Emiko Akiyama
Emiko Akiyama/Born in 1966 in her mother's family home, Nakazato Village (currently Tokamachi City) in Niigata Prefecture. Her base of life was Itabashi, Tokyo, but she spent her summer and winter vacations in Nakazato Village, where her grandparents lived. She knows the fear of snow that you can't go outside unless you step on the snow every day. She grew up with her mother who likes picking wild plants and her father who likes river fishing. Aiming to become an environmental ranger, studied at the Tokyo Environmental Engineering College, where C.W. Nicol was the first principal. Faced with the nature of Oze, Shiretoko, and Kawayu, she was involved in the establishment of the Lake Tofutsu Waterfowl and Wetland Center in 2012, and since the following year she has been engaged in surveys, lectures, and guiding activities as a full-time staff.
Observing the richness and human activities brought about by the diversity of Lake Tofutsu
Ms. Akiyama When I was in elementary school, there was still a thicket of trees in Itabashi, and my mother told me that chestnut trees were dangerous because they could break, so I climbed trees other than those. I used to wonder why my fun places and playgrounds were being destroyed, such as wading through fields of pampas grass to get frog eggs. In the village of Nakazato, my grandmother told me that there was a pipe buried under this field that carried electricity to Tokyo. .
Lake Tofutsu is a lake adjacent to the Sea of Okhotsk from Abashiri City to Koshimizu Town. Its northern end is connected to Okhotsk, a brackish water lake where seawater and freshwater mix. About 170 species of birds (about 260 have been confirmed so far) visit the lake and its surrounding wetlands throughout the year. There are 13 wetlands registered under the Ramsar Convention in Hokkaido.
Not only is it a haven for birds, aquatic creatures, insects, mammals and plants, it is also a boon for humans. According to the survey record "Nishi Ezochi Bunkan" in the early Kansei period, there was a large Ainu settlement called Urayashibetsu, ruled by chief Mautarake, around Lake Tofutsu. In addition, ruins of dwellings and pottery from the Jomon period have been found in the old strata, indicating that Lake Tofutsu has been deeply involved in human life since ancient times.
Crisis of nature caused by abundance
Ms. Akiyama Brackish lakes with high diversity bring birds and other creatures closer to human life. The abundance of blessings also creates industries. However, the fishermen of Tofutsu say that the fish are gone. It is said that in the old days, when walking in boots, fish would bump into them. "Because I caught too much," he said. The wetlands that were soggy have dried up. I hear that the farmland has expanded and the forest has disappeared, and the water from the streams and springs has stopped coming in. Sediment flows into the lake from the sea and surrounding rivers, expanding the sandbar and causing eutrophication of the lake. On the other hand, drift ice decreases, and the nutrients it brings with it decrease.
As the temperature rises, the diet of living things will change. If the food changes, the birds and creatures that gather will also change. The change that we have seen in the last few years is that the number of small birds such as Nobitaki and Nogoma are decreasing. In the past, under the windows of this center was filled with the dead bodies of small insects flying around, and in the summer I had to wear them morning and night and clean them. Now I feel that the small insects that are the food of the little birds are getting less and less.
The diversity of the ecosystem creates richness, attracts birds and other creatures, and supports human activity. But what happens when that “diversity” is lost?
What we should leave behind is a culture of symbiosis
Mr. AkiyamaA local person came to the center and said, "I didn't know there was such a facility here." The locals are also trying to reconsider the nature of Okhotsk, which they had only taken for granted. I think that the number of such people is increasing as drift ice decreases year by year and the effects of global warming become more visible. The exhibition contents of the center are also conscious of it. I would like to make Lake Tofutsu a place where we can reconsider the meaning of the “place” that we have. What the Center is trying to do is not to "protect nature from humans." What we are aiming for is "wise use." Human beings have created culture by interacting with nature. Changing the natural environment means changing the culture. We are being asked how we can change our current culture and what kind of culture we will leave behind for the future. I would like to leave behind a culture in which humans and nature can coexist.
The only way to protect nature from humans is to separate humans from nature. However, to live as a human being is to somehow cut off nature. If nature is a system of chains of life, then the important thing is that nature that has been cut off can be restored.
Since childhood, Mr. Akiyama has felt the joy of interacting with nature and the discomfort of having nature stripped away from him by human activities. And now, I am working to position the enjoyment, richness, and culture inherent in human activities in the restorable relationship between humans and nature.
Okhotsk is the field for that recovery. We believe that we must turn this resilience of Okhotsk into a strength for ourselves and for the region.
