II. Management and conservation of forests toward sustainable fulfillment of the multi-functional role of forests

1. Global Trends in Forests and Forestry

The United Nations Forum on Forests (UNFF) was established in 2001 to promote sustainable management of all forests. In addition, certifications of forests and product-labelling have been internationally developed by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), etc.

By way of fighting global warming, the specific rules for implementation of the Kyoto Protocol were established. It became possible for Japan to count up to 13 million carbon tons as the amount of absorbed CO2 by forest management, which is equivalent to 3.9% of the emission of the benchmark year, 1990.

2. Multi-functional Role of Forests and the State of Forest Resources

The area of Japan's forests is about 25 million hectares, which is approximately equal to 70% of it's national land area. Of the entire forested area, planted forests make up 10 million hectares, accounting for 41%, while natural forests and others make up 15 million hectares, accounting for 59%. The growing stock of the forests is about 3.9 billion m3.

It is rational to classify forests into three types according to their principle functions and to manage them to fulfill these functions. The types of forests are the following:"forests for water and soil conservation," which give importance on conserving water resources or preventing natural disaster, "forests for the people," which give importance on preserving the living environment or promoting health and culture, and "forests for cyclical use of forest resources," which give importance on producing timbers, etc.

3. Promotion of Forest Management and Conservation to Fulfill Multi-Functionality

Thinning has been promoted urgently and systematically in 1.5 million hectares of private forests in five years from the fiscal year 2000. As a result , the thinned area of private forests and the volume of used timber have become about 1.5 times as much as the previous level.

In recent years, the number of activities in support of forest management has been increasing such as tree planting and thinning under collaboration of municipalities, etc., in downstream and those in upstream. In addition, forestry volunteer activities, etc., have been increasing to maintain and conserve forests. Therefore, it is important to train leaders and secure fields for the future.

4. Japan's Contribution to Promoting Sustainable Forest Management

Japan has been promoting bilateral cooperations, such as technical cooperation and financial assistance, cooperations through international organizations, technical supports for overseas afforestation/reforestation by NGO and so on.

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