人工林を持続的に利用するにはどうしたらよいか？

Abstract

When forest resources are required to be used sustainably, the role of the plantation forestry becomes larger year by year. Forestry in Japan has experienced a very long period of stagnation and many difficulties including a decline of forestry profits, aging of forest workers, and increasing forest areas that are neglected with no thinning operations. To overcome these difficulties, governmental measures, efforts by private companies and researches in the field of Forest Engineering, have been underway in recent decades, but such efforts did not bring good results on the whole, especially after the late 1970s. The main reason for the stagnation of forestry in Japan is that timber production costs in Japan were undercut by imported timber.We need to concentrate on collaborative efforts by government, private companies, and researchers in the field of Forest Engineering in Japan to reduce timber production costs. At the same time, the timber marketing system itself should be reconsidered to avoid improper imports of foreign timber produced without any care for forest regeneration. To restore forestry in Japan, it is most important for people to know the real situation of forestry in Japan, and those engaged in forestry should speak about the problems based on their specialties.