Labor Forces and Landscape Management

Japanese Case Studies

The purpose of this book is to present a new proposal for landscape management labor accounts. Many matured countries are now confronting an aging society and a shrinking population. Land degradation in those countries is basically caused by a lack of local labor forces. It is very important, therefore, to consider and develop methods to provide appropriate labor forces for the sustainable management of landscapes or to reduce or shrink landscape management areas sustainably with available labor forces. Landscape management labor accounts provide a foundation for such development.

This book consists of four main parts. The first part is concerned with forming concepts, definitions, and overviews. Change in land management policies, research topics, and issues on landscape management are dealt with in the second part. The third part consists of case studies on landscape management labor accounts. Major landscape types chosen for case studies include urban areas, flatland farmlands, Satoyama, and coastal neighborhoods. In the last part of this section, integration methods to develop landscape management labor accounts on different scales are considered. The fourth part of the book is a detailed exposition of contemporary trials to solve issues of land management for the future in the field of urban, rural, forest, river, and coastal planning. Also discussed is the connection of ecosystem service studies and perspectives on the development of landscape management labor accounts with world landscape management research.