GoKawiilStudy: Japan's rural depopulation is driving wildlife declines, not recovery
Research cited by Nature finds that as Japan's countryside empties and small farms are abandoned, populations of butterflies, fireflies, frogs, birds and native plants are declining rather than rebounding. A 2025 study found biodiversity stable only where human populations remained stable, while depopulated areas saw species losses. Researchers note similar patterns in rural Spain and China, and a separate study of Germany's Lake Constance region found plant diversity peaked under medieval-era small farming, exceeding both earlier closed forests and later industrial agriculture.