Initial responses for three years after registration of Aya Biosphere Reserve, Miyazaki, southern Japan

Abstract

Aya Town and its surroundings in Miyazaki Prefecture, southern Japan, were registered as the Aya Biosphere Reserve (Aya BR) by UNESCO in 2012. We report initial responses after this registration in terms of the number of tourists, population, amount of furusato tax paid (by which taxpayers can choose to divert tax to their municipality from their income and residence tax), and the management system of Aya Town. We observed initial effects of an increase in the amount of furusato tax paid and changes in the town management system connected to the other sections and built several committee to share the information among related actors in Aya Town for three years. We need to continue to monitor the effectiveness of registration of the Aya BR because various steps are needed to implement a new system with multiple stakeholders.