Increased animal damage and the problem of mountain maintenance Question of equilibrium and regeneration lost by mountain villages

Increased animal damage and the problem of mountain maintenance Question of equilibrium and regeneration lost by mountain villages

From the postwar period to the period of rapid economic growth, Japan's mountain villages were subjected to major structural changes. During the period when forestry was a major industry, a wide variety of activities were carried out on a daily basis, such as collecting firewood and coal, clearing underbrush, thinning trees, and gathering wild vegetables, and the mountain ecosystem was maintained in good health through human involvement. However, since the 1960s, the influx of foreign timber, the decline of the forestry industry, the decrease in the farming population, and the exodus of young people to cities have combined to reduce the number of people entering the mountains, and as a result, the mountains have not been well managed.

The lack of light in the artificial forests has led to the decline of the understory vegetation, and deer and wild boars have come to inhabit the villages in search of food. The phenomenon of beasts that used to live deep in the mountains destroying fields and coming down near villages is said to symbolize the collapse of the balance between mountains and human society. This is not only an ecological change, but also a phenomenon that has resulted from the rapid postwar economic development and structural decline of mountain villages.

In the mountains, there are not only virgin forests, but also secondary nature that has been cared for and maintained by people. Satoyama, wood and coal forests, and grasslands can only be maintained if they are properly managed. However, if the people in charge of management are lost, the vegetation will be transformed, the flood control function of the mountains and the balance of the ecosystem will be disrupted, and the risk of disasters will increase. In addition to overexploitation, lack of management itself is emerging as an important factor threatening mountain villages.

The increase in animal damage is a warning bell that the long-established boundary between people and mountains is weakening. Mountains have been protected by human involvement, and people have been supported by the circulation of the mountains. As this relationship has become weaker, mountain villages are being called upon to rebuild a new form of symbiosis and sustainability.