2004 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary
Forests Preservation and Social Networks on River-Basins : A Case Study of the Social Network of the Yahagi River Basins
| Project/Area Number |
15530161
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Section | 一般 |
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| Research Field |
Applied economics
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| Research Institution | HIROSHIMA UNIVERSITY |
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Principal Investigator |
UEDA Yoshifumi Hiroshima University, Graduate School of Social Science, Professor, 大学院・社会科学研究科, 教授 (50106788)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2003 – 2004
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| Keywords | Forest Common-Pool / Social Networks / Collective Action / Public Goods / Externalities / Social Entrepreneur / Selective Incentives / River-Basins Community |
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| Research Abstract |
This research re-examines a network formation of the local communities on the Yahagi River basins, from the view point of the generalized logic of collective action, and derives the conditions both for mountain forests in the headwater area and for river water qualities in the mid and down basins to be preserved on a voluntary basis. The main results are as follows :
1.Common-pools on the Yahagi-River basins have been, if not perfectly, preserved by the leadership of the Yahagi-River Social Network, which was formed by appeal for selective-incentives schemes designed for farmers and fishermen' organizations, respectively.
2.River water is preserved, on a sufficient level, as the club-commons which are collective interests for privileged groups. On the other hand, mountain forests had to be preserved, on an insufficient level, as the public-commons which is collective interests for latent groups.
3.The empirical and theoretical results of the above are corroborated by the questionnaires which were addressed to 400 residents in the areas. They showed that the benefits obtainable form the mountain forests are less than those from the river water.
4.The questionnaires also showed that a business scheme of selective incentives-cum-collective goods such as an eco-goods scheme is more efficacious in financing for the preservation of public commons such as forests than voluntary contributions. The theoretical logic of voluntary provision of public goods could be corroborated by the questionnaires.
5.Social entrepreneurs are key-players in preserving natural common-pools on the river basins on a voluntary basis, and not-for-profit organizations are preferred by them on a rational basis.
We can derive from those results the policy implication that teaching programs for social entrepreneurs are required to be set up in graduate schools.
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