進む過疎化と山村振興の課題 : 西日本一の過疎山村・別子山村を事例として

抄録

The objective of this study is to define an economic condition and to offer a policy for the development in a mountainous area. Besshiyamamura, which we selected as the area of investigation, is one of the typical mountain villages in Japan. The village became famous as a copper miners' town in Edo era and it had a population of 12,400 during the Meiji era when copper production was in the height of prosperity. Besshi copper had ben mined by the Sumitomo Metal Mining Co., Ltd. since the early time. However, when copper resources declined and the mining activities finally stopped in 1973, the population has extremely decreased and it is only 320 in 1990. Moreover, the economic activity of the village has gradually weakened and the local product value also decline extremely. The village has limited number of business enterprises and forestry is a promising industry that would trigger the economic situation. Forest land occupies 97% of its total land area which are divided into community, private and company forests. Sumitomo Forest Co., Ltd. owned 60% of forest land. It started planting the forest resources from the end of the Meiji era in order to use these as mine props. At present, there still dominant and valuablem atured spesies like "Hinoki" in the Sumitomo forest area. On the other hand, the forest plantations established by the community and private owner were after the World War II hence still immatured. So, the development of forestry would be dependent on the forestry activity to be undertaken by the Sumitomo Forest Co., Ltd.. But contrary to expection, the company has yet to play an important role in Besshiyamamura's economy development.