Africa’s policy on nature conservation changed in the 1980s from “conservation of wilderness” to “community-based conservation,” where the local residents manage conservation efforts. Following this policy change, many studies have assessed community-based conservation and its effects on local residents. Bwabwata National Park in northeastern Namibia has also been studied in detail because local residents have settled in the protected central region of the park. However, few quantitative studies have been conducted on the relationship between local residents and Bwabwata’s natural environment. In particular, there is no research on the relationship between the livelihood of local residents and vegetation in the national park from the viewpoint of the landscape. It is necessary to understand this aspect of community-based conservation to clarify how the practice works.

The relationship between the livelihood of local residents and the natural environment of the national park was clarified through observation, interviews, and other qualitative methods. These relationships include the impact of gathering and felling on local vegetation, the reasons for burning neighboring environments, and the linkage between field position and topography. Surveys were conducted to clarify the status of the vegetation including its impact on a special, local topographical feature called the “Domoro,” the difference between the vegetation structure in the multiple-use area and in Bwabwata’s core area, and the unequal distribution of useful trees in villages that are diversified by population and settlement time. Furthermore, interviews confirmed that residents’ lives changed after the national park was established, and that setting up a protected area (the core area) conflicted with their livelihoods.

These results show that the gathering, felling, and planting of trees in the protected core area created spatial differences in vegetation and are responsible for the unequal distribution of useful trees. It can also be argued that local agriculture was based on the natural condition of the Domoro, and that burning was connected to the idea of maintaining healthy vegetation. Therefore, this study suggests that, even though the livelihood practices of the local residents impact the vegetation and landscape of Bwabwata National Park, those practices are based on deep knowledge and experience of the park’s natural environment and form a crucial part of its conservation and management.

Since at least the 1970s, Japanese agricultural geographers and economists have recognized theimportance of innovation in explaining the mechanism of the formation of agricultural production districts and interregional competition based on agricultural location theory. However, they have not clarified the differences in the innovation process among agricultural production districts in detail. I aimed to address this issue by determining the differences in innovation processes among agricultural districts with the focus on R&D and the adoption and diffusion of new technologies specifically for strawberry varieties in Japan.

The results showed that large production districts tend to have more original varieties than smaller districts based on statistics compiled by the Japanese government. Data from the Tokyo Central Wholesale Market also showed that new varieties tend to spread more quickly in larger production districts than in smaller ones. Interview surveys conducted in some agricultural districts found that most farmers adopted an original variety in larger production districts. Farmers in these districts tended to outsource shipment of their products to agricultural cooperatives, which played an important role in extending new varieties by using decision strategies and providing information to farmers. Thus, the differences in innovation processes and performance among agricultural production districts reflect the size and accumulation of research, organization of farmers, and the influence of agricultural cooperatives.