Abstract
The enhancement of human well-being is one of the ultimate goals of resource management; however, it is not explicitly considered by forest policy indicators. Our previous studies examined how Japanese citizens in the Yasu River watershed of the Shiga Prefecture perceived subjective well-being related to forests (forest SWB). We found a negative correlation between forest SWB and forest ownership, suggesting dissatisfaction with the low profitability of forest ownership. Based on this result, in this paper, we argue that forest SWB can be an important indicator for policymaking in the context of urbanization and forest restoration and can complement existing forest indicators focusing mainly on physical and objective properties. First, we propose that a direct measurement of well-being (e.g., forest SWB) is preferable over an indirect measurement (e.g., GDP), for policymaking processes related to forests. Second, forest SWB can reflect the quality of our interactions with forests, which is important in urbanized societies which tend to have reduced experiences with nature. Third, forest SWB could identify inequalities between the users of forest ecosystem services and forest managers. Overall, forest SWB can be a holistic indicator to capture a variety of perspectives held by citizens.
Highlights
Ordinary least squares (OLS) regressions were performed in STATA to identify significant associations (p < 0.10) between forest subjective well-being (SWB), demographic factors, and (i) natural, (ii) man-made, and (iii) social capitals, with positive and negative coefficients indicating the direction of these associations (Table 5)
Rationales for Forest SWB as a Policy Indicator. In addition to these findings, based on the following four rationales, we argue that forest SWB can be an additional and promising policy indicator that complements the existing physically oriented indicators focusing on areas and volumes of forests
Engagement with animals and plants presents a positive correlation with forest SWB among some of the OLS analyses; mountain climbing and management of privately owned forests had a positive relationship with forest SWB in the upper watershed study
Summary
Urbanization is an ongoing and persistent global trend [1]. In 1950, 30% of the global population resided in urban areas. The Japanese national forest plan approved by the Cabinet office, Government in Japan (2018; Table 1) provided numerical goals for the types of forests and their areas, harvesting volumes, tree-planting areas, construction of forest roads, areas of protected forests, and soil conservation projects [8]. These physical forest characteristics have a significant impact on determining the amount of timber as well as the opportunities for recreation. Forest owners who lose interest in forest management do not properly manage forests [9,10]
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