7th Feb. 2001 Forum of Sustainable Management Forest in Yangon
FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF SUSTAINABLE MANAGEMENT OF FORESTS
- Try to extend multi-storied forests with high growing stock and appropriate
rotation-
1. International Forest Issues
During my whole career as "a forester," Which lasted up to 40
years, I devoted Myself to the management of the forests in Japan and
to the international cooperation activities on sustainable forest management.
I visited many countries and attended the United Nations Conference on
Environment and Development(UNCED), the "Earth Summit" , in Rio
De Janeiro, in June 1992, as a representative of the Japanese Government.
During the conference, after heated discussions and with the "Great
Compromise", the principles of the world forests (the Non-legally binding
authoritative statement of principles for a global consensus on the management,
conservation and sustainable development of all types forests) were adopted
among others.
I will never forget especially one of the 15 principles, which states that
Forest Resources and forest lands should be sustainably managed to meet
the social, economic, ecological, cultural and spiritual needs of present
and future generations.
Besides the formal session of UNCED, I was able to organize a working luncheon
Participated by the delegates of many countries. On the occasion I made
the following speech: "The theme of UNCBD is Environment and Development.
One of the major agenda is forests. Obvious1y, the Significance of forests
will remain the same in the century to come. The solidarity of the world
community for conservation and sustainable management of forests are greatly
desired.
Currently, 70% of the national land is covered with forests in Japan. It
was not possible to maintain these forests without the serious commitment
in sustainable forest management and greening. In 1988, a new fund was
established with the strong support from the Forestry Agency. I hope this
fund will grow substantia11y by the voluntary contributions from all levels.
At our international cooperation, we send competent foresters abroad to
work with the local foresters. They do not sit in the office to tell someone
to do something. But, instead, they go to fields with the local foresters
to achieve our common dreams.
We would like to contribute to the promotion of solidarity among the foresters
who understand forests.
Forests have one of the richest ecosystems on the earth. The world communities,
regardless of what they are and where they live, need integrity for the
achievement of their conservation and sustainable forest management."
At the end of my Speech, I requested special efforts for the success of
UNCBD by saying; "Let us make the final efforts for the successful
conclusion of UNCED and make challenges for the fruitful follow-up of UNCED".
The year before the UNCED the "Conference of Senior Foresters"
was held in Yokohama, jointly organized by the Forestry Agency of Japan
and ITTO. Dr. Dato Bin Che Yeom Freezailah, Executive Director of ITTO
and I as Director General of the Forestry Agency, cooperated closely for
success of the Conference, and with the excellent chairmanship by Mr. Wartono
Kadori, Supported by competent staff the conference was successfu11y completed.
It was great pleasure and honor for me to have the opportunity to address
many eminent foresters and related experts from all over the world participating
in the Yokohama Conference. The salient points of my statement are as follows;
"As is well known, taking urgent steps to conserve the global environment
has become a common agenda today, and the world forest issues have been
taken up as a main focal point of discussion in various international forum.
Under these Circumstances, We, as professional foresters and related experts
should frankly discuss the issues to find out practical way for the better
conservation and management, based upon our own experience, knowledge and
technologies.
Nowadays, the term "sustainability" is a common key word when
we address the global environmental issues. Even before, the term has become
so popular, the significance of sustainability had long been recognized
among the foresters. It has also been well recognized that foresters' roles
are not only securing sustained production but also fulfilling other public
needs for forests.
Management of forests and forestry activities, however, have their long
span of duration in nature, which usually extends beyond generations. Furthermore,
many principles taken for granted among foresters are not sufficiently
understood by people. I wish to elaborate further on this point. Forest
resources can be managed in a sustainable manner without a severe conflict
between conservation and appropriate utilization. Forest products consist
of rather clean and renewable material, causing little damage to the environment
when used properly. In order to maintain various benefits from the forests,
costs may need to be borne to some extent, which is not sufficiently covered
by the sales of forest products. However, if we foresters, merely claim
for a better understanding of the people with regard to these issues, it
would not be easily accepted. On the contrary' we should initially express
our firm commitment towards the conservation and sustainable management
and present a visible blueprint for the possible practical measures which
may be needed to attain this commitment.
The mutual efforts for cooperation, I believe, will eventually lead us
to the attainment of the conservation, restoration and sustainable utilization
of the world forest resources.
I sincerely hope, foresters and related experts attending this panel will
collaborate with each other, so that we could play a more active role in
addressing the common issues which he ahead of us.
Let us strengthen our relationship, and let us formulate continuous forum
on a firm and common basis."
On the last day of the Conference, "Yokohama Forestry Declaration"
was adopted which final article stated; we, foresters, are in a position
to take immediate action towards achievement of the sustainable forest
management and we have determined to do so."
I behave the successful conclusion at the Senior Foresters Conference in
Yokohama contributed very effectively to UNCED.
I would like to insist the importance of establishment of sustainable management
in every country which cooperates international basis. I firmly support
an idea proposed by Canada to set up model forests (new model forest net
work).
If model forests are set up in many countries, we will be able to use them
to exchange information on how to manage sustainable forests. I also insist
the necessity to train competent foresters through international cooperation.
Another point which must not be lost out of sight is that "Profit-Sharing
Afforestation System" need to be spread out to a wide range of countries.
This system for forest management in Japan works as follows: 1) land owners,
2) those who plant trees and take care of the planted trees; and 3) those
who can bear the costs, make two-parties or three-parties contracts to
set up a forest and to share the profit at harvesting. This System is popular
in Japan. In the future, this system could be disseminated internationally
to promote afforestation, especially in recovering tropical forests.
2. Promotion of the River Basin Forest Management System
(Forest Planning and Management System in river basin)
Forest Planning System of Japan is stipulated in the Forest Law and had
been revised several times so far. The most important reason of the revisions
of the Forest Planning System, in my view, was to avoid the crisis in sustainable
management of forests caused by disasters, huge demand of timber and so
on.
After the latest revision of the Forest Law in 1991, regional forest plans
are to be formulated in 158 planning units, which are established in river
basins.
Until this revision, National Forest plans and pubhc and private forest
plans were to be formulated independently and the planning areas are located
differently.
According to the River Basin Forest Management System (RBFMS), prefectural
governors formulate regional forest plans for public and private forests,
while Director Generals of Regional National Forest Offices formulate the
forest plans for National Forests. Both plans are to be coordinated in
terms of area and time so that the plans promote complementarily sustainable
management of forests in river basins.
I would like to introduce 2 areas of RBFMS; one is Mimikawa area in Kyushu
, and another is Yoshino area in Honshu. Mimikawa is newly developed forestry
area, and planted forestry started after World War II, while Yoshino is
one of the oldest forestry areas in Japan. In Yoshino planted forestry
started almost 500 years ago. Although there are such different factors
as maturity of forest resources, and so on, both of the areas have such
common forestry issues as decrease in resident younger generation, increase
in costs for forest management, and so on.
To overcome these issues, I would like to insist the necessity for improvement
of forest resource quality, the necessity of nurturing and sustaining human
resources of competent specialists and foresters as well as specialized
workers. In the 21 century, I hope that these human resources, who will
sustain and improve forests and forestry in each river basin, should possess
three abilities, namely, correct knowledge, skills and sensibility.
3. Model Forests For Sustainable Management
(Multi-storied Forests with High Growing Stock and Appropriate Rotation)
Each country should cope with sustainable forest management according to
their background with their own responsibility.
I has been recently focused on managing multi-storied forests as a mean
for maintaining soil fertility, dealing with the labor shortage and prolonging
cutting age. The standard cutting age of planted trees in Japan has generally
been 40-50 years, although the cutting ages are being changed recently
in some areas to 80-100 years because of necessity for the distribution
and stand age classes to be even, because of the need for larger diameter
quality timber and because of the need to overcome the currently low timber
price.
Apart from these issues, I point out an important role of multi-storied
forests with high growing stock (i.e., the level of the basic growing stock
is 300 to 400 m3/ha). This type of forest would harmonize various functions
of timber supply, conserving environment, carbon sink, preventing land
slides, floods and so on.
The multi-storied forest system with high growing stock and appropriate
rotation will realize dynamic forestry without decreasing the basic growing
stock.
The selective cutting, including strip cutting and/or hole cutting of the
upper story is necessary for growing the lower story and 10 to 20 years
of cutting cycle would be suitable for the efficient rotation.
I will introduce four model forests:
(1) A Forest in Soja-gawa River Basin in Ehime Prefecture of Shikoku
The upper Story of this forest was Planted almost 100 years ago and during
the past decade the open stand system had been promoted. Once the open
stand system was introduced to the upper story, planting of lower story
has been promoted and the practice is continuing now. In the future, 2500
ha of multi-storied forest will be established successfully. About this
forest I will explain in detail later.
(2) The Multi-Storied Forest in the National Forests of Shikoku
In the National Forest System, there are many newly introduced multi-storied
forests. The forest, which I introduce, is the oldest artificial multi-storied
forest in the National Forest System.
The forest locates in Towa Village, Kochi Prefecture, Shikoku; the upper
Story of the forest was planted in 1811 and the lower story was planted
in 1934. The biggest tree of Cryptmeria japonica is 154 cm in diameter
and 44 m high.
The area of this forest is very small (1.42 ha), but it proffers very precious
details for the growth prediction of the multi-storied forests.
(3) In 1982, I and several staff of the Forestry Agency took initiative to establish
model forests for conservation of water source and prevention of soil erosion.
In 1983, four model forest areas were designated and improvement of the
stands for multi-storied forests has been carried out. I introduce two
model forests among the four.
One is the Forest of Soeda in Fukuoka Prefecture, Kyushu, and another is
the Forest of Fukuoka in Gifu Prefecture, Honshu. These two model forests
cover 600 ha in area each and have functions for preventing disasters and
observing effects of multi-storied forests for conservation of water source.
Besides four model forests above, I introduce an international cooperation
project, which is promoting multi-storied forest in Perak State, Malaysia
through technical cooperation by Japan International Cooperation Agency
(JICA ). The purpose of the project is to establish multi-storied forests
in tropical man-made and natural forests.
In 1993, I had an occasion to observe the project and had every confidence
of its success.
I strongly recommend that the multi-storied forest system will extend in
tropical forests, both in natural forests and in planted forests.
Extending of this method, especially with high growing stock and appropriate
rotation, will change the common forest issues into the common forest dreams.
4. FOREST DEVELOPMENT IN SOJA-GAWA RTVER BASIN
People in the Soja-gawa River Basin had long suffered from frequent floods
and droughts caused by unstable soil and water on the upstream hill slopes.
On the occasion of the grant of 2,500 ha of degraded former feudal forests
in the upper basin, the local communities formed a cooperative in 1891
and started reforestation activity in 1903 with an intention of controlling
soil and water and developing communities' property. To date, 71% of the
total granted area has been reforested by the cooperative.
Transformation of the established uniform plantation into multi-storied
structure with mixed species commenced in 1987 with the aim of further
improving their conservation capability as well as increasing their production,
recreational and educational capacity. In order to facilitate this challenging
task, a broad range of research findings, including those on the growth
modeling of plantation forests and the traditional multi-story management
practices, have been provided by the
researchers.
The major driving mechanism of the transformation as well as the reforestation
activities is the cooperative which is a juridical foundation entrusted
with the management of the common forests. The role of the cooperative
is not only to bring together and practice the will of the local communities
but also to provide an institutional set-up through which profit sharing
plantation agreements and the public forest programs are put into practice.
More than 210 ha of the common forests have been transformed so far under
the government subsidy programs exclusively designed for the designated
conservation forests.
Besides the firm and continuous support of the local communities, strong
administrative and political support have been provided by an advisory
forum which was established by the mayors and the members of the municipal
assemblies concerned. The involvement of the research community has also
played an vital role in introduction and application of the multi-storied
forest management.
With a prospect of expanding people's needs for forests in the basin, firm
resource base needs to be established so that the requirements of the present
and future generations are continuously met. In this respect, the current
effort to develop multi-storied forests should be continued, and toward
this end. the benefits of the on-going transformation activity need to
be well demonstrated so as to maintain the momentum in local communities.
4.1 Historical Background and Overview
People in the Soja-gawa River Basin had long suffered from the frequent
floods and droughts caused by rapid discharge and severe erosion from the
surrounding steep and crumble hill slopes. Such unstable soil and water
condition was partly due to wood, fodder and green manure in the upstream
forests under the customary use in the feudal system.
The modern regime established in 1867 took over the feudal properties and
excluded the farmers' use from public forests in the area. In 1890, 2,500
ha of such former feudal forests were finally granted at the request of
63 local communities as their common properties. In order to manage the
granted forests, the local communities formed a cooperative (Imabari-Tamagawa-Asakura)
in 1891, and the plantation works began in 1903 under the newly legislated
forest law and incentive systems. As a result, 71% of the total granted
area has been reforested by the cooperative to date.
Transformation of the uniform structure of the established plantation forests
into the multi-storied structure with mixed species composition was started
in 1987 with the aim of further improving their conservation capacity as
well as increasing the recreational, educational and production capabilities.
In order to facilitate such a challenging long-term process, a range of
research findings, particularly those on the traditional multi-story management
practices, has been provided and carefully applied. By April 1998, 349
ha of the plantation forests has been converted into the multi-storied
forests by the cooperative.
4.2 Current Activities and Achievements
The current State of the activities and achievements in the Soja-gawa River
Basin in terms of the institutional, economic, social and technical aspects
of sustainable forest management is as follows.
4.2.1 Institutional Framework
I The core body for forest development is the cooperative which is a juridical
foundation entrusted with management of the common forests in the basin.
Roles of the cooperative is not only to bring together and practice the
win of the local communities but also to provide with an institutional
set-up through which various policy instruments, such as profit sharing
plantation agreements and forest conservation programs, are integrated
into the forest development activities. An advisory forum, which consists
of mayors, members of the municipal assemblies and major groups, has also
been formulated to ensure the administrative and political support to the
cooperative.
4.2.2 Financial Resources
Both private and public funds have been made available under the above
institutional framework. In the face of the financial constraints, the
cooperative went into the profit sharing plantation agreements with local
institutions, such as the local governments, schools and youth clubs, which
carried out the plantation.
Works on the 44% ofthe cooperative's forest land in exchange for the share
of future revenues.
For transformation of the plantation into multi-storied forests, subsidies
are provided by the national and local governments under the forest conservation
programs exclusively apply the designated conservation forests.
4.2.3 Local Participation
Since the whole process was initiated by the local farmers and residents
with bitter experience, the full and firm participation of the local communities
has been maintained for nearly a century. The involvement of the local
institutions and major groups has also been encouraged through the various
arrangements as mentioned above. The most recent development in this respect
has been achieved by the involvement of researchers who have provided the
cooperative with a variety of research findings on the multi-storied forest
management.
4.2.4 Environmentary Sound Technology
The multi-story forest management is characterized by employment of selective
cutting operation which considerably reduces impacts of harvest to soil
and ecosystem, and accordingly to soil and water stability. A wide range
of the existing management of plantation forests, including traditional
multi-story management practice in Kuma Area nearby the basin, have offered
a spectrum of research opportunities. The level of knowledge in the growth
modeling, density control and harvesting techniques has reached to a stage
where these research findings are put together and applied to the development
of multi-storied forests.
4.3 Future Direction and Options
People's needs for forests are expected to further expand and diversify,
in the course of the continuous social and economic development in the
basin. The conditions of the timber market, on the other hand, have posed
serious economic difficulties to the cooperative, and the strong momentum
which has driven the forest development in the basin may decline within
the local communities. Undersuch circumstances, it is essential to further
improve the established forests to form a firm resource base in order to
ensure the benefits of the present and future generations in the basin.
In this respect, the current effort to develop multi-storied forests should
be continued, and toward this ends, the benefits of the on-going development
efforts need to be well demonstrated so as to maintain the momentum in
the local communities.