Land Conservation NPOs in Japan and United States : Present and Future

由于“土地保护”在日本还是一个很新的概念，本研究项目的首席调查员将这个词翻译成了新的日语名称“Shizen-chi Hozen”。土地保护的对象不仅是天然林，还有人工林、农田、河流、池塘、湿地和公园。该项目有两个目的：一是调查所谓的“森林志愿者”团体和所谓的“国家信托”运动团体在日本的活动现状，并讨论这两种土地保护团体的未来前景；二是调查美国马萨诸塞州土地信托和其他土地保护团体的联网和协调组织的表现。总之，由于地价高企，而且没有鼓励捐赠和征地以保护土地的国家政策，日本的“国家信托”运动不太可能有足够的动力扩大领土。在不利的情况下，“国家信托”倾向于将他们的工作从土地征用转移到解释、森林志愿者活动、生态旅游等不需要土地所有权的活动上。另一方面，一些大型非营利组织开始与国家森林和/或地方政府合作管理相当大的公共林区。这种合作受到强烈欢迎，因为它可能打破土地所有权对自然保护的障碍。美国同行与不同利益攸关方合作的经验非常有用。

Since "Land Conservation" was rather new concept in Japan, the chief investigator of this research project made a new translated Japanese name "Shizen-chi Hozen" for this term. Targets for Land Conservation are not only natural forests, but also man-made forests, farmlands, rivers, ponds, wetlands and parks. The project had two objectives : one was to investigate present activities of both so-called "Forest Volunteers" groups and so-called "National Trust" movement groups in Japan and discuss future prospects of the two kinds of land conservation groups ; the other was to investigate performance of organizations networking and coordinating land trusts and other land conservation groups in Massachusetts, U.S.A.In conclusion, "National Trust" movement in Japan is unlikely to have enough motivation for extending its territory due to high level of land prices and no national policy to encourage donations and land acquisition for land conservation. In an unfavorable condition, "National Trusts" tend to shift their efforts from land acquisition to interpretation, forest volunteer activities, ecotours and other activities which don't need land ownership.On the other hand, some large NPOs began to collaborate with National Forest and/or Prefectural governments to manage rather large public forest areas. Such a kind of collaboration is strongly welcomed as it might break the barrier of land ownership to nature conservation. American counterparts' experiences of collaboration with various stakeholders are very useful.