Ryo Takahashi

Faculty of Political Science and Economics, Waseda UniversityAssociate Professor*Profile is at the time of the award.

2018Inamori Research GrantsHumanities & Sociology

Research topics
Proposal of Developing Countries’ Strategy to Transform their Economy into Green One: Social Experiment of a Mixed Management System Applied to Forests in Ethiopia
Keyword
Summary
Deforestation is a major global issue, and the situation is particularly serious in developing countries. One of the prerequisites for sustainable and effective management of forest resources is to establish a clear criterion for land ownership. However, opinions are divided on what ownership form would be the most effective. In the field of development economics, in particular, there has been controversy concerning the differences between the private ownership system and the common ownership system. The purpose of this research is to move from a rigid quantitative study to achieve a proposed mixed ownership system. Such a system combines private and common ownership systems. The research also involves conducting a social experiment using a randomized controlled trial (RCT) to determine the impact on forest preservation when the mixed ownership system is introduced. Ethiopia has been chosen as the subject for this research. In the suburbs of Mekelle City, located in the Tigray Region of northern Ethiopia, many small forest areas (under common management) are scattered. In the experiment, the mixed ownership system was introduced on randomly selected common land to examine the impact that the system has on forest management.

Message from recipient

One of the many advantages of the Inamori Research Grants is the great freedom with which they can be used. This is extremely important for research projects that involve social experiments in developing countries, where we must flexibly deal with various unforeseen circumstances to ensure efficiency in research assignments.

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Humanities & Sociology