著者

伊丹 一浩

出版者

日本農業史学会

雑誌

農業史研究 (ISSN:13475614)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.51, pp.2-13, 2017

---

In the mountainous region of the Hautes-Alpes in Southern France, the increasing devastation of forestsand pasturelands and the resultant damage caused by the flooding of steep streams and torrents was acontroversial issue during the 19th century.This paper selected Briot's argument that attributed devastation of pasturelands to the disconnection ofmaterial circulation and proposed measures to recover such cycles, investigated their characteristics andlimitations, and aims to clarify how his proposal shaped agriculture and grazing operations in the mountainousregion.To summarize, this paper discusses the following. Briot emphasized the disconnection of materialcirculation in high altitude pasturelands as the cause for the devastation of mountainous regions. Based on thisanalysis, he proposed that artificial fertilizers and irrigation should be introduced to cultivate fields in the lowaltitude regions, as measures to prevent disconnection of material circulation. These are realistic measures tohelp recover material circulation in high altitude pasturelands, prevent devastation of mountainous regions, andprevent natural disasters. In addition, they can help the community residents to pursue practices that canprevent the devastation of pasturelands and simultaneously support the development of livestock farming.However, Briot's proposal was not faultless because it would supposedly allow community residents tobecome involved more deeply in the competition to cope with market demand. Especially, it had the effect ofdeclining and curtailing the life-oriented agricultural practices of the Hautes-Alpes during unfavorable naturalconditions under the influence of the Great Depression and the influx of agricultural and livestock productsfrom the New Continent. Here, we find another aspect of Briot's proposal designed to facilitate the recoveryand conservation of the mountainous region as disaster contingency planning.