| 4. In which ways is the initiative creative and innovative?
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1 Citizens’ Participation in Policy-Making Process
(1) For Establishment of the Gifu Prefecture Forest Conservation Basic Ordinance (from the year 2005 ～)
Gifu Prefecture created the "Forest Conservation 1000 People's Committee" to discuss forest conservation and to formulate the ordinance with the citizens.
A total of 30 workshop-style committees were held in 10 different locations within Gifu Prefecture with the participation of 969 citizens in total.
(2) For Creation of the Gifu Prefecture Forest Conservation Basic Plan (from the year 2006 ～)
Gifu Prefecture set up the "Gifu Prefecture Tree and Mountain Land 1000 People's Committee" whose members are mostly from the "Forest Conservation 1000 People's Committee" in order to draft the Gifu Prefecture Forest Conservation Basic Plan with the citizens in line with the Gifu Prefecture Forest Conservation Basic Ordinance In making the first Basic Plan, a total of 20 workshop-style committees were held in 10 locations within Gifu Prefecture with the participation of 307 people in total. Participants’ ideas and suggestions about the essential features of the Basic Plan were conveyed to the prefecture. After the formulation of the Basic Plan, Gifu Prefecture conducted surveys for the committee members to check the annual program execution state and heard the members’ thoughts about next fiscal year’s policies. When the second Basic Plan was formulated in fiscal 2011, Gifu Prefecture examined the outcomes of the committee’s opinion-exchange gatherings held at five locations in Gifu Prefecture as well as questionnaires results, and introduced them into the second Basic Plan.
(3) After Creation of the Second Gifu Prefecture Forest Conservation Basic Plan (from the year 2012 ～)
Gifu Prefecture changed the name of the "Gifu Prefecture Tree and Mountain Land 1000 People's Committee" to the "Clean Water Land Gifu Forest Conservation Supporter" to encourage Gifu citizens to play a new role as prefecture-citizen collaboration leaders after their roles of examining of forest and timber policies end. Anyone that wishes to become a supporter can register him/herself. Currently 211 people are serving as official supporters. They discuss annul policy execution status, policies for next fiscal year as well as overall forest and timber affairs. Their opinions / proposals are regularly reported to Gifu Prefecture.
2 Development of Environment Protection Model Forest
Gifu Prefecture designates and develops one ” model forest” every year from fiscal 2012 to 2016. The followings are about the first model forest:
(1) Selection of the Model Forest (in 2012)
Gifu Prefecture publicly sought the candidate model forest sites and selected one out of four candidate sites.
(2) Creation of Development and Utilization of Model Forest Plan (in 2012)
Gifu Prefecture set up a plan-making meeting composed of organizations, towns and cities, experts and scholars intending to facilitate revival and protection of traditional village forests. It also gathered opinions and ideas from local autonomies, elementary and junior high schools and potential users of the model forests to create the Development and Utilization of Model Forest Plan.
(3) Development Work (in 2013)
Gifu Prefecture is developing sidewalks, observatories and administration buildings in accordance with the Development and Utilization of Model Forest Plan (still underway).
(4) Start of Model Forest Utilization and Prefecture-wide Promotion Campaign (from the year 2014 ～)
Gifu Prefecture started the Model Forest Utilization Program under the leadership of the organizations, groups, etc. which created the Development and Utilization of Model Forest Plan. Gifu Prefecture will continue to publicize the model forest promotion activities and carry out forest conservation project/programs across prefecture.
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| 5. Who implemented the initiative and what is the size of the population affected by this initiative?
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1 Citizens’ Participation in Policy-Making Process
Participants: citizens interested in environment conservation and protection of biodiversity, NPOs, forestry and timber enterprises, and municipal officials
2 Development of Environment Protection Model Forest
Participants: NPOs intending to take part in reviving and protecting traditional village forests, members of the Blessed Forest Conservation Consortium*, cities and towns, scholars and experts, local autonomies and elementary and junior high schools.
(*Blessed Forest Conservation Consortium: an organization composed of NPOs, corporations, tourism agencies, urban residents. It was established under the guidance of Gifu Prefecture in fiscal 2011. Objectives: with a focus on environment conservation, participants seek to find new values in forest resources and their potential use for new businesses which can both safeguard traditional village forests and take advantage of rich forest resources. The Consortium holds discussions and exchange meetings to address cross-sectional issues and challenges pertaining to forest environment, and examines the possibilities of innovative use of forests. It also carries out a number of pioneering programs/projects by tying-up with tourism industries and other business entities.
3 Support for Regional Activity financed by “Gifu Forest and Environment Tax”
(1) Gifu Prefecture Clean Water Land Gifu Regional Activity Support Program
Participants: organizations, corporations which are promoting forest and river conservation, protection of water quality and biodiversity (in fiscal 2012, 31 organizations participated in this program)
(2) Transportation of Unused Timbers through Collaboration between Citizens and Municipal Governments
Participants: organizations formed by the municipal governments and local citizens (five organizations in fiscal 2012)
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| 6. How was the strategy implemented and what resources were mobilized?
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1 Citizens’ Participation in Policy-Making Process
For creation of the Gifu Prefecture Forest Conservation Basic Ordinance and the Gifu Prefecture Forest Conservation Basic Plan, a total of 1,276 citizens attended the meetings for deliberations, and even after their creation, opinions of these citizens about the program execution status and policies for next fiscal year, etc. are reported to Gifu Prefecture every year. The citizens who are supporting these activities are all volunteers.
2 Environment Protection Model Forest Development Program
3 Support Program for Regional Activity financed by “Gifu Forest and Environment Tax”
The Environment Protection Model Forest Development Program and the Support Program for Regional Activity are both partially financed by the “Gifu Forest and Environment Tax.” Gifu Prefecture introduced the “Gifu Forest and Environment Tax” in fiscal 2012 for the purpose of securing public functions of forests and rivers by maintaining and reviving rich natural environment in Gifu Prefecture and through collaboration with Gifu citizens. Under this tax system, 1,000 yen per citizen, and from 2,000 to 80,000 yen per corporation are collected every year.
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| 7. Who were the stakeholders involved in the design of the initiative and in its implementation?
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1 Citizens’ Participation in Policy-Making Process
(1) Creation of Gifu Prefecture Forest Conservation Basic Ordinance (March in 2006)
Gifu Prefecture created the Gifu Prefecture Forest Conservation Basic Ordinance which stipulates Gifu Prefecture’s responsibilities and the roles of municipal governments, forest owners, forest conservation groups, organizations and Gifu citizens. Its guiding principle is: “Hold long-term, sustainable goals for forest conservation through collaboration with citizens”
(2) Creation of Gifu Prefecture Forest Conservation Basic Plan (Fist Plan in December 2006, Second Plan in March 2012)
Gifu Prefecture created the first Gifu Prefecture Forest Conservation Basic Plan based on the citizens’ opinions and proposals. This Plan aims to realize self-supporting forest conservation under a slogan, “For Lively Forests.” In making the second Basic Plan, Gifu Prefecture adopted a new slogan, “For Blessed Forests” also by referring to citizens’ ideas and suggestions. Under this new slogan, Gifu Prefecture is committing itself to further accelerating forest conservation with the citizens including development of the Environment Protection Model Forest.
2 Development of Environment Protection Model Forest
(1) Creation of Development and Utilization of Model Forest Plan (in 2012)
Gifu Prefecture set up an examination meeting made up of local cities and towns, experts and scholars and organizations intending to promote model forests. Gifu Prefecture conducted interviews with elementary and junior high schools, local autonomies and other potential users of the model forests. By taking account of their opinions and ideas, Gifu Prefecture formulated an effective and sustainable Development and Utilization of Model Forest Plan which includes innovative use of firewood, bamboo shoots and other forest resources in hopes of building a completely new role model for village forests in the future.
3 Support for Regional Activity financed by “Gifu Forest and Environment Tax”
(1) Gifu Prefecture Clean Water Land Gifu Regional Activity Support Program (in 2012)
As many as 31 organizations proposed a wide variety of ideas and initiatives and applied to the Gifu Prefecture Clean Water Land Gifu Regional Activity Support Program. A total of 7,500 citizens took part in forest and river conservation and environment protection activities under this program.
(2) Transportation of Unused Timber through Collaboration between Residents and the Municipalities (in 2012)
Unused and abandoned timbers from tree thinning were transported from five locations in four municipalities within Gifu Prefecture. A total of 500ton of timbers was transported for biomass processing.
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| 8. What were the most successful outputs and why was the initiative effective?
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1 Citizens’ Participation in Policy-Making Process
The Gifu Prefecture Forest Conservation Basic Ordinance stipulates that Gifu Prefecture compiles annual execution status of the Gifu Prefecture Forest Conservation Basic Plan and reports it to the Gifu Prefectural Assembly, discloses all the relevant information to the public. This report is also shared with everyone involved in formulating the Basic Plan (currently, those who formulated the Basic Plan are “Pure Water Land Gifu Forest Conservation Supporters”) and forestry enterprises. Their opinions and proposals are incorporated in the prefecture’s policy-making process for next fiscal year.
2 Environment Protection Model Forests Development Program
3 Support Program for Regional Activity financed by “Gifu Forest and Environment Tax”
In regards to the Environment Protection Model Forests Environment Program and the Support Program for Regional Activity are partially funded by the “Gifu Forest and Environment Tax”, the “Clean Water Land Gifu Forest and Environment Fund Program Assessment Council” evaluates individual programs before and after their implementation every year and their evaluation results are taken into account when the next fiscal year’s programs are determined. Also, their evaluation results are compiled in a report and are made available to the public.
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| 9. What were the main obstacles encountered and how were they overcome?
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1 Citizens’ Participation in Policy-Making Process
Gifu Prefecture set up the “Forest Conservation 1000 People’s Committee” and the “Gifu Prefecture Tree and Mountain Land 1000 People’s Committee” when the Gifu Prefecture Forest Conservation Basic Ordinance and the Gifu Prefecture Forest Conservation Basic Plan were created. It was feared that dialogue-style meetings could end up with only handful of people expressing their opinions and the rest do not take part in a decision-making process. Therefore, every meeting took the form of workshop with a small number of people participating, and the workshops enabled all the participants to speak their minds. A certified “Gifu Prefecture Community Facilitator” served as a chair and he/she coordinated people’s opinions quite efficiently. These workshops were held multiple times and the same members of a small group were able to deepen their discussions every time they met. The participants’ fresh and constructive ideas were incorporated in time of drafting the Basic Ordinance and the Basic Plan.
2 Support Program for Regional Activity financed by ”Gifu Forest and Environment Tax”
In executing the Gifu Prefecture Clean Water Land Gifu Regional Activity Support Program, it was learned that fewer organizations have experiences of carrying out prefecture-financed programs. Therefore, raising public awareness of this program and its PR activities were the first priority for Gifu Prefecture. Gifu Prefecture made PR leaflets about the program and distributed them to the citizens, and also advertised it on TV, radio, newspapers and other media. Eventually, more project proposals and applications to the program came, and the program funds became insufficient. To deal with the lack of funds, Gifu Prefecture began to increase the funds in stages and the second year from the start of the program, the funds were doubled from the initial budget allocation for the program.
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