Does Social Capital Encourage Participatory Watershed Management? An Analysis Using Survey Data From the Yodo River Watershed

Increasing attention is being paid to participatory watershed management, ranging from participation in administrative decision-making concerning larger-scale watersheds to participation in substantial management activities in smaller-scale watersheds. This article argues that individual participatory behavior in watershed management is affected by social capital and examines the effects of four different types of social capital using survey data from the Yodo River watershed in Japan. Our findings suggest that social capital has an impact on participation in watershed management, but it functions differently according to type of social capital. Notably, analysis reveals adverse effects between bonding social capital and bridging social capital on participation in government-led activities. This finding implies the need to examine the effects of social capital by type, and signals caution that present participants in activities by government are skewed toward those who possess bridging structural and cognitive social capital.