Depopulated rural communities and their resource management

2016 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 26760016
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Area studies
• Research Institution: Lake Biwa Museum
• Principal Investigator: Okubo Mika 滋賀県立琵琶湖博物館, 研究部, 学芸員 (50636074)
• Project Period (FY): 2014-04-01 – 2017-03-31
• Keywords: 山村 / 人口減少 / 村落 / 他出者

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This study examined the current situation of rural communities and their resource management in Japanese mountain hamlets under severe depopulation, focusing on the relationships between emigrants and their hamlets of birth. The study discussed roles and features of emigrants in the resource management of depopulated mountain communities, and it was demonstrated that emigrants were important in considering sustainable resource management of depopulated mountain communities. It is possible that mountain communities and their activities can be partially continued, even though there will be no inhabitants, in a manner that people connected with each other through common resources and scheduled opportunities to manage the resources, and people and places connected through immovable resources.

Free Research Field

地域研究