Abstract
The United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization has designated the Man and Biosphere Program to foster a better relationship between the environment and people. The topic of this study is to elucidate the role of local communities in the regional development of Biosphere Reserves with a focus on management roles (top-down or participatory) and the motivational drivers of the people involved (ecocentric or anthropocentric). Based on qualitative interviews taken from the two case studies of the Mount Hakusan Biosphere Reserve in Japan and the Katunskiy Biosphere Reserve in Russia, a comparative analysis was conducted to explore the differences between the engagement of locals in the management of their biosphere reserves. This analysis examined relationships between the government and the local communities, the attitudes of the locals towards the biosphere reserves, and the historical perception on nature protection for each community. The findings showed that Russian biosphere reserves are mainly managed by local people who live inside the protected area while Japanese biosphere reserves are governed by local authorities and administration offices. This allows the Russian communities to have greater access to management processes, and therefore play a larger role in regional development.
Highlights
In 1971, UNESCO launched the Man and Biosphere Program (MAB) with the aim to build a sustainable relationship between people and their environments established on a scientific basis
We found several differences between Russian and Japanese Biosphere Reserves (BRs) concerning biodiversity conservation, the nature management, and the locals’ livelihoods
MHBR and KatBR, we found that the differences between local Japanese and Russian engagement in the regional development of BRs were derived from three main reasons: (1)
Summary
Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. In 1971, UNESCO launched the Man and Biosphere Program (MAB) with the aim to build a sustainable relationship between people and their environments established on a scientific basis. The MAB designated the first Biosphere Reserves (BRs) in 1976 in eight countries (57 in number) as protected areas of terrestrial, coastal, and marine ecosystems established by the national government [1,2]. BRs are recognized as sites where human–
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