How Are Shrine Forests Managed? the Increased Need for Monitoring and Awareness for Biodiversity Conservation in Potential OECMs

Shrine forests, which are forests growing within shrine areas, are one of the potential Other Effective area-based Conservation Measures (OECMs), but their management status is not well surveyed owing to their religious characteristics. This paper aims to elucidate the status of governance, management and conservation outcomes of shrine forests by conducting a questionnaire survey on 58 first-ranked shrines (Ichinomiya) nationwide in Japan and follow-up interviews. We identified that shrine forests have great potential as candidate OECMs except shrines already designated as protected areas. A clear governance structure for decision-making by religious corporations as landowners is a key foundation for involving societal collaborators such as local residential supporters (Ujiko), worshippers (Sukeisha) and visitors (Sanpaisha). However, we also clarified the concerns and issues for shrine forest conservation management: the lack of biodiversity monitoring and management resources and increased logging pressure from the surrounding residents especially at urban shrines. A comprehensive and systematic periodic biodiversity monitoring by shared governance to identify biodiversity values of shrine forests and incorporating biocultural meanings is urgently required for strengthening their in situ biodiversity conservation management. For shrine forests to be identified, recognized and reported as OECMs, a cooperation system connected with multi-level policies and institutions, such as regional biodiversity strategies, must be established for effective conservation outcomes. Moreover, citizens’ awareness of the biocultural values of shrine forests should be enhanced to maintain their biodiversity.