Speaker
Local Knowledge for Community-based Social Resilience - A case of drought adaption in Japan
Kazuki Kagohashi, Nanzan University / Global Landcare / ANU
What determines the social resilience of communities facing environmental/resource crises?
Kazuki illustrates a pond irrigation system in the Sanuki Plain, Japan and examines the adaptation process to a severe drought in 1994. The Sanuki Plain is one of the most drought-prone areas in Japan. Due to the lack of water resources, farmers elaborated a pond irrigation system and historically developed autonomous water management traditions. Farmers passed over the traditional knowledge of water usage through generations; however, it became unpopular after the government constructed the Kagawa Canal in the late 1970s. People believed that the investment in canal construction should ease the water shortages. Still, it was vulnerable to the unexpected drought in 1994.
Kazuki will discuss the importance of traditional knowledge in building social resilience and explain it through the sustainable development framework. He also points out the similarities between the case of the Sanuki Plain and Landcare in Australia.
Kazuki Kagohashi is an Associate Professor at Nanzan University, Japan and a Board Member of Global Landcare. He is an ecological economist, and his research interests involve sustainable development theory, social resilience, and sustainable resources management. Kazuki has engaged in Landcare from both research and social activities. For example, Kazuki contributed to organising the 1st International Conference of Landcare Studies in Japan in 2017 in collaboration with Australian Landcare International and contributed a chapter to Building Global Sustainability Through Local Self-Reliance: Lessons from Landcare (published by ACIAR in 2022). Kazuki works at the Secretariat for the Promotion of the Establishment of Landcare Japan (SPELJ) to offer opportunities for mutual learning between Japan and Australia. In March 2023, he co-organised an Agroforestry Exchange tour in Japan, inviting Australian Landcarers/foresters. He is also a research fellow at Fenner School for Environment and Society at ANU for a year from September 2023.
