Abstract
Japan is facing a bio-diversity crisis as a result of rapid industrialisation. The Japanese Ministry of the Environment formulated a National Biodiversity Strategy based on the Convention on Biological Diversity signed at the Earth Summit in 1992. After an amendment in 2002, the National Biodiversity Strategy addressed three crises in biodiversity: over-exploitation and development that destroys habitats, underutilisation (the <span class="italic">satoyama</span> problem) and artificially introduced factors (chemicals, alien species and so on). This paper focuses on the second problem. Secondary natural environments called <span class="italic">satoyama</span> have been created and maintained over the centuries by human activity. Because natural environments in Japan have been affected by human-induced disturbances for 35,000 years, many species have evolved in response to these disturbances. If the human activities cease, many of the species that have evolved to survive in managed environments become threatened. Many <span class="italic">satoyama</span> have been managed as commonage or common lands, called <span class="italic">iriai</span> in Japan. One natural resource system created by commoners is semi-natural grassland, and economic modernisation has led to abandonment of traditional management practices on these grasslands – one of the more evident changes in Japanese <span class="italic">iriai</span> practices. Before industrialisation, semi-natural grasslands were managed as a source of green manure, as a harvest for roofing materials (thatch) and as pasture for animals. After industrialisation, however, introduction of chemical fertilizers, changes in building practices and importation of animal feeds rapidly decreased the use value of these grasslands for local residents. On the other hand, their value as public goods – as historical, cultural landscapes and places of biodiversity – which concern a much broader population than the local community – became relatively more important. The resulting problem is how to manage this resource with its new value for new beneficiaries. This paper examines the multi-level management of a semi-natural grassland at Tarōji, in Soni village, in Nara prefecture. In Soni village, members of the local community provide key management input, while local government at the village and prefecture levels share management costs. <div class="keywords"><div id="idp24048" class="title"> </div></div>
Highlights
One natural resource system created by commoners is semi-natural grassland, and economic modernisation has led to abandonment of traditional management practices on these grasslands – one of the more evident changes in Japanese iriai practices
This study examines how people can sustainably manage secondary natural environments created through traditional management by local communities, even in cases where such traditional management has ceased
As the direct use values from natural resources decline in importance with the advent of substitutes and imports, the multi-level values from natural resources relatively increase in importance
Summary
This study examines how people can sustainably manage secondary natural environments created through traditional management by local communities, even in cases where such traditional management has ceased. Many satoyama have been managed as commons, called iriai in Japanese These secondary natural ecosystems have been maintained for centuries by human activities in Japan. Diminishing human activity that maintains secondary natural systems endangers many species that have evolved for these environments. This problem is recognised as a bio-diversity crisis. Most iriai lands in Japan suffer from problems of under-use, and today’s problem is how the commons – the resource systems and their ecosystem services, as well as the institutions to manage these resource values, can survive in a modern industrialised society (Ueta 1996). Most Japanese communities that manage semi-natural grasslands have the problem of under-use, but how and why should they continue traditional practices to preserve a resource system from which they, no longer draw much benefit? The community of Tarōji has somehow arranged to continue management of its semi-natural grasslands by adding multiple layers of governance to traditional practices
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