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Restructuring Japan’s Botanic Gardens through a Contract System

Display of medicinal plants at Higashiyama Botanical Garden, a local government garden in Nagoya

The botanic gardens of Japan are currently undergoing a large wave of restructuring. In Japan there are over 200 botanic gardens of various types and sizes as well as facilities with some botanic garden attributes.  Among these, approximately 130 relatively large gardens are members of the Japan Association of Botanical Gardens (JABG).  About half of these gardens were established by local government at a prefecture, city or town level and are either managed directly, or by a group set up by the local government.  Now, the management system of these botanic gardens is about to change in a significant way.

There has been an extensive review of local government administration systems in Japan due to a cut back in budget and government staff.  Linked to this is a contract system that began in 2003 to reduce costs and improve services to residents.  The system also aims to increase the contribution of the private sector.  In the past, facilities such as museums and sports centres have been directly or indirectly managed by local government; now the management is contracted out to suitable companies or organizations.  Botanic gardens have also been made a target of this system.

Formerly, botanic gardens were managed by government employees.  Furthermore, the staff were employed by local government and each year the required budget was officially approved.  Garden entrance fees and any other income was a form of local government revenue and if there was any shortage in operating expenses, a supplementary budget was prepared to deal with the situation.  In cases where gardens are managed by an organization set up by a local public body, this basically remains the same.  The difference is that a local government employee (public official) deals with the management of the botanic garden and most of the work is carried out by staff hired separately by the organization.

However, under the newly created contract system, local government submits the annual budget required to manage the botanic garden and then recruits a company or organization to manage the garden with the budgeted funds.  With regard to management policy and procedures, the plans provided are evaluated and the management is entrusted to an organization deemed to be appropriate.  The selection of organization is made every 2-5 years.  Any increase in profits achieved through cost reduction or increased entrance fees are kept by the organization.  Application of this system to botanic gardens began in 2004 and is already in place in three gardens, with a further 29 gardens scheduled to be managed in this way in 2006.  As of February 2006, each local government is in the process of selecting the organization to be entrusted with the management of the botanic gardens with a decision having been made in 18 of these gardens.  A number of gardens will continue to be managed by the same organizations but there are also instances where different companies or organizations have been appointed. 

As this system is applied, there are many problems and issues of uncertainty.  The greatest uncertainty is ultimately whether contract organizations really possess the vision and staff with the necessary knowledge and skills to properly operate and manage a botanic garden. 

Each botanic garden maintains collections of plants from all over the world that have been introduced and cultivated during the garden’s history.  Many gardens possess and display rare and endangered plants.  Ultimately, there is a risk that these collections will suffer and disappear and their value for scientific research, conservation, display and education will be irredeemably reduced.  As already mentioned, the main point of this system is cost reduction.  Accordingly, because management is undertaken with a limited cost outlay, in cases where revenue from entry fees is insufficient it is easy to anticipate reductions in management costs and staff.  Furthermore, it is also possible that highly skilled workers will be replaced with low cost staff in order to control labour costs.  A high level of skill and deep understanding of plants is necessary to cultivate, manage and conserve the plants of botanic gardens.  In order to achieve this, time needs to be spent on the education and training of staff.  To be able to effectively display plants, it is necessary to spend long years and months observing designs, tending landscape projects and cultivating plants.  However, the process of appointing a garden management organization will occur every 2-5 years so it is to be expected that taking a long-term perspective will be difficult.

The objective of the JABG is to facilitate communication between botanic gardens in Japan; to increase understanding and address issues by sharing relevant information from inside and outside the country and; undertake development of botanic garden activities.  Given that the tax system in Japan offers no benefit to providers of private contributions, the Association operating expenses are largely covered by membership fees.  There have already been withdrawals from the Association by the new contract organizations which have stopped membership payments as a means of cost reduction.  As more new organizations are selected, it is likely that this precedent will be increased.

Botanic gardens not only maintain plant collections but are facilities that cultivate and conserve plants for the long term.  The Association and each garden attribute the difficulty of maintaining the activities to the contract system whose main aim is cost reduction.  It is unfortunate that botanic gardens have fallen into this state due to the sweeping trend of administrative reform aimed at local government since Japan’s economic crash in the 1990’s.

At the moment, it is necessary to raise awareness and understanding about the role of botanic gardens and ensure that local governments appoint organizations that will adequately manage botanic garden activities.  Also there is a need to highlight the problem in the community to mobilize public opinion for good management of the gardens.  Further, it is important to check that each garden under contract is operated well and to understand the situation cleary.

About the Author

Mitsuo Suzuki is at the Botanical Garden, Tohoku University
Internet: www.biology.tohoku.ac.jp/garden