Human activities, such as industrial, agricultural, and domestic pursuits, discharge effluents into riverine ecological systems that contains aquatic resources, such as fish, which are also used by humans. We conducted case studies in Malaysia to investigate the impacts of these human activities on water and fish resources, as well as on human well-being from an ergonomics perspective. This research shows that a green ergonomics approach can provide us with useful insights into sustainable relationships between humans and ecology in facilitating human well-being in consideration of the overall performance of the social-ecological system. Heavy metal concentrations contained in the effluents pollute river water and contaminate fish, eventually creating significant health risks and economic costs for residents, including the polluters. The study suggests a number of policy interventions to change human behavior and achieve greater collaboration between various levels of government, academia, civil society, and businesses to help establish sustainable relationships between humans and ecology in Malaysia. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

This study proposes a measurement and evaluation approach for community resilience to flood disasters using a set of biophysical and socioeconomic indices. It identifies geographic and thematic areas where policy interventions are most critical. The study applies this approach in selected barangays (the smallest administrative units) in the Santa Rosa-Silang subwatershed in the Laguna Lake region of the Philippines. Results suggest that in order to enhance resilience, it is necessary to strengthen the institutional capacity of barangays to formulate and implement disaster risk reduction initiatives as a legitimate part of their overall land-use-based development plans. Disaster risk reduction initiatives should place equal attention on both ex ante and ex post measures. Ex ante measures include putting in place regular community disaster awareness and preparedness programs that would emphasize the cost of a disaster, the value of participation and volunteerism, as well as livelihood and savings formation. Ex post measures include enhancing the capabilities of emergency facilities and services by providing permanent and volunteer personnel with regular training and equipment. Resource constraints could be addressed by maximizing strong linkages between local government units, academics and non-governmental organizations to enable financial, material, and knowledge transfer. Bridging institutional relationships with nearby barangays and strengthening their bonds with local networks of residents, leaders, and organizations may also help to spread the cost of reducing disaster risk and to promote resilience.

In this paper, we develop a land use allocation model to search for the optimal ratio of organic (nonchemical) and conventional (chemical-use) farming acreage. The idea is to incorporate stochastic production frontiers (SPFs) to a multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) model as technological constraints. The objectives of this model are to maximize net returns, minimize chemical inputs, and optimize organic inputs given environmental and ecological concerns. The compromise solutions suggest the desirable ratio of organic and conventional farming acreage and targetable operations for each farming system to improve regional welfare. This method was applied to the Kona coffee belt, Hawaii, and the analysis determined the optimal proportion of organic and conventional Kona coffee farming fields as 0.265 to 0.735 in terms of optimizing community benefits or regional welfare.

Soybeans (Glycine max) serve as one of the most valuable crops in the world, not only as an oil seed crop and feed for livestock and aquaculture, but also as a good source of protein for the human diet and as a biofuel feedstock. The world soybean production increased by 4.6% annually from 1961 to 2007 and reached average annual production of 217.6 million tons in 2005-07. World production of soybeans is predicted to increase by 2.2% annually to 371.3 million tons by 2030 using an exponential smoothing model with a damped trend. Finally, three scenarios and their implications are presented for increasing supply as land availability declines. The scenarios highlight for agribusiness policy makers and managers the urgent need for significant investments in yield improving research.

ISBN 978-981-13-2399-7 (eBook)

研究課題にかかる論文出版（2021年5月）、学会シンポジウム開催（2021年10月）ならびに学会誌シンポジウム報告（2022年3月）をした。年度を通して研究課題にかかる文献調査と調査法の検討が進められた。 Agrekon出版論文にて、気候変動スマート農業の導入を農学および社会経済の側面から査定し新農法導入の是非を議論した。*Hirooka, Y., *Mausda, T., Watanabe, Y., Izumi, Y., Inai, H., Awala, S., and M. Iijima. 2021. Agronomic and socio-economic assessment of the introduction of a rice-based mixed cropping system to Cuvelai seasonal wetland system in northern Namibia. Agrekon 60(2):145-156. *共同筆頭著者 地域農経学会大会において国際ミニシンポジウムを主催（2021年10月）、進行役（Moderator）を務め、学会誌に報告した（2022年3月）。Maharjan, K.L., Sekine, K., and T. Masuda. 2022. Transformation towards Sustainable Agriculture, Rural Communities, and Ecosystems: Reviewing Global Trends and Local Realities Based on Interdisciplinary Approaches, 2021 ARAFE International Mini Symposium Synopsis. 農林業問題研究58(1):27-30.

日本の大豆生産流通に関わる諸問題を消費者行動、加工企業の戦略、品質評価、技術、経営の観点から解析し、品種や栽培条件など多数の要因が影響して収量水準の低位不安定がもたらされている、大豆生産者と加工業者には原料大豆の品質評価に不整合がある、助成金への依存度が高く、面積拡大や収量向上へのインセンティブが機能しない等の問題点を指摘し、大豆の安定供給に向けてはフードシステム全体を通した再編が求められることを明らかにした。