Key Points

  • This book introduces the attempts at “consensus building” involving society and people and the technical development of “visualization.”
  • It highlights the elements and challenges that technology can overcome in the field of agriculture and forestry.
  • The cooperation of the local residents contributed to the project’s success, but there were challenges in the consensus-building process.
  • The book aims to provide useful information for municipalities considering similar initiatives.

Overview

In regions experiencing depopulation, it is necessary to balance agricultural and forestry production activities with environmental conservation as well as disaster prevention and mitigation functions. In particular, the increase in land with unknown owners and issues related to legal systems are highlighted as problems, making the evaluation of the multifaceted functions of agriculture and forestry and policy proposals important issues.

Against this backdrop, a project titled “Development and Implementation of Consensus Building Method for Policies on Balanced Conservation, Agriculture and Forestry” * (Principal Investigator: Professor Ryo KOHSAKA, Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, The University of Tokyo), was conducted over a period of three and a half years in the former Iitaka Town area of Matsusaka City, Mie Prefecture, to clarify the roles and challenges of science and data, with the aim to create a consensus on future visions through community dialogues with the local residents, collect data for utilizing regional resources, and develop a consensus-building mapping system utilizing ICT.

The knowledge and experiences gained from this project are summarized in the book “Finding ‘Common Ground’ for Agriculture and Forestry in Era of Population Shrinkage” which is scheduled to be released on August 16, 2024 (published on September 1, 2024).

During the project, the challenges of data collection and analysis were addressed and the potential for applying knowledge from agriculture and forestry to other fields was explored. Furthermore, participatory community dialogues and future design methods were introduced to deepen discussions on the future of the region, while promoting the ‘visualization’ of regional issues.

* The project was conducted as part of the ‘Science and Technology Research and Development Program for Science, Technology and Innovation Policy,’ implemented by the Research Institute of Science and Technology for Society of the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST RISTEX), with Professor Zentaro YAMAGATA of Yamanashi University serving as the program director.

Figure2. Book Cover

Project Link

https://www.jst.go.jp/ristex/stipolicy/en/project/project40.html

Book Link

https://www.nakanishiya.co.jp/book/b10086839.html
https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/4779518156/　(Scheduled for publication in September 2024)

Contact

Laboratory of Forest Landscape Planning and Design, Department of Forest Science,
Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, The University of Tokyo
Professor Ryo KOHSAKA　　　Contact person: Yuki SOFUE
E-mail: kohsaka.lab[at]gmail.com　please replace [at] to @
　　　 Kohsaka[at]hotmail.com　 please replace [at] to @
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Ryo KOHSAKA HP
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