From the National Trust Movement to the Kushiro Marshlands Mega Solar Project: A Change in the Actors Who Protect the Marshlands and the Crossroads of Environmental Democracy, March 1996

From the National Trust Movement to the Kushiro Marshlands Mega Solar Project: A Change in the Actors Who Protect the Marshlands and the Crossroads of Environmental Democracy, March 1996
The National Trust movement, which began in the 1970s, was a practice of "environmental administration by the people" in which citizens bought back land and protected nature. The "100-square-meter movement" in Shiretoko spread nationwide and had the power to influence the government through donations and the development of the trust system. However, half a century later, mega solar power plants are being built in Kushiro Marsh against the backdrop of a decarbonization policy, creating the paradox that "development for environmental preservation" will lead to new destruction of nature. If large-scale construction is carried out on the marshland, which is a Ramsar site, the drying of the peat layer and the collapse of the ecosystem will be inevitable. Residents are calling for the construction to be halted, carrying forward the National Trust's philosophy of "local people protecting local nature" into the modern age. While environmental policy has matured, we have entered an er
a in which the coordinating power of environmental democracy is being questioned. It is left to the next generation to redesign the coexistence of nature and renewable energy through renewed dialogue between government and citizens.