Nomadic people living in the Altai Mountains （mainly in Xovd province） created various rituals and folklore concerning the snow leopard. In this study, local oral histories, legends, and traditional ecological knowledge （TEK） narratives about snow leopards are defined as sources of cultural heritage created through centuries of unique “herder–snow leopard interaction” phenomena, which subjectively encourage locals to protect the snow leopards and the surrounding environment. The fieldwork was carried from July 19 to August 22, 2016, with structured interviews of 117 informants living in Mt. Jargalant, Mt. Bonbut, and Mt. Munkh-Khairkhan. Not only collecting scientific data for wildlife protection but also clarifying the social and cultural contexts surrounding snow leopards will contribute to revitalized, sustainable spaces for snow leopards and local herders to coexist. It will also offer new perspectives on the conservation ecology of rare large carnivores.

In Greece, the distribution of fishery products is largely fragmented and remains less developed due to the small-scale nature of domestic fisheries and topographical features, such as archipelagos and long coastlines. To understand the current status of the distribution of fishery products in Greece, this study elucidated the characteristics of the fishery product market in Athens, the national capital, where various fishery products are collected from different areas. Interviews and observational surveys were conducted to investigate the different varieties and distribution routes of fishery products and the business style of fishmongers. As a result, 60 species from 42 families of fishery products were identified. Production sites of the fishery products observed were dispersed over wide areas in Greece, while many products were also imported from other countries. Most fishery products arrived in Athens through Port Keratsini in Piraeus, although some fishmongers had their own wholesale channels. It appears that the variety of fishery products is determined not only by the species of fish caught and types of fishing gear used in the production phase but also by the location of production sites, the business strategy of fishmongers, trends in the domestic economy, and cultural and religious aspects of Greek society.

This study clarified the circumstances of the ongoing urban relocation in two cities in northern Sweden, Kiruna and Gallivare, in recent years by investigating the dynamics of the city and industries in both regions.

With the development of railways and ports, iron ore mining began in earnest at the end of the 19th century in both cities. The two cities assumed the character of company towns as urbanization progressed with the development of the mining company LKAB, which has contributed to the development of the local social infrastructure.

In the Kiruna and Malmberget mines, the iron ore is underground. Since the 2000s, there has been increasing fear that the earth’s surface above the mines will collapse; therefore, LKAB consulted with the municipal authorities of Kiruna and Gallivare, and they are undertaking an urban relocation project, for which they are seeking residents’ consent and providing them with compensation.

In recent years, activities of food bank groups that collect foods that should be disposed from companies and redistribute foods to the needy people who need food support are becoming active. However, many of the groups which are located in the countryside are in a situation where activities can be maintained by transferring food from Second Harvest Japan （2HJ） located in Tokyo. Therefore, this research shows how food bank groups that had not received the transfer from 2HJ secured food suppliers and maintained activities. In the case, food bank groups located in Hokkaido which is far from Tokyo are used. As a result, groups that had connection with other neighboring groups before the start of activities received food offerings and introduced suppliers from the beginning of the activities. On the other hand, even in cases where they did not have a connection with other groups, they also secured food procurement sources and maintained activities through innovation of procurement methods and dissemination of activities.

This paper clarifies the factors causing spatial and regional variations in community-based integrated care systems by focusing on local governance. Furthermore, it extracts the characteristics and problems of each variation. One of the factors which causes regional variations is differences in the population size of municipalities. Clearly, this is due to the reference population, which affects the establishment of comprehensive community support centers and demarcation of the sphere of daily life （sphere of the senior service area）．In municipalities with smaller populations, local governance focuses on the sphere of daily life that centers around the community care conference. However, the multilayered local governance structure composed of the sphere of daily life and an entire municipality becomes more complex as the population increases. The result is an emphasis on the control of decentralized local governance in all municipal areas, which considers the regional characteristics of each municipality and the location of comprehensive community support centers in the sphere of daily life.

Soil and water pollution due to the excessive application of chemical fertilizers and agricultural chemicals was found regionally in the Chinese Loess Plateau where the traditional agricultural production structure has changed due to the effects of rural development policies and measures to control land degradation. Accordingly, the relationships between agricultural production structural changes and the chemical environmental load should be understood comprehensively. This study determined the time-series and regional differences in chemical fertilizer and agricultural chemical consumption in northern Shaanxi province using multiple regression analysis. The results revealed that the following agricultural structural changes contributed to the increased consumption: 1） the introduction of agricultural products, especially for the purpose of marketing via processing, such as apples, dent corn, and potatoes; 2） the decreased use of draft animals, which are conducive to soil fertility enhancement; and 3） the decrease in millet and sunflower cultivation, which contributes to weed control due to their allelopathic effects.

The effectiveness and challenges of a combination of a “survey of a home regional area” and editing Wikipedia as experiences for first-year university students were examined. A practical study was conducted in Naramachi, Nara, a former capital of Japan which has many traditional homes located near Nara University of Education. Each student was in charge of one local community designated as “my town” and made a page on the community on Wikipedia. After they conducted fieldwork in the towns, the results were summarized in presentations at a report meeting and in a booklet for elementary school pupils. As a result of analyzing this project, its broad significance was recognized as first-year experience at universities. In addition, the knowledge, skills, ability to think, ability to make decisions, ability to express oneself, subjectivity, diversity, and cooperation needed to conduct local fieldwork in university education and then to disseminate the results became clear. Such projects also contribute to building relationships among universities, students, and the local community. Furthermore, this study showed that geography can contribute to first-year experience at universities.

In recent years, the collaboration between geography and civil engineering （CE） has received much attention, and the importance of studying geography is particularly emphasized in CE technician education. This study designed and practiced a learning unit for mobility management education （MME） that combins geography and CE teaching at the National Institute of Technology （NIT） and clarified the significance of teaching MME in geography along with CE. We developed and practiced the unit by conducting a case study on the “Compact City Concept in Gifu City.” Using the learning unit, students evaluated the introduction of light rail transit based on the concept of sustainability and created a proposal in the role of traffic policy-makers. The results revealed that MME taught in geography along with CE at the NIT: 1） contributed to the development of both competent CE technicians and responsible citizens; 2） gave students an opportunity to become aware of how geography learning outcomes can be applied to CE; and 3） enabled students to study urban development based on the real-world implications.

This study reviewed recent trends in research on spongy urban areas and the interim report of the Urban Planning Basic Problem Subcommittee of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism. The problem points in terms of spongy urban areas are organized from the perspective of geography. The actual conditions of spongy urban areas in Japanese cities have not been clarified. Although the urban facility location plan calls for their creation within the boundaries of metropolitan areas, it is necessary for spongy urban areas to be supported at the block level. I suggest an approach using multiple-scale viewpoints from the perspective of geography for the development of spongy urban areas using the boundaries of metropolitan areas.