The GIAHS in the Kunisaki Peninsula Usa area is a system where forestry and agricultural production are made possible and are sustain by the connected system of Sawtooth Oak forests and multiple interlinked irrigation ponds.

Mushrooms have significant nutritional and medicinal values and have the potential to make significant contributions to nutritional and livelihood security where arable land is limited. Mushroom cultivation decomposes biomass and supports nutrient cycling in the ecosystem. Log wood cultivation of Shiitake mushrooms is a traditional system of agriculture in Japan and remains an important livelihood for many Japanese farmers. The traditional system depends on sustainable forestry to produce quality log wood. The GIAHS in the Kunisaki Peninsula Usa area exemplifies the traditional system of Shiitake cultivation using Sawtooth Oak log wood where arable land is limited. The Sawtooth Oak is planted and managed on a 15 year cycle of sustainable logging. The Sawtooth Oaks (or “Kunugi” in Japanese) provide a necessary source of nutrients to the growth of Shiitake mushrooms and produces the log wood cultivated Shiitake food product, in addition to stimulating the forest’s metabolism and recharging the water resources, as well as maintaining the unique agriculture and forestry industries such as rice paddy agriculture and conserving the various ecosystems.