience of households engaged in the on-farm trials was very positive:

“As a family we are now able to eat fish twice and sometimes even three times a week as compared to the previous months without the technology when we ate fish only once per month.” (Doud Milambe)

“Catching fish is so simple using the fish trap and even women and children can use it.” (Jacqueline Jarasi)

“It is fast and effective compared with the hook and line method which I used to catch fish for home consumption that could take three to four hours but to catch only three fish and thus not enough for my household size.” (Hassan Jarasi)