Niche Markets for Economic Revitalisation of Satoyama Forest ...

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Many satoyama areas lost significant economic value and some were redeveloped as locations for industrial factories, leisure facilities such as golf courses, or as housing or commercial developments. In addition, in line with the national forestation expansion policy, 12 thickets where converted into Japanese cedar forests through tree planting. Furthermore, thickets that were simply left idle and unused became overgrown with shrubs and shrubby bamboo. With the growth of evergreen broad leafed trees that are the indigenous vegetation, heavier and fuller forest canopies have resulted in darker forests with less solar radiation reaching the forest floor. Therefore, organisms that once grew and lived in the deciduous broad leaved forests where plentiful sunlight reached the forest floor during early spring are in rapid decline. 13 The lack of human intervention in the satoyama forest has also led to overgrown thickets, thereby transforming the forests into okuyama (remote forests). As a result, the numbers of Japanese serow, Japanese monkey, Asiatic black bear, and other wild animals that previously lived in more remote forest habitats have come into closer contact with human populations through expansion of their habitat (Japan Wildlife Research Center, 2004) and the incidence of damage or harm to people and agriculture or forestry operations has increased. An increases in Asiatic black bear populations 14 in the Hokuriku and Tohoku regions has been attributed to record low yield of nuts (from beech and konara oak) —an important food source for bears—but also to the fact that the satoyama environment which once functioned as an important buffer zone between bears and people has been lost (Hayashi and Nozaki, 2004). Finally, a decline in management activity in red pine forests in Ishikawa has worsened their growing conditions. Japanese red pine, which accounts for the majority of indigenous coniferous forests, was formerly distributed primarily along mountainous ridges. However, as these forest areas have fallen into disuse as with the deciduous broad leaved tree forests, the piling of fallen branches and leaves lead to a worsening of the growing environment and decay damage 15 due to increased pine wood nematode infestation. b) Artificial Forests in Ishikawa The share of artificial forests makes up 39 per cent of the non–national forests in Ishikawa Prefecture and most of these are coniferous 16 . In terms of total volume of wood, they account for 63 per cent (34 million cubic meters) of the 55 million cubic meters total in Ishikawa Prefecture (Forestry Management Division, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Department, Ishikawa Prefectural Government, 2005). Coniferous trees such as Japanese cedar and Japanese cypress trees were planted in abundance as part of the national forest expansion policy that started in 1955 in response to a rapid increase in demand for wood materials for construction and other purposes. About 60 per cent of the forest is between 21 and 50 years old (Forestry Management Division, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Department, Ishikawa Prefectural Government, 2005). importation of foreign wood products during the same period (in 1960), causing a plunge in the prices of domestic wood materials. This resulted in depopulation of mountain villages, and the rapid reduction and aging of forestry workers. Consequently, previous thinning and pruning practices were not kept up and have not been reestablished. In these dense forests, the loss of forest floor foliage and the piling of fallen trees have led to a reduction in the forests water retention capacity and resulted in and soil runoff. The area also has greater susceptibility to avalanches, floods, and mudslides during heavy rain. Renewed Interest in Economic Revitalisation of Satoyama There is currently a growing interest among conservationists and interested parties to channel voluntary efforts into targeted cooperation and to develop market opportunities and incentives around which satoyama management can be more robustly developed. As will be discussed below there are opportunities in bio–energy, wood–based construction materials, and possibly carbon sink management. Other opportunities include food production—mushrooms, local rice varieties (e.g. kamo–mai) and local rice wines (e.g. maizokin) or conservation activities through ecotourism 17 , green tourism 18 , furusato (nostalgic values of past era type of landscape) and other cultural (spiritual) retreats. Still, it is important to recall that commercial incentives should not dominate so much as to compromise the ecological integrity of satoyama, through the promotion of artificial forests required to produce one given product. The high level of biological diversity in satoyama can be attributed to the diverse environments included therein, including agriculture land, grasslands, and water areas. In the typical satoyama of the past, deciduous broad–leaved trees such as konara oak and saw tooth oak of different ages were common due to the cyclical cutting of firewood and charcoal production. Thickets with mixed tree types and well–maintained artificial forests, agriculture land, and reservoirs were laid out in a mosaic pattern. Currently, as satoyama resources have not been used, and through loss of their characteristics and functions, species diversity has reduced (Takeuchi et al, 2001). Thus, the promotion of the use of firewood and charcoal is still very important from the standpoint of the regeneration of satoyama deciduous broad–leaved forests (thickets) and conservation of the natural ecosystem. Production system need to make use of deciduous broad–leaved trees—including the conservation and nursing of thickets, the mixed planting of deciduous broad–leaved trees among artificial forests (conifer), or the conversion of coniferous forests to deciduous broad–leaved forests. However, while promoting the expansion of the national forest, the government of Japan also liberalised the 7
1 EMERGING NICHE MARKETS FOR SATOYAMA FOREST RESOURCES This section briefly highlights and discusses the market conditions for wood materials, associated products, and services in both Ishikawa and across Japan, and identifies and discusses old and emerging niche markets which present opportunities for the development of a range of new products to enhance the utilisation of satoyama forest resources in Ishikawa Prefecture. The products include timber and other wood materials, wood block technology for housing construction, new energy products (i.e. biomass products) from forest thinnings and other forest materials, and carbon sink initiatives. Local, national, and international issues related to these niche products are identified and discussed. 1.1 The Wood Market in Japan 1.1.1 Domestic Wood Supply in Japan The wood materials supply in 2004 in Japan, when converted to numbers of logs was 89.8 million cubic meters. Although the amount supplied domestically has increased slightly in recent years, local supply is still only 16.56 million cubic meters or 18.4 per cent (Forestry Agency edition, 2006a) of annual demand. While Japan has traditionally been a major consumer of wood materials, the level of domestic supply has been below 50 per cent since the 1970s and has remained at approximately 20 per cent for the last 10 years. At the same time, Japan’s domestic forests have increased in recent years. Approximately 80 per cent of forest build–up has been due to growth of artificial forests, and from 1995 to 2002, this forest build–up has increased by 450 million cubic meters. Looking at this from a yearly basis, even if the amount of timber cutting (approximately 26 million cubic meters of all forests) is subtracted, this is still a net forest build–up of approximately 64 million cubic meters each year (Forestry Agency edition, 2005). Indeed the price of domestic wood materials is decreasing relative to international products. For example, a comparison of the price of northern larch trees that compete with Japanese cedar trees is shown in the table below (Forestry Management Division, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Department, Ishikawa Prefectural Government, 2006a). Thus, there is clearly a growing opportunity for domestic forest products to compete with foreign imports. It would appear that capitalising on this market trend through the marketing of satoyama wood products would enhance the public benefits of satoyama as well as lower the Japanese demand for forest products from overseas. 19 Table 1: Price by Year Comparison: Domestic Cedar versus Imported Larch (Per 1m3) Classification 1995 2000 2005 Japanese Cedar (domestic materials) Larch (imported materials) 21,900 yen 16,500 yen 11,400 yen 18,400 yen 14,100 yen 16,100 yen 1.1.2 Domestic Wood Supply in Ishikawa Prefecture The supply and demand ratio for wood materials for Japan as a whole is similar to that of Ishikawa Prefecture. Of the 439,000 cubic meters of wood material supplied within the prefecture in 2004, approximately 19 per cent (approximately 84,000 cubic meters) was produced within the prefecture and this percentage has not changed very much for the last ten years. The supply of wood materials produced within the prefecture in 2005 was 102,000 cubic meters, indicating an increase to approximately 25 per cent of total supply. However, the overall amount of wood materials supplied within the prefecture dropped to 403,000 cubic meters. Furthermore, the amount of growth in artificial forests during a one year period in FY 2004 was approximately 933,000 cubic meters. The supply of wood material produced within the prefecture in that year accounted for a mere 9 per cent of the amount of growth, and when external supply sources were included, wood supplied in the year accounted for only 47 per cent of the amount of growth (Forestry Management Division, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Department, Ishikawa Prefectural Government, 2006a). This indicates that although forest cover is on the rise in the prefecture, local forest resources are not being proportionately sourced to meet forest product supply. 1.1.3 Demand for Wooden Homes Trends in housing construction demand have a large effect on the supply and demand of wood materials in Japan. According to the 2006 “Annual Report on Trends of Forest and Forestry” building timber accounts for 80 per cent of the timber products delivered in the country (Forestry Agency edition, 2006a). However, housing demand is generally declining in Japan. The number of residential construction starts peaked at 1.9 million in 1973, and in recent years has leveled at approximately 1.2 million. Furthermore, although the percentage of houses built with wood exceeded 75 per cent in the 1960s, this figure has continued to decrease, and over the last 10 years has remained at approximately 45 per cent. While the percentage of total housing starts using wood in 2004 accounted for 45 per cent of the total 1.19 million houses, 80 per cent of single family dwellings (510,000 homes), were built using wood (Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, 2005), so the construction of non–wooden multi–family dwellings plays a significant role in lowering overall demand for wooden homes. Still, as the number of households is projected to decline over the long term, it is difficult to expect an increase in the demand for wood products due to an increase in residential constructions (Forestry Agency edition, 2006a). However, building in recent years in Ishikawa Prefecture presents an exception to the trend. The number of new residential building constructions started in 2005 amounted to 8,909 (93.8 per cent compared to the previous year). Of these, 70 per cent (or 6,219) were wooden constructions—a more than 100 per cent increase in terms of absolute numbers relative to the previous year—thus indicating an increasing trend (Forestry Management Division, Agriculture, Forestry 8
Page 1 and 2: Niche Markets for Economic Revitali
Page 3 and 4: IICRC Report Niche Markets for Econ
Page 5 and 6: CONCLUSION 25 ENDNOTES 26 REFERENCE
Page 7 and 8: Foreword Satoyama has always provid
Page 9 and 10: The first refers to the current and
Page 11: a) Working Definition Working Defin
Page 15 and 16: 1.2 Commercialisation of Wood Block
Page 17 and 18: • Realising stable power generati
Page 19 and 20: In Japan, the priorities have been
Page 21 and 22: 2.3 Challenges Relating to Carbon M
Page 23 and 24: nature, satoyama should be accorded
Page 25 and 26: the public (Forestry Agency edition
Page 27 and 28: Figure 11: Price by Year Comparison
Page 29 and 30: such technological innovation in th
Page 31 and 32: ENDNOTES 1. In recent years, the im
Page 33 and 34: emovals of forests are under develo
Page 35 and 36: Nature Conservation Bureau, Ministr

Niche Markets for Economic Revitalisation of Satoyama Forest ...

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?