Cultural Ecosystem Service Assessment in a Semi-Mountainous Area of Japan: Case in Toyota City

Abstract

One of the categories included in the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) developed in 2005 is cultural ecosystem services (CESs), which includes a variety of factors such as aesthetic values, recreation and ecotourism. In order to assess the CESs, a simple questionnaire survey was conducted in a semi-mountainous rural town in Japan. The town of Inabu in Toyota City, Aichi Prefecture, was selected for the case study. The face-to-face (FTF) survey was conducted from October to November 2012 and prioritized forest-related sites in the town. According to the results, aesthetic values received the highest score among the CESs, followed by recreation and ecotourism, while each forest-related site had a different combination of CES values. By using cluster analysis, three clusters were identified: aesthetic values, recreation and ecotourism, and ‘others’. In some sites, the CES scores differed between residents and visitors such that residents recognized a wider variety of CES than visitors did.