Regeneration of Underused Natural Resources by Collaboration Between Urban and Rural Residents: A Case Study in Fujiwara District, Japan

Abstract

Whereas the underuse of resources due to the tragedy of anticommons is well known, resource underuse due to demand loss has received little attention. In this paper, I examined the governance to regenerate underused natural resources by a case study on semi-natural grassland, called "Uenohara," in Fujiwara District located in a Japanese mountain village. Uenohara served as local commons, providing roofs, fertilizer, forage, and food to local residents until the 1950s. However, changes in social conditions abolished its utility, and vegetation succession with a decline in biodiversity followed. Under these circumstances, Forest College Seisui comprising urban residents regenerated the traditional landscape of Uenohara through thatch cropping, controlled burning, and other activities in collaboration with local participants. The new governance, which regenerated underused resources, was characterized by (1) diversification and expansion of participants, (2) role sharing and organic structure, and (3) shifts in benefits. In addition, this study showed that three factors are important for solving underuse problems: (1) manage for use, (2) placeness of the object, and (3) succession of knowledge. In future, more case studies and creation of a theoretical framework are needed to achieve practical solutions.

Evaluation of a Structure Providing Cultural Ecosystem Services in Forest Recreation: Quantitative Text Analysis of Essays by Participants

“…Although Hirahara (2020) has shown that social factors have vital roles in the new governance of natural resource management [10], this study illustrates each causal relationship from the cultural services perspective. However, one of the limitations of this study is that the subject of analysis is just one form of forest recreation in a certain area.…”

“…About 10 core members of FCS plan forest recreation and call on the general participants to join activities. This study focuses on this case because their activities address the modern issue of regenerating underused natural resources, and a previous study [10] clarified the details of governance of natural resource management.…”

“…However, FCS members have no experience in traditional resource management, so local elders have instructed them regarding these methods. FCS members are mainly led to activities due to the fun derived from recreation; social contributions through underused resources management are secondary motivation [10]. Nevertheless, the interaction between urban and rural residents is essential for mountain villages facing population decline.…”

“…The traditional resource management decline in these countries requires implemented shifts, from provisioning services to regulating and cultural services. For instance, the implementation of Payments for Ecosystem Services schemes [6,7] for regulating services and resource management through recreational activities for cultural services [8][9][10]. Regarding (2), although some researchers have attempted quantitative evaluation since the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) in the early 2000s [11,12], the results disagree with each ecosystem service.…”

Bundle of Rights Reversed: Anticommons in a Japanese Common Property Forest Due to Legalization

“…As seen in many industrialized countries (Berge and Mckean 2015), most of Japan's rural communities have been abandoning their management of their common property forests. Previous scholarship has emphasized socio-economic causes, such as the sinking economic value of timber, the energy revolution, and population decline (Shimada 2014;Miyanaga and Shimada 2018;Hirahara 2020). However, through a microdata analysis of the 2000 census, this paper demonstrates how legal and institutional factors also cause difficulties in forest use and management.…”