野生獣に対する住民の感情と有害駆除意向の形成要因に関する考察

形成要因の入れ子構造の実証分析

抄録

This study aims to elucidate residents’ awareness of both wild animals that damage agricultural products and their extermination, as well as factors relating to this awareness.

Additionally, the analysis results will provide information on governing communal conflict in community organizations tackling Wild Animal Damage to Agricultural Production (WADAP). Organization needs to understand the residents’ feelings about wild animals and WADAP, in order to tackle it.

This study has three backgrounds. First, the Japanese government has been encouraging communities to tackle WADAP collectively, and not individually. WADAP has increased drastically since the 1980s, and now includes several areas which had not experienced this problem thus far. Rural residents and communities have continuously adapted to the evolving threats and explored ways to survive despite WADAP. However, their hard work have not yet yielded remarkable results. That is why the government has been encouraging ‘collective activities based on a community’ (Chiiki Gurumi Katsudo) as an effective countermeasure. However, many communities find it difficult to bring the residents together and organize collective activities; in particular, varying levels of residents’ awareness of both wild animals and their extermination complicates this issue. Second, it is not easy for a community to reach a consensus for extermination of wild animals for protecting agricultural products. Thus, it is necessary to provide correct information about the extermination to the residents and then foster their understanding accurately. Third, it is believed that many communities in Japan face WADAP and will continue to do so in future. Some factors causing current WADAP have been pointed out; their short-term resolution appears difficult. This study defines three factors to clarify the structure of residents’ awareness of both wild animals and their extermination. ‘Social Factor’ is the base of this awareness. It comprises a general image of each wild animal and the historical relationship between humans and wild animals. ‘Individual Factor’ comprises information of WADAP, the experience and negative feeling relating to wild animal accumulated by the residents, and their own attributes. ‘Family Factor’ provides opportunities to the family members to share their experience or knowledge of WADAP.

The results show that the residents’ feelings about wild animals’ extermination is “based on the recognition cultivated by social factors and influenced by household factors, and mainly formed by a combination of individual factors”. Therefore, when household and people vary, it is inevitable that feelings on wild animals and their extermination also vary. Three managerial methods of the organization tackling with WADAP to govern the communal conflict can be pointed out from this conclusion. First, information-sharing among residents about WADAP is essential to conduct collective activities for preventing it. Second, the information-sharing should be accurate and appropriate. Also, it is necessary for the organization to recognize who needs what kind of information. Third, participants of the collective activities should be given a role based on their feelings against and awareness of wild animals. Provision of incentive for participants, according to their contribution is recommended to ensure a balance in their burden.

(View PDF for the rest of the abstract.)