On 21 August 2026, Mongabay, a nature news platform, published an article on the concept of “gentle power” — a type of environmental governance based on mutual trust and community-based collaboration rather than top-down conservation initiatives.
The article explores the history of traditional satoyama landscape conservation in the Tokyo area. Suneetha Subramanian (Research Fellow and Academic Associate, UNU-IAS) provided insights on the importance of strengthening deliberation and trust among different decision-makers. Dr. Subramanian also highlighted the experiences of members of the International Partnership for the Satoyama Initiative (IPSI) demonstrating the value of inclusive and collaborative approaches to decision-making and implementation activities within a landscape or seascape.
The full article is available on the Mongabay website.
