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Report
No.240206 |
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Public Intervention for Century-long Forestry Measures Forests occupy some 70% of landed area of the country and they are faced with the challenge of sustainable development because, as forest of the people, they play major roles such as multi-functionality. Basic plans for forest and forestry have been hitherto drawn up based on the concept of forest management over 50-year cycle. But the newest plan finalized by the government stands on a different concept, namely 'Forest Management Looking Hundred Years Ahead.' The plan requires fundamental budgetary support beside expanded utilization of domestic lumber. 40% of forests in our country are artificial forest and 60% is natural forest. Forest can only exercise its functions if woods grow smoothly and soils keep fertility. In reality, however, chances are that forests turn to waste lands due to aging of forest owners and abandoning of woodland management works which does not pay. The percentage of absentee forest owners increased from 18.8% in 1980 to 24.4% in 2005. With forest, it takes 50 years from planting to the start of cutting. In the days immediately following the end of the Second World War, an average of some 300,000 hectares of land was planted per year. By now, they have grown to be high-age group forests (woods older than 50 years) and high-age forests are growing rapidly in number. In the next 10 years, 60% of artificial forest will turn high-aged. However, in the price depressed market environment, one can not expect their full utilization. In the light of the situation, the plan shifts emphasis on delayed cutting, which means to prolong the cutting period to nearly one hundred years. The plan also intends to promote expanding broad-leaved tree forests and mixed forests of coniferous and broad leaf trees, which will give heed to habitation environment for birds and wild animals as well as to landscape. Sound and diverse forestation will be promoted by making uneven-aged plantation forests embracing different tree species from the viewpoint of preventing land slides. Low cost technology will be propagated to lessen the burden on forest owners. The plan is drawn up based on the Basic Law for Forest and Forestry. The plan at the time is drawn up because 5 years elapsed since the last plan was finalized in October 2001. A positive introduction of uneven-aged plantation forest had been also written into the previous plan. The area under uneven-aged plantation forest was 900,000 hectares in 2000 and the target for 2010 was set at 1,400,000 hectares. However, actual area was only 940,000 hectares in 2005. Due to such state of progress, the new plan sets the target lower and aims to realize 1,200,000 hectare in 2015. The fundamental cause of the target
failing to have been achieved was the lack of motivation on the part of forest owners due to low profitability of forestry business. 80% of forestry households own less than 20 hectares of forest. Even for forestry households having forest of more than 20 hectares, annual forestry income averaged only
Forests not only support eco-systems but also play a major role in absorbing CO2. In the light of the great public roles the forests play, it is natural to make stronger public intervention on them. Some fundamental mechanism to bear the burden for a cost on society at large is called for in order to have the forest resources passed on to the next generation. (from an editorial in the September 12, 2006 issue of the Nihon Nogyo Shinbun) |
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420,000, according to the annual report on trends of forest and forestry for FY2005. 'Desirable Forestry Structure' drafted by the Forestry Agency says it requires 500 hectares of forest land to raise an average annual income of
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