A strategy for wildlife management in depopulating rural areas of Japan |
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Authors: | Hiroshi Tsunoda Hiroto Enari |
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Affiliation: | 1. Center for Environmental Science in Saitama, 914 Kamitanadare, Kazo-shi, Saitama, 347-0115 Japan;2. Yamagata University, 1–23 Wakabamachi, Tsuruoka-shi, Yamagata, 997–8555 Japan |
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Abstract: | Former ranges of wild animals have been reestablished in many developed countries. However, this reestablishment has led to increasing human–wildlife conflict in agroforest ecosystems. In Japan, human–wildlife conflict, such as crop raiding by and ecological impacts of wild ungulates and primates, is a serious problem in depopulated rural areas due to these animal range expansions and increased abundances. Japan's human population is predicted to decline by 24% by 2050, and approximately 20% of agricultural settlements will become completely depopulated. In this scenario, anthropogenic pressures on wildlife (e.g., hunting and habitat alteration) will continue to decrease and human–wildlife conflict will increase due to increasing wildlife recovery. Japan's local governments plan to slow range recovery, prevent species reestablishment, or remove recolonizing large mammals through lethal control. This strategy, however, is not cost-effective, and workforce shortages in depopulated communities make it infeasible. Moreover, the suppression of wildlife prevents the recovery of ecological functions and thus would degrade regional biodiversity. The declining pressure on wildlife that accompanies human depopulation will prevent the restoration of any past states of human–wildlife interaction. We suggest human-used areas in rural landscapes be aggregated in compact cities and that in transition zones between human settlements and depopulated lands that land-sharing approaches be applied. Concentrating management efforts in compact cities may effectively decrease human–wildlife conflict, rather than intensifying human pressures. Reforestation of depopulated lands may lead to recovery of wildlife habitats, their ecosystem functions, and regional biodiversity due to minimization of negative anthropogenic effects (land-sparing approach). Balancing resolution of human–wildlife conflict and ecological rewilding could become a new, challenging task for regional wildlife managers. |
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Keywords: | agroforest ecosystem crop raiding defaunation human–wildlife conflict land abandonment land-use policy large mammals rewilding abandono de tierras asalto de cultivos conflicto humano – fauna defaunación ecosistema agroforestal mamíferos mayores políticas de uso de suelo retorno a la vida silvestre 农林生态系统 作物破坏 动物群减少 人兽冲突 土地撂荒 土地利用政策 大型哺乳动物 野化 |
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