Ecosystem Services Assessment (ESA) at UNU‐IAS analyses the linkages between human well‐being and ecosystem services in addressing the environment and development issues and achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). ESA follows up the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA), a groundbreaking scientific assessment to understand ecosystems and their services, the drivers of ecosystem changes, and the consequences of ecosystem changes for human well-being. The ESA aims to contribute to building the knowledge base on the links between ecosystem services and human well-being, and to strengthen the capacity of policymakers to mainstream ecosystem services considerations into national development plans and their implementation.

The ESA has been developing the Japan Satoyama Satoumi Assessment (JSSA) since late 2006, and has been acting as its Secretariat to support application of the MA conceptual framework to the assessment in Japan. This is the first of its kind in Japan and involves a variety of stakeholders, with contributors organized into five main regional clusters and the national working group. Based on the four-year assessment work, six reports compiled as a series of “Experiences and Lessons from Clusters” which presents the findings of each cluster and sub-cluster of the JSSA, were prepared and issued in Japanese in March 2010. In addition, a Summary for Decision Makers that presents both synthesis and integration of the findings from the national assessment and the cluster assessments was presented and disseminated at CBD COP10 in October 2010.

Furthermore, in April 2009, ESA began a three-year research project on Ecosystem Services Assessment and New Commons supported by competitive research funds from the Ministry of the Environment of Japan. The project aims to identify the links between ecosystem services and biodiversity using the case of Satoyama and Satoumi, and provides policy options towards a sustainable society.