Policy for Activities to Manage Common-Pool Resources in Niigata Prefecture

Abstract

In recent years, with the aging of farm households and an increase in the number of non-farm households, it is becoming increasingly difficult for farm households alone to maintain and manage the common-pool resources (CPRs) in the farm villages of Japan. Therefore, cooperation between beneficiaries including non-farm households is desirable. However such cooperation may be difficult to achieve, because the participation of non-farm households in the management of such resources causes a diversification of stakeholders. The purpose of this research was to clarify the mechanisms involved in the management of CPRs through the identification of determinants for activities to manage agricultural irrigation and drainage channels to find appropriate ways for maintenance and management of the common-pool resources (CPRs) in rural area. First, we review both the theoretical and empirical studies on the issue of CPRs and set up the management problem of the irrigation facilities in the Nishi-Kanbara region of Niigata Prefecture, Japan as part of the analysis for the framework of a social-ecology system. Second, we clarify the mechanisms for management of CPRs by identifying data from Niigata Prefecture at the rural community-level based on the analytical framework presented by Kiminami. Finally, a policy for the management of CPRs and future research agenda are indicated. As a further extension of the study, it was necessary to consider that the management of common-pool resources in the region are actually performed in light of several concurrent interactions between public infrastructures (institutions and physical infrastructures), social capital, resource users, public infrastructure providers, and the resources, and to examine the policy of the framework. Therefore, analysis of the influence of the policy based on both individual decision making processes and management activities at the community level was deemed necessary as a future research task.JFL Classification: Q0, Q25