The word ‘satoyama’ refers to the mountainous upland where people had exploited fodder, manure and fuel for a long time. Since the beginning of the high economic growth period in the 1960s, when villagers ceased to extract resources from satoyama, its landscape has changed gradually. Now, people who are concerned about the disappearance of their familiar satoyama landscape have started volunteer movements for its conservation. The author surveyed 32 groups who have been carrying out satoyama field activities in the Yamato Plain area of Nara Prefecture in west central Japan and analyzed their activities.
The various groups can be divided into 5 types based on the purpose behind their foundation. Type 1 groups (2 associations) aim at tightening the bonds of community through field activities, whereas Type 2 groups (8 associations) aim to commune with nature. Type 3 groups (5 associations) aim toward opposing development that might destroy the satoyama landscape. Type 4 groups (6 associations) organize voluntary management of the forest, and Type 5 groups (11 associations) focus on the conservation of the satoyama landscape.
In the context of managing the forest land, Types 4 and 5 groups have effective skills and tend to carry out their activities in the afforested area. On the other hand, Types 1, 2 and 3 do not attach importance to the management of forest, and mainly perform activities outside the forest land. The differences in their abilities in forest management arise because training is needed to acquire the requisite skill for forest work in the afforested areas, and in addition, strong organization and leadership are necessary.
It is noteworthy that the groups with forest management skills are different from the other groups in another respect. The participants of the former generally reside in areas that are away from the operations sites, whereas those in the latter groups generally work on areas nearby.
Satoyama field activity is not always only forest management through forest work. The ways of thinking about how to manage satoyama and the philosophy of conservation are different among the varying activist groups.
