How bountiful is the ocean? Participatory valuation of human–nature relationships in Yaeyama Islands, Okinawa, Japan

Valuations of nature are vital for effective conservation planning, and discussions are underway globally on improving the valuation process. Plural valuations of human–nature relationships are the key for better, more inclusive decision-making, which is demonstrated in this research using a case study on human–ocean relationships on Ishigaki Island, a part of the Yaeyama archipelago, Japan. We applied a network analysis to text data obtained from answers on questionnaires with open-ended questions to quantify the importance of values with respect to the pluralities among local people. Therefore, five core elements encompassing the values of the human–ocean relationships on Ishigaki Island were proposed as follows: “Livelihood,” “Attachment and inspiration,” “Local marine culture,” “Respect and fear for nature,” and “Anthropocene environmental problems.” The “Anthropocene environmental problems” element included social and environmental problems caused by various human activities including excessive tourism development, and the data collected through tourism market value analysis implied that past ecosystem service assessments may have over-valued or even triggered this issue. The “Respect and fear for nature” element was found to be important as a potentially unique value in these regions, but this is currently understudied within the literature related to ecosystem services and nature’s contributions to people. This study is among the first works to extract and visualize place-based human–ocean relations in an Asian country. We hope that our methods and findings will be applied to other areas, especially to the local communities of understudied countries and regions, to drive the transformative change of coral reef governance in the Anthropocene.