Does protecting nature mean becoming poor - a paradigm shift in rural revitalization and environmental support (circa 1995)

Does protecting nature mean becoming poor - a paradigm shift in rural revitalization and environmental support (circa 1995)

In 1995 the EU had entered a new era of integration and harmonization several years after its formation. While there were major political and economic developments, such as the liberalization of markets in preparation for the expansion of the restructured member countries after the end of the Cold War, a quiet crisis of rural devastation and the loss of traditional life and culture was progressing at the feet of the EU.

In West Germany's Bavaria state, in particular, a region once rich in forests and rural landscapes was being hollowed out in the waves of progress and industrialization, and with environmental degradation and an aging population, it was gradually becoming abandoned land. In this context, a new environmental policy idea emerged, one that balances nature conservation and economic support.

At the core of this approach is the principle that protecting the environment is not an obstacle to economic growth. In the past, there was strong opposition to nature conservation activities because they were considered to be a drag on the economy and deprived residents of their income, but in the 1990s, the EU established a system to support environmental conservation activities as a profession through agricultural subsidies and environmental benefits.

In the state of Bavaria, Germany, the state government and the EU directly subsidized activities such as agricultural methods that reduce the use of pesticides and chemical fertilizers, conversion to organic farming, and grassland management using conservation grazing on satoyama. This has created a sustainable rural model in which the economic sustainability of agriculture and the regeneration of the local environment are achieved at the same time.

This idea resonated with the problems of aging, unprofitable, and marginalized farming communities in the mountainous regions of Japan at the time. In Japan, however, the dichotomy between nature conservation and economics remained deep-rooted, and environmental policy and rural development policy remained divided.

In other words, the European concept of redesigning people's lives based on coexistence with nature was an important hint for Japanese policy to change the perception that agriculture = subsidies and rural areas = vanishing zone.

This idea would later be reflected in policies such as green tourism and support for environmentally friendly agriculture that promotes exchanges between urban and rural areas.