Dr. Toshimori Takahashi was born in Tokyo. He majored in environmental biology at the College of Biological Sciences, University of Tsukuba and received his Ph.D. from the School of Engineering, University of Tokyo in the ecosystem remote sensing field. He specialized in landscape ecology. In 2004 he became a Project Researcher for the “Biodiversity and Ecology Renewal Research Center in the 21 Century COE Program” at the Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, University of Tokyo.

In 2006, he took up the post of Assistant at the Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, University of Tokyo. He continued his career as Assistant Professor, then Associate Professor at the Faculty of Agriculture at Utsunomiya University. Currently he is a Research Associate Professor and Assistant Director of the Satoyama Science Research Center at Utsunomiya University.

In 2007, Dr. Takahashi started participating as a co-author in national and Kanto-Chubu cluster-level assessments of satoyama and satoumi evaluation in Japan based on the Millennium Ecosystem Evaluation, and he reported the outcome at COP10. His recent publications include “Satoyama-Satoumi Ecosystems and Human Well-Being: Socio-Ecological Production Landscapes of Japan” (co-authored, edited by Satoyama-Satoumi Evaluation Committee at United Nations University Institution of Advanced Studies, Asakura Publications) and “Satoyama and the Blessings in the Valley of Naka River” (as the author and editor, Satoyama Science Research Center).

From 2008 to 2012 Dr. Takahashi was welcomed as a Visiting Professor at the United Nations University Institute of Advanced Studies. Since 2010 he has been serving as a member of the Wildlife Committee of the Environmental Council of Tochigi Prefecture, and a member of the Essay Committee as well as Manager of the Kanto Branch Office of the Japan Institute of Landscape Architecture. Since 2012 he has been a Collaborative Researcher at the Research Institute for Humanity and Nature, and a part-time lecturer at the Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, University of Tokyo.