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

由于“土地保护”在日本是一个相当新的概念，本研究项目的首席研究员为这个术语取了一个新的日文翻译名称“Shizen-chi Hozen”。土地保护的目标不仅是天然林，而且还包括人工林、农田、河流、池塘、湿地和公园。该项目有两个目标：一是调查日本所谓的“森林志愿者”团体和所谓的“国民信托”运动团体目前的活动，并讨论这两类土地保护团体的未来前景;另一个是调查美国马萨诸塞州土地信托和其他土地保护团体的网络和协调组织的绩效。日本的“国民托管”运动由于土地价格高企，而且没有国家政策鼓励捐款和土地征用以保护土地，因此不太可能有足够的动力扩大其领土。在不利的条件下，“国家信托”倾向于将其工作从土地征用转向解释、森林志愿者活动、生态旅游等不需要土地所有权的活动。另一方面，一些大型NPO开始与国家森林和/或县政府合作，管理相当大的公共森林面积。这种合作受到热烈欢迎，因为它可能打破土地所有权对自然保护的障碍。美国同行与各利益攸关方合作的经验非常有益。

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.