2017 Fiscal Year Annual Research Report
Forests Land Grabbing Across the Asia: Questioning the Sustainable Forest Future
| Project/Area Number |
17F17904
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| Research Institution | Kyushu University |
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Principal Investigator |
百村 帝彦 九州大学, 熱帯農学研究センター, 准教授 (80360783)
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| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
ISLAM KAZI 九州大学, 熱帯農学研究センター, 外国人特別研究員
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| Project Period (FY) |
2017-07-26 – 2019-03-31
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| Keywords | Forestland grabbing / Institutional / Socioeconomic / Sustinability / Bangladesh / Japan |
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| Outline of Annual Research Achievements |
The present study focused on the forestland grabbing and its possible impacts to the sustainable forest management in the Sal forests of Bangladesh and the Hokkaido region of Japan. Our study already found out that the regulations and institutional armaments of Japan has not a limiting factor or created any restriction for foreigners to buy forestlands in Japan. The Hokkaido prefectural government already set some good regulations to protect water resources and biodiversity conservation of the forestland lands. The study also found out that the foreigners and Japanese persons have to maintain these regulations in order to convert the forestlands into different commercial activities and also invested a lot of currency to run these activities. Our study did not find any evidences on violation of human right, conflicts or displacement of local communities through the land grabbing in the Hokkaido region. On the contrary, the lack of general information of those foreign companies and their forestland transection deals were not clear to the public or general people; these have been highly critiques by the Japanese experts and Journalists.
The Sal forest of Bangladesh clearly found out the violation of human rights, relocation of local people, shifting livelihood of the local ethnic minorities, conflicts and other social and environmental problems. The study only finalize the institutional aspect of Sal forest grabbing in Bangladesh and the details socioeconomic an ecological impacts of land grabbing will be finalized in the next phases of data collection of the study.
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| Current Status of Research Progress |
Current Status of Research Progress
2: Research has progressed on the whole more than it was originally planned.
Reason
The proposed land grabbing research have already finalized the theoritical frameworks, specific parameters, study methods and data collection tools. The study already communicated with all possible stakeholders of Hokkaido Prefecture of Japan and all most all of them were proving important data and information. We also collected the related documents, reports, maps and materials from those stakeholders. The study also did the practical observation to the related sites and found some good results. In addition, two experts memebrs were translated the Japansese materials into English in order to bust up the data analyzing and publication process.
On the contrary, the study already established a good relationship with the regional and local Sal Forest Department staff in Bangladesh during the last data collection phase in 2018. The forest department staff provided all of their information and reports, books and materials which was the key for analyzing the institutional aspect of forestland grabbing in Bangladesh. The study already visited three major Sal forests areas of Bangladesh namely- Tangail, Mymensingh and Gazipur and collected all of the related materils. The study also make a future plan for details data collection in Bangladesh and the outcomes will be published in the international Journals. Therefore, the progress of the research is going to our exactly planning.
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| Strategy for Future Research Activity |
In relation to the study’s main objectives, the study has already finished the institutional, socioeconmic and ecological aspect of forestland grabbing data collection from the Hokkaido, Japan. The study also collected the institutional aspect of Bangladesh land grabbing data and preapred a manuscript based on Japan case within May 2018. The details data collection on the social, economic and ecological aspect of Sal forest of Bangladesh land grabbing will be conducted in the June to July 2018. The collected Bangladesh data will be anaalyzed and intererpretaed during August-October 2018. The outcomes of the Bangladesh case will be published during November 2018 to February 2019. Finally, the JSPS report and publication of those manuscripts will be finished by the end of April 2019.
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