Local Initiatives for Sustainable Development in Rural Hokkaido: A Case Study of Samani

Abstract

ABSTRACT. The paper presents the results of a field investigation about sustainable development of Samani town -a rural area in Hidaka region, Hokkaido, Japan. Local activities, business, environmental, social and economic challenges that affect the town as well as the advantages were investigated. The research was done by means of field visits, questionnaires and interviews involving the local people and government. The main economic sectors: olivine industry, fishery, agriculture and tourism were targeted as well as the government sector and the local high school with a particular focus on rural-urban migration. Samani has quite unique natural features on hand but a few strong comprehensive challenges on the other hand. The authors focused on the citizens opinions and positions which were based on the uniqueness of Samani and their own local activities and initiatives for the sustainable development of the town in the future which can be replicated in other rural communities around the world.

Examining Community Engagement in Heritage Conservation Through Geopark Experiences from The Asia Pacific Region

“…It was a fruitful exercise that gathered various people from all walks of life. Participants of the town hall meeting gave and shared their ideas on the future for Samani and came up with specific actions, in which they agreed that conservation and industrial development can be achieved cohesively (Dublin, Bancheva and Freitag, 2013). Town hall meetings with citizen involvement are part of the consultation process that could be an important strategic planning instrument (Dublin, Bancheva and Freitag, 2013).…”

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“…Agrotourism, in symmetry with other tourism segments in rural areas, promotes the conservation of natural formations necessary for the ecosystem balance together with traditional land use activities (Dublin et al 2013;Towoliu et al 2018), however, tourist activities can also have negative impacts on the environment (Almeida et al 2022). In agrotourism the composition of the landscape (which are the present land uses) and the configuration of the landscape (how these land uses are distributed in space) are important characteristics because they are associated with positive and pleasant tourism experiences (Serenelli et al 2017;Brandano et al 2018).…”