Researcher(s):
Gabe Kohler
ENVS course(s): 400 Initiated: January 2015 Completed: May 2015 Go to project site
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In the last thirty years, ecological management and the broad interpretation of sustainability has entered the realm of forest management and global discourse, such as the 2014 UN climate summit (Arts 2013)(McKean 2000). Strategies of improving governance range from privatization and top-down regulation to a common-pool arrangement where local institutions create rules-in-use (Dietz 2001). Attempts to improve resource use through privatization and market incentives have led to drastic changes in how land is managed within the last forty years. Market-based strategies to improving resource management, like taxes, subsidies, and labelling are effective in some scenarios. However, the rapid move to privatization leaves many questions unanswered about how privatization will affect resource use on the ground (Cashore 2002.) Despite efforts of international and non-governmental organizations to create markets for sustainably-produced timber, forest degradation continues. My research is framed by a broad consideration of: What types of institutions or rules-in-use exist surrounding common-pool resources, and how might privatization alter these common-pool arrangements?
I used 12 forests surrounding Mt. Fuji as a representative sample of the forests in Japan. Within these forests I catalogued ownership, land-use, tree cover, entrance fees, and a basic description of the historical use in the area. I geotagged photos of each forest and created a map (figure 1). Using google earth I layered geo-referenced point data with the survey data described above, historical aerial photo overlays, and polygon boundaries of the legal government and common ownership.
Arts, Bas, Jelle Behagel, Séverine van Bommel, Jessica de Koning, and Esther Turnhout. "Prelude to practice: introducing a practice based approach to forest and nature governance." In Forest and Nature Governance, pp. 3-21. Springer Netherlands, 2013.
Cashore, Benjamin. "Legitimacy and the privatization of environmental governance: How non–state market–driven (NSMD) governance systems gain rule–making authority." Governance 15, no. 4 (2002): 503-529.
Mckean, Margaret. 2000. People and Forests: Communities, Institutions, and Governance. Cambridge: MIT press.