Satoyama landscape as social–ecological system: historical changes and future perspective

•Historically the rural landscapes of Japan (satoyama landscape) were managed as an integrated system.•These systems provided a bundle of ecosystem services that benefitted human well-being.•Starting in the late 1950s these integrated social–ecological systems began to be disrupted.•Imports of food and energy from abroad decreased local demand and the satoyama landscapes became depopulated and degraded.•An effort is needed to explore cross-scale, connected and coupled social–ecological systems so that these landscapes continue to benefit biodiversity and human well-being. Many production landscapes around the world have been sustained through appropriate use and management of natural resources, but many are now facing overuse or underuse. This paper explores future perspectives on the satoyama landscape (traditional Japanese rural landscape) as a social–ecological system through an overview of its transformation. Two phases in the human–nature relationship are observed: before the fossil fuel revolution of the late 1950s, people maintained a direct relationship with nature, and the landscape was integrally managed through community cooperation to avoid overuse; then, after the late 1950s, inflow of goods and services from outside and outflow of the population resulted in underuse of natural resources, and the human–nature relationship became weakened and more indirect. Rebuilding the human–nature relationship in the present day calls for efforts that go beyond the local level toward cross-scale, connected and coupled social–ecological systems.