“Monitoring sites 1000 SATOYAMA program” is a citizen survey program started in 2005 to monitor SATOYAMA ecosystems (heterogeneous  landscapes containing forests, rice fields, grassland, etc) for 100 years. Our goal is to assess the status of nationwide biodiversity and to facilitate conservation activities for local environments. To understand changes in SATOYAMA ecosystems , we conduct comprehensive survey consisting of nine subjects.
By 2017, the survey has been conducted at about 200 sites and recorded a total of 3,924 species. Although overall species richness of plants, butterflies, birds, and mammals did not show significant changes, 20-40% of butterfly and bird species showed the declining tendency in abundance; those species could be categorized as threatened species based on Criteria A of the IUCN Red List assessment. Notably, most of the possibly-declining species have not been designated as threatened species yet.
Our survey has provided important evidence for the conservation of biodiversity in SATOYAMA ecosystems at the national and regional levels, for example, a nationwide review of protected areas, environmental policies of local governments, and alien species management programs. But these data have not sufficiently been exploited for conservation activities yet, and thus we should further encourage its use in these activities.