Yakushima Island
The Kagoshima Prefecture is home to Yakushima Island, a small sub-tropical paradise in which over 1,900 species of exotic fauna and flora reside. The island inhabits an opaque, thriving rainforest that covers this mountainous land. The island is extremely well preserved, being a natural site, it is able to provide an extremely protective home to all who inhabit it.
The island holds much aesthetic and natural importance, it obtains much beauty from the incredible Sugi cedar trees (some being over 1000 years old) to the Sika deer which inhabit the island. The island's incredible flurry of wildlife means it must be protected. Another reason why the island is so significant to the Japanese people is because of the varying landscape it exhibits. The make-up of the island contains mountains over 2000 meters high, but it also contains waterfalls that lead to pools of clear water that people kayak and swim in during warmer months. The ocean surrounding the island contains loggerhead turtles that crawl onto the shores to lay their eggs in the sand. The displays of vast flora and fauna, and an exotic landscape make the island significant to the Japanese people.
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The reason as to why the site is being preserved is not only because of the island’s aesthetic presence, but due to the incredible wildlife inhabiting the island which is able to be studied and used for scientific purposes. The animals such as deer, monkeys, turtles, birds, and even butterflies can be studied and observed for patterns in breeding, behavior, migration, and much more. The way the animals interact is also observed, as monkeys have been seen sharing food, grooming and even riding deer. Small discreet samples of the flora can also be taken and studied for chemicals within the plants.
Currently, the island is in an incredibly stable state, but the main threats which present themselves to Yakushima island are mainland animals and creatures invading the island and species native to the island overpopulating the land. The island is extremely pristine and none of the creatures have many predators or in most cases, no predators at all. There is a big risk of overpopulating the island with native species and as most of the species are herbivores, they will destroy the island's flora. This will leave them with nothing to eat and they will starve. If this scenario plays out the creatures on the island will wipe themselves out. On the other hand, if they introduce new species to the island, these species will not have any predators either, so they will kill all the native species and then overpopulate the island. The current state of the island is rather stable but in the long term, there are various threats that may occur in the future.
At the moment, not much action is being taken to protect the island. Most of the island is a national forest, therefore it is owned by the national government. The island does have a few pieces of legislation protecting it to make sure it stays pristine. These pieces of legislation have been written to keep activities on the island to a minimum, this is the reason why the island is untouched. Human acts on the island are monitored closely and not very often are many people on the land, this keeps it in good condition.
If I was tasked with managing the threats to the site, I would definitely keep human activities to a minimum, as they are now. I would take advantage of the potential overpopulation and relocate small numbers of the species to other parts of Japan in which the animals may be lacking or endangered. This would keep the overpopulation under control and aid other parts of the country which need help repopulating the land.
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