Hokkaido University Archives

Triharmony/Trilemma of Water Assets in tropical peatland

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In tropical peatland, the three key elements Water, Carbon, and Nutrients are interrelated, interconnected, and interact. When these elements are in balance, a Triharmony state arises. Conversely, a Trilemma state occurs when these elements are out of balance. Here, we focus on Water Assets in the context of tropical peatland. To achieve Triharmony, scientists at Sumitomo Forestry Co, Ltd, and […]

Triharmony/Trilemma of Nutrients Assets in tropical peatland

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Osaki and colleagues have developed an innovative nutrient management system for tropical peatland in high groundwater levels, known as AeroHydro culture.

Peatland soils and water are characterised by low nutrient concentrations. Despite this, biomass in native tropical peatlands is abundant and has adequate nutrients. At Hokkaido University, Sumitomo Forestry Co Ltd, Japan, and BRIN, Indonesia, scientists studying nutrient cycling in peatlands have developed an innovative nutrients management system for agriculture. Their approach – AeroHydro culture – involves cultivation using high groundwater […]

Fieldlogy Science: A new transdisciplinary science for Earth’s regeneration

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Fieldlogy, a new transdisciplinary science for the biosphere and geosphere, draws on ecological, environmental, and economic fields. The approach incorporates mutual interactions, cause-and-effect sequences, feedback systems, self-organising, fusion systems, and multiplicity. It aims to enhance natural capital through the application of Nature-based Solutions (NbS) rather than Industrial Technology-based Solutions (ITbS). ITbS cannot regenerate Earth’s systems due their huge cost and […]

Transdisciplinary field science based on Land-Surface Management (LSM)

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Through transdisciplinary field science, and land-surface management, saki, Kawakiat, Kato, Tsuji, and Sisva are developing methods to restore terrestrial land systems, applying three key technologies such as AeroHydro culture in peat/wetland, Z-tillage culture in arable land, and HydroCycle culture in dry/semi-arid land

Land-Surface Management (LSM) technology, which is based on transdisciplinary field science, offers a solution for ‘Earth Regeneration’. The general principle behind LSM technology aims to control and manage three basic elements of our land surface – water, oxygen, and nutrients – even in different eco-types such wetland or dryland. On a global scale, there are large areas of inferior soil […]

Nature as an asset: Natural capital in ‘FutureCity’ Shimokawa

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Professor Mitsuru Osaki and Mr Takashi Kasuga have developed a way to quantify natural capital, measuring the town of Shimokawa in Japan.

Natural capital provides the goods and services that sustain humankind, but accurately quantifying it remains problematic. Professor Mitsuru Osaki (Hokkaido University) and Mr Takashi Kasuga (NPO FutureForest Institute) have addressed this issue by focusing on Shimokawa, a town in northern Hokkaido, Japan. Shimokawa aims to achieve economic stability by using its forest resources. Quantifying 19 variables related to agriculture and […]

Natural-capital-based societies in the tropics: Harnessing forest function to combat climate change

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Forests are critical to water–carbon interrelation.

Natural capital – assets derived from the natural world – forms the basis of national economic systems. When natural capital is depleted without reinvestment, there is a net reduction in national wealth, resilience, and living standards. This issue blights the Global South. Professor Mitsuru Osaki of Hokkaido University, Japan, a COP26 symposium leader, studies natural-capital-based societies in the tropics. Natural-capital-based […]

This polymer hardens as it heats up

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Dr Takayuki Nonoyama, Assistant Professor of the Faculty of Advanced Life Science at Hokkaido University, has made a polymer material with a rather strange property: at room temperature, it is rubbery, and at higher temperatures it solidifies. Cool it back down, and it becomes rubbery again. To create a material which exhibits this counter-intuitive behaviour, Nonoyama took inspiration from the proteins in […]