Niche Markets for Economic Revitalisation of Satoyama Forest ...

trade system. The most developed international baseline and
credit system to date is the Clean Development Mechanism
(CDM), administered by the United Nations. With the
assistance of carbon funds arranged by the World Bank,
the CDM market according to the World Bank in 2005 was
worth $US 2.65 billion or 359 megatons of carbon equivalent,
although forestry and land use change projects are not
prominent in the CDM. While carbon emissions trading is
only at experimental stages in Japan, there is a potential to
incorporate forestry management and carbon sequestration
projects into a national emissions trading scheme. 31 While
Japan’s voluntary emissions scheme has not yet developed
a system to include forestry based off–set projects which
could bring financing to such activities, most industrialised
countries at a similar stage of experimentation with emissions
trading to Japan—like Canada and Australia, for example,
will likely include such project types in their national
schemes. The IPCC Mitigation Working Group describes
forest–related mitigation activities as low cost projects
that can be designed to create synergies with adaptation
and sustainable development and can have “substantial
co–benefits in terms of employment, income generation,
biodiversity and watershed conservation, renewable energy
supply and poverty alleviation” (IPCC, 2007). Under the Kyoto
Protocol Joint Implementation mechanism, which outlines
carbon offset projects between industrialised countries,
Kyoto eligible projects include activities that lead to : avoided
deforestation, and improved management of croplands,
grasslands, forests, and peat lands.
1.5 Ecotourism or
Green Tourism
Ecotourism, which primarily combines recreational and
educational excursion, is a growing niche market in Japan as
it offers many urban–based people retreat from the stress,
noise and pollution associated with living in the city. Across
Japan, there are rural–based, small–scale family–owned
initiatives on sustainable or organic agriculture and livestock
management which serve as businesses, training centers,
tourist attraction and technology demonstration sites. These
draw visitors and patrons from within and abroad. This trend
has presented opportunities for local residents, small–scale
businesses and non–profit organisations (NPOs) to participate
in business activities related to tourism, environmental
education, and sustainable or organic agriculture. Other
related opportunities include food production—mushrooms,
local rice varieties (e.g. kamo–mai) and local rice wines (e.g.
maizokin), or conservation activities through ecotourism,
green tourism, furusato (nostalgic values of past era type of
landscape) and cultural (spiritual) retreats.
1.6 Role of Non–governmental Organisations
and Other Local Stakeholders
Notwithstanding the recent rise in legal provisions related
to satoyama protection in Japan, many policies remain
at a theoretical level, without strong tools or resources
to adequately reestablish and maintain management
practices. In the late 1980s, local movements began to
appear that focused on satoyama management. There is
now a large citizen participation effort in Japan focusing
on the recovery and utilisation of satoyama. As of 2003,
there were approximately 1,100 satoyama activity groups
registered with the Ministry of the Environment, and 58 per
cent of these were established after the 1990s (Miyamae,
2003). Furthermore, according to an investigation performed
by the Forestry Agency, there were 1,165 volunteer groups
performing forest building activities in 2003, which is double
the number in 2000 and four times the number in 1997
(Forestry Agency edition, 2006a). Thus the volunteer and
community based effort is growing rapidly throughout the
country.
1.7 Summary of Niche Markets
Utilising forest residues in energy production represents a
significant opportunity for commercial projects in satoyama.
The low level of biomass use in Japan’s total energy supply
(1 per cent) compared to a similarly forested country like
Sweden, which sources around 16 per cent of its energy
from biomass in 2001 illustrates the potential size of the
opportunity. In 2001 Sweden had around 1800 megawatts of
biomass electricity capacity, compared to the 330 megawatts
target for 2010 in Japan’s Biomass Strategy (IEA, 2004b).
Notably, biomass in Sweden received the highest level of new
energy research and development investment (about 47 per
cent of the total) in the period from 1974–2001 following the
first oil shock and has received favourable tax treatment.
Table 2: Summary of Niche Markets
Market Opportunity Market Challenges Policy Issues
Wood Blocks
Significant:
Driven by consumer preference,
significant domestic supply of
wood material.
Expensive, inefficient collection
and distribution of forest residue
material, lack of stable supply of
forest residues, lack of supplier
awareness.
How can stakeholders coordinate
to reduce distribution costs, what
sources of public funding to augment
financing, how to educate and
disseminate information on market
opportunities.
Biomass Energy
Significant:
Demand and policy support for
New Energy, higher international
oil prices and foreign dependence
Expensive, inefficient collection
and distribution of forest residue
material, lack of stable supply of
forest residues, bias in favour of
other new technologies
How can stakeholders coordinate
to reduce distribution costs, what
sources of public funding can augment
financing
Carbon Finance
Emergent
Driven by domestic climate
change regulations, international
climate law and policy
Political risk associated with policy
development, complex rules for
forestry projects
How to channel domestic climate
change budgets and instruments into
domestic carbon sink management.
13