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Anthropological engagements
with environmental change research
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Forests have played a major role in shaping the social, cultural, and
economic landscape of Otaki since at least the Edo Period (1603-1867).
During the first part of the 20th century, as the Japanese nation
continued on its path to modernization and eventually war, demand for
timber increased and heavy felling ensued in Otaki, resulting in hage-
yama, or “bald-mountains”. Despite the devastation of forests across
Japan, demands for timber remained high in the years after WWII,
leading to timber imports starting in the 1960s. Thought demand for
timber has recently decreased, the importation of foreign timber remains
steady. At the same time, campaigns to reforest Japan have gained in
popularity. Reforestation policies, though effective, have remained
focused on future timber production, meaning that huge swaths of
forestland have been replanted using only timber varieties—hinoki and
sawara cypresses, and karamatsu, a larch variety—with little thought
given to the environment’s ecological requirements or capacities. These
myopic policies have left the mountains around Otaki in various states of
ecological disarray: habitat conversion has increased wildlife pestilence
in the village and a lack of economic incentive has left many timber
forests unmanaged, rendering the trees unusable. As a result, the
amount of human-made forestland in Otaki, and elsewhere in Japan, has
increased substantially, while mechanisms for using and managing that
land have decreased .
With the post-war decline in forestry Otaki also lost its major source of
economic livelihood. Tourism, revolving around Mount Ontake, a
historically sacred mountain that attracts pilgrims, mountaineers, and
skiers, currently sustains the village. However, declining numbers of
tourists threaten that industry as well. The residents of Otaki face an
uncertain future as they seek to develop new industries while managing
a changing socio-natural environment. Though surrounded by forest,
most is nationally-owned and local residents have little say in decision-
making regarding management or use. Various social and ecological
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vulnerabilities confront Otaki’s residents and call for care and
forethought in developing management plans. Resilience thinking offers
promise, but there are social and ecological obstacles to be overcome.
An anthropology of resilience
Constructing a working definition of resilience requires the cooperation
of stakeholders at a variety of levels to ensure that system-wide stability
can be sought across scales. The process of defining resilience is—and
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should be—informed as much by socio-cultural needs, concerns,
perceptions, and beliefs as it is ecological factors.
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research
Though environmental anthropologists draw on theories and concepts
from ecology, biology, evolutionary science, systems research, political
science, history and other disciplines, the field itself has developed
within, and remains rooted in, anthropology . Environmental
anthropologists are, therefore, well-suited to compliment environmental
change research with insights into the socio-cultural processes that
shape the ways in which humans interact with and manage the natural
environment. Under the rubric of resilience thinking environmental
anthropologists have several possible roles to play. The first is as
facilitators, assisting in creating and sustaining social networks involving
various stakeholders that can better respond to unforeseen
environmental changes. The second is as interpreters between
stakeholders, helping to ensure that decision-making processes remain
inclusive, fair, and productive. The third and most important role is as
coordinators, working to help identify and develop culturally relevant
institutions—such as knowledge sets, customs, or practices—in order to
build adaptive capacity within the host community and add to its
resiliency.
These are not easy tasks, and the role of ecological anthropologists in
exploring and working to develop resiliency to environmental change is
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not a simple one. However, when dealing with coupled social and
ecological environments it is vital that the interests, needs, and desires
of humans connected to that environment are taken into account.
Without the contributions of anthropologists environmental change
research, especially that employing a resilience thinking framework, is in
danger of being irrelevant at best and disastrous at worst for the people
and communities to which it is directed.