
Takuro UeharaRitsumeikan University · College of Policy Science
Takuro Uehara
PhD in Systems Science: Economics
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105
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Introduction
Takuro Uehara researches issues related to social-ecological systems, primarily using system science and economics. Current research topics include social-ecological modeling, economic valuation of nature, sustainability, resilience, relational values, and marine plastic pollution.
Publications
Publications (105)
Plastic pollution is a global issue that endangers both human health and the ecosystem. Although interest in sustainable alternatives to single-use plastics has grown, their adoption has been insufficient, and menstrual products are no exception. Disposable menstrual products, such as sanitary napkins, continue to dominate over sustainable options...
Reintroducing locally extinct/extirpated species has been considered as an approach for restoring ecosystems. Although such projects share the same goals of rebuilding previously affected ecosystems, the overall impacts that such reintroductions generate on both ecosystems and human society, i.e., on the social-ecological system, are difficult to m...
Every year an estimated two million tonnes of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) are discarded by householders and companies in the United Kingdom (UK). While the UK has left the European Union (EU), its waste-related policies still mirror those of the EU, including the WEEE-related policies. Motivated by the recent introduction the s...
The southern coast of Central Java Province is one of Indonesia's largest eels (Anguilla spp.) fishing grounds. The annual eel catches in this region showed an increasing trend in 2011-2014 but then plummeted in 2019-2021. However, studies on stock status are lacking to provide an effective management plan to prevent the collapse of eel fisheries....
You will find here the supplemental materials of the article “Reducing plastic production: Economic loss or environmental gain?”. The supplemental materials explain how the graphs and the tables of the article were computed based on annual values and on an input-output macroeconomic model designed at the world scale.
We reviewed economic and environmental studies on global plastic pollution and we estimate the global cost of actions toward zero plastic pollution in all countries by 2040 to be US$ 18.3–158.4 trillion (cost of a 47% reduction of plastic production included). If no actions are undertaken, we estimate the cost of damages caused by plastic pollution...
Plastic pollution has attracted the attention of the media, public, and government worldwide. Analysis of the inverted U-shaped environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) relationship between economic development and plastic pollution is crucial because economic growth is a critical driver of plastic pollution. In this study, for the first time, we (i) used...
Using Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs) is an emerging marketing strategy to promote green fashion products. However, research on the influence of KOLs on consumers' purchase intentions for green fashion products remains insufficient. Therefore, this study investigated how KOLs gained consumer trust and affected their green purchase intentions by applying...
Introduction
Alternative meats have the potential to shape a sustainable food system. This study examined young consumers’ perceptions of and preferences for plant-based and cultured meats. Since comparative studies on consumer preferences for alternative meats in different key Asian markets remain insufficient, this study was conducted in Japan an...
Social-ecological system (SES) modeling involves developing and/or applying models to investigate complex problems arising from the interactions between humans and natural systems. Among the different types, agent-based models (ABM) and system dynamics (SD) are prominent approaches in SES modeling. However, few SES models influence decision-making...
We conducted content analysis of articles published in Yomiuri and Asahi Shimbun
to articulate how Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were portrayed in
newspaper in Japan. Since 2015 till the end of 2019, a total of 465 and 1,005 articles
were published in Yomiuri and Asahi Shimbun respectively. Less than 10 articles were published in 2015 and 20...
Coastal nutrient management often aims to reduce nutrients to avoid eutrophication; however, nutrient supply (i. e., enrichment) is an emerging issue in the post-eutrophication era when certain areas face oligotrophication. For example, part of Japan's Seto Inland Sea (SIS) faces oligotrophication, causing fish catch decline and bleaching of cultur...
Consumer acceptance of bioplastics is a sine qua non for transitioning to a bioeconomy. This necessitates the elucidation of consumer preferences and perceptions of bioplastics and effective education on bioplastics to facilitate informed choices. However, these factors have not been studied sufficiently. Therefore, we conducted a discrete choice e...
Agricultural fields in university campuses can improve urban nutrition security, increase greenery, and provide opportunities for students to grow crops and enhance self-management skills. We conducted student surveys among freshmen in two different years (2016 and 2020) to understand their willingness to pay (WTP) for donations toward student-led...
People’s support and involvement are critical to the sustainable use and conservation of social-ecological systems (SESs). Integrating people’s values into management decisions is pivotal. Without proper integration, the resulting SES may not align with their desires and may not be supported by people. Furthermore, values can be a deep leverage poi...
There is an urgent need to implement sustainable plastic use and disposal to prevent further negative consequences. As it involves human behavior, intervention measures that induce individual human behavioral changes are essential. While studies and good practices are rapidly increasing in this regard, there is no guarantee that good practices in o...
For more information, please visit:
https://www.mdpi.com/journal/systems/special_issues/VAR10VZC62
Although proper plastic waste separation is critical to efficient disposal, people do not always comply with designated rules, possibly resulting from a lack or misunderstanding of the correct rules related to local variability. Accordingly, this study aimed to understand how learning the plastic waste separation rules changed college students' beh...
As marine-resource conservation and sustainable use are global goals, teaching citizens about the marine environment and fostering their interest in the ocean is important. It is also desirable to foster an interest in, and attachment to, a local region, especially where the population is decreasing. Fishermen from the Hinase area of Bizen, Okayama...
While reintroducing extirpated species is an important approach for restoring self-regulating biodiverse ecosystems, previous studies have shown that public support and understanding are indispensable for the success of such projects. In this study, the attitudes of university students toward species that have already been reintroduced in Japan (or...
Frontiers in Sustainability presents "The Sustainability Series" - a quarterly collection of specialized Research Topics aiming to address global sustainability challenges via open-source, high-quality peer-reviewed research articles. The Plastics Problem, our inaugural series, will focus on the following themes:
(1) Investigating Socio-economic D...
This study attempted to predict the effectiveness of prior informed consent (PIC) as a mechanism under the Nagoya Protocol (NP) through the case of Japan, a developed country with a wealth of genetic biodiversity. The NP to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) aims at creating a virtuous cycle between biodiversity conservation and the utili...
As consumption behavior is one of the key human activities destabilizing the Earth system, green consumption is expected to increase. However, although consumers often show interest in green consumption, they tend to choose non-green alternatives. Presuming that one of the reasons for their inconsistency lies in the trade-offs between green attribu...
This study explored the prioritization of English-medium instruction (EMI) teachers’ needs for faculty development and institutional support by applying a best–worst scaling approach to an EMI program in Japan. This prioritization is important as EMI programs need management under various constraints (e.g., time, budget, and teachers). This study a...
The data set comprises the results of questionnaire surveys with EMI teachers and a former staff member in an EMI program in Japan.
This chapter documents a multi-disciplinary collaboration among a mathematical economist, an ecological economist, and a systems scientist to demonstrate the contributions of system dynamics (SD) to the advancement of dynamic modeling in ecological economics. Ecological economics is a trans-disciplinary field that focuses on the complex interaction...
Keyword: Adaptive management Marine ecosystem services Narrative analysis Satoumi Social-ecological production landscapes and seascapes Soft targets
A B S T R A C T Social-ecological system (SES) management requires targets to move in a desirable direction. However, setting targets at the outset of a management program is challenging. People repr...
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and their corresponding logos have become ubiquitous in Japan. While not legally binding, they allow us to choose how to contribute or not to the SDGs. Considering that SDGs share characteristics with nudges, we investigated whether SDGs, with their term and logos, have functioned as a nudge before and during th...
Green economic growth led by technological solutions is often mentioned as a solution for mitigating plastic pollution. However, economic growth appears to be in contradiction to planetary boundaries. By developing two worldwide socioeconomic models, for forecasting inadequately managed plastic waste up to the year 2050 across 217 countries and ter...
This study developed a system dynamics model to understand the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Japan. The model is built on the generic SEIR (Susceptible, Exposed, Infected, and Recovered) framework adopted by Ghaffarzadegan and Rahmandad (2020) to build a system dynamics model for the spread of COVID-19 in Iran. Japan seems to be succe...
Green economic growth fed by technological solutions is often mentioned to mitigate plastic pollution. But economic growth appears to be in contradiction to planetary boundaries. By developing two worldwide socioeconomic models based on non-technological solutions, economic production, social, and policy data, we demonstrate the adverse ecological...
CAlcium fluoride for the study of Neutrinos and Dark matters by Low-energy Spectrometer (CANDLES) searches for neutrino-less double beta decay of $^{48}$Ca using a CaF$_2$ scintillator array. A high Q-value of $^{48}$Ca at 4,272 keV enabled us to achieve very low background condition, however, at the same it causes difficulties in calibrating the d...
This study reports preliminary survey results exploring whether children can recognize marine plastic waste as a systemic issue, especially regarding stock-flow relationships and delays. A systemic understanding of this issue is key to reducing marine plastic waste and to avoid its irreversible effects. Reducing the inflow of waste does not necessa...
Japanese wolves (Canis lupus hodophilax) became extinct in the early 1900s. Because the country is experiencing growth in populations of ungulates, the potential of reintroducing wolves to promote self-regulating biodiverse ecosystems has been discussed by various Japanese and international researchers. However, limited research exists regarding pu...
Sound management of social-ecological systems should reflect diverse values; otherwise, the systems may inadvertently lead to neither fair nor desirable states. Relational values are one of three primary value domains of these diverse values. Since they may strongly motivate care for nature, nurturing these values could be a useful management measu...
Sustainable management of coastal areas including their natural resources cannot be effectively implemented without the continued involvement of residents who are knowledgeable about the value of conservation. Carrying out long‐term conservation education programs and monitoring the impacts of such program in terms of changing people's awareness an...
This is a record of a round-table talk on the Satoumi concept. The report is in Japanese.
In addition to the management of marine protected areas, the management of non‐protected areas is integral to sustainable use and conservation of coastal zones.
The human–nature connection has drawn increasing attention in the Western society because the disconnect from nature is a root cause of ecological crises and unsustainability. Re‐connecting...
Sustainability assessments of marine protected areas (MPAs) are essential for improving the effectiveness of management efforts. Since sustainability is closely related to the concept of intergenerational well-being, measuring and tracking it through time is crucial. Therefore, this study will use the system dynamics approach applied at Pieh marine...
A study by Barnes (2019) concluded that there exists an empirical environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) relationship between mismanaged plastic waste per capita and income per capita. However, this result needs careful interpretation. The study adopted data that used the World Bank database to compute mismanaged plastic waste amounts. Because data to c...
A study by Barnes (2019) concluded that there exists an empirical environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) relationship between mismanaged plastic waste per capita and income per capita. However, this result needs careful interpretation. The study adopted data that used the World Bank database to compute mismanaged plastic waste amounts. Because data to c...
Sustainability indicators are an important management tool used to realize and sustain the desired state of coastal zones. They simplify, quantify, analyze, and communicate the complexity of coastal zones. However, because of such simplification, indicator selection needs to consider two primary issues, namely, the causal relationships between indi...
Resilience management is gaining support as resilience studies proliferate. Quantification of resilience could help decision makers understand the complex dynamics of resilience and adopt resilience management. However, most quantifications have focused on resilience as an attribute of social-ecological systems, such as thresholds and safe operatin...
Plastics are non-biodegradable, and increasing accumulation of plastic debris in the ocean is a major cause for concern. The World Economic Forum, Ellen MacArthur Foundation, and McKinsey & Company claimed in 2016 that technological innovations can solve the plastic problem. Such a claim raises an as yet unanswered question: how much technological...
Plastics have become increasingly dominant in the consumer marketplace since their commercial development in the 1930s and 1940s. Global plastic production reached 335 million tons in 2016, a 640% increase since 1975. In 1960, plastics made up less than 1% of municipal solid waste by mass in the United States. By 2000, this proportion increased by...
Plastics have become increasingly dominant in the consumer marketplace since their commercial development in the 1930s and 1940s. Global plastic production reached 335 million tons in 2016, a 640% increase since 1975. In 1960, plastics made up less than 1% of municipal solid waste by mass in the United States. By 2000, this proportion increased by...
Sustainability indicators are an important management tool used to realize and sustain the desired state of coastal zones. They simplify, quantify, analyze, and communicate the complexity of coastal zones. However, because of such simplification, indicator selection needs to consider two primary issues, namely, the causal relationships between indi...
The purpose of this study was to explore the feasibility of installing Water bottle Refill Stations (WRSs) and their contributions to campus sustainability by means of encouraging pro-environmental behavior in students. Plastic waste is one of the most critical environmental issues. Therefore, we investigated how WRS can deter students from using d...
Background
The long-term evolution of preferences for nature is crucial to conservation projects, given their targeted long-term horizons. Neglecting to account for this evolution could lead to undesirable human–nature relationships. This study compares the willingness to pay (WTP) for three coastal conservation projects in the Seto Inland Sea, Jap...
The complexity of ecological-economic systems significantly reduces our ability to investigate their behavior and propose policies aimed at various environmental and/or economic objectives. Following recent suggestions for integrating nonlinear dynamic modeling with input-output (IO) modeling, we develop a fully dynamic ecological-economic model by...
The long-term evolution of preferences for nature is crucial to conservation projects given their targeted long-term horizons. Neglecting to account for this evolution could lead to undesirable human−nature relationships. This study compares the willingness to pay (WTP) for three coastal conservation projects in the Seto Inland Sea, Japan, at two d...
The long-term evolution of preferences for nature is crucial to conservation projects given their targeted long-term horizons. Neglecting to account for this evolution could lead to undesirable human−nature relationships. This study compares the willingness to pay (WTP) for three coastal conservation projects in the Seto Inland Sea, Japan, at two d...
In many coastal areas of Japan, local fishermen manage fish and other marine resources in a sustainable manner. Such areas are referred to as Satoumi. In this study, we focused on Hinase Junior High School in Okayama Prefecture, Japan, which is implementing a proactive marine education program in collaboration with local fishermen to maintain Satou...
Public involvement in conservation and management of coastal areas is important especially in those countries, such as Japan, where fishermen are decreasing. Both local residents living adjacent to the ocean and urban residents could contribute to sustainable management of coastal areas through various activities. In order to effectively foster pub...
This study developed a novel hybrid agent-based and system dynamics (AB-SD) model for an ecological economic system. The complex nature of an ecological economic system prevents us from seeing the system and its behavior as it is, which calls for a model. A model simplifies reality and reveals certain aspects of it. The modeling approach chosen, ho...
The Japanese term “Satoumi” inspires us to pursue sound coastal zone governance by taking sustainable development into consideration with “Establishment of Sato-umi in the coastal sea”. The popular ICZM (Integrated Coastal Zone Management) shows us the potential approach toward a coastal area with harmonious interaction between human-being and natu...
While environmentally extended input-output (IO) models are commonly used for capturing interactions between ecosystems and economic systems, this kind of modelling cannot reflect interactions within the ecosystem. Isard's (1968) model has been the only exception. He entered interactions occurring within the ecosystem into IO. Nevertheless, given t...
Negative effects that smoking generates toward human health has been reported and, in many countries, smoking has become allowed in only limited areas. Especially, institutes that raise youth such as universities have responsibility to prevent students from being exposed to second-hand smoke. We conducted a questionnaire survey to students (n=375)...
The Japanese term “Satoumi” inspires us to pursue sound coastal zone governance by taking sustainable development into consideration with “Establishment of Sato-umi in the coastal sea”. The popular ICZM (Integrated Coastal Zone Management) shows us the potential approach toward a coastal area with harmonious interaction between human-being and natu...
Public involvement in conservation and management of coastal areas is important especially in those countries, such as Japan, where fishermen are decreasing. Both local residents living adjacent to the ocean and urban residents could contribute to sustainable management of coastal areas through various activities. In order to effectively foster pub...