Understanding the Integrated Policy for Harmonizing the Marine Ecosystem Conservation and Sustainable Uses: A Case of Sekisei Lagoon, Japan

As an inter-disciplinary study on the Sekisei Lagoon and its governance, co-authors, participated by both the social and ecological scientists, developed a schematic of main ecological structure, functions, use-types and stakeholders. Then, more than 50 policy measures by 5 ministries were identified as the measures for the conservation and sustainable uses of the Sekisei Lagoon. We found that, each ministry implements sectoral measures for specific use-types and stakeholders. However, all in all, most of the main ecosystem structure, functions, use-types and stakeholders are covered by some of sectoral measures by some ministry. Therefore, to achieve the harmony of the conservation and uses, roles of the local government (Prefecture, City, and Towns) and the Cabinet Office (Headquarter for the Ocean Policy) for the multi-level governance regime are important. Also, this type of inter-disciplinary work is good for the knowledge sharing and the capacity development of the researchers aiming for the integrated social-ecological systems studies.