New Developments for Forest Certification in Japan (May 1, 2003)


According to the FAO's "State of the World's Forests 2001," certified forests covered more than 80 million hectares worldwide in December 2000, or about 2.1 percent of the world forest area.

The "Forest Certification Update for the UNECE Region," released by the UN Economic Commission for Europe in the summer of 2002, estimated that the forest area under third party certification is 113 million hectares.

Large regional differences are evident, however, and according to the FAO, the Asian region has the lowest proportion of certified forests.

The FAO data stated above listed only 3,000 hectares for Japan (although it had risen to 7,500 hectares by January 2002.)

Recently, there have been two items of positive news for forest certification in Japan.


1. Expansion of FSC-certified forests

In January 2000, a 1000-hectare forest owned by the company Hayami Forest was the first Japanese forest certified by the Forest Stewardship Council.

By 2002, a total of about 7,500 hectares had been certified in four locations in Japan. From January to April 2003, four more forests were certified in Japan totaling 148 thousand hectares.

As a result, Japan now has 155 thousand hectares under FSC certification, amounting to 0.6 percent of the country's total forest area.

Of particular note is the certification of 143 thousand hectares in prefectural forests owned by Yamanashi Prefecture, a sign of the growing interest that local governments are showing in forest certification.

Table 1 summarizes the certified forests in Japan as of 1 May 2003.

Table 1

No.
Forest Owner
Location
Contact
Area (ha)
Date
Certi-
fied by
Public
report
SCS-PM
-00006
Hayami Forest
Miyama-cho,
Mie Prefecture, Japan
1070
Jan.
2000
SW-FM
/coc-125
Yusuhara Forest Owners' Cooperative
Yusuhara-chyo, Kochi Prefecture, Japan
3335
Oct,
2000
SCS- FM
00037P
Asahi Breweries, Ltd.,
Corporate Forest,
Shobara Forestry Office
Syobara-shi
Hiroshima Prefecture
2169
Sep.
2001
SGS-FM
/coc-082
4
Tochigi,
Gunma
and Saitama Prefectures
904
Nov.
2001
 SGS
SA-FM/
coc-1228
Myagawa Forestry Association
Mie Prefecture

Toriyama
Masaaki

1814
Mar.
2003
 Amita KK
SA-FM/
coc-1227
Yoshida Honke Sanrin-bu
Mie Prefecture
Yoshida
Masaki
1257
Mar.
2003
 Amita KK
SGS-FM/
COC-1330
Higashi Shirakawa Forest OwnersECooperative
Higashi
shirakawa-mura, Gifu Prefecture
Ysue
Akihiko
1462
Mar.
2003
 This
Site
SW-FM/
coc
-246
Yamanashi Prefecture Forest
 
Kimura
Yasuro
143000
Apr.
2003
 Smart
Wood


 

2. Creation of a Japanese-style forest certification system

Meanwhile, there has been movement in terms of establishing a Japanese-style certification system in this country.

On 14 March 2003, a kickoff meeting held by conveners for the creation of a forest certification system suitable for Japan resulted in a decision to continue discussions toward creating such as system.

The sponsors of the initiative (represented by Shosaburo Kimura, the Executive Director of the National Land Afforestation Promotion Association) made their initial appeal using these words:

Forest certification systems have their origins in the rapid destruction of tropical forests that was occurring during the 1980s.

They were to fill the need to certify that timber was being produced through sustainable management of forests, and were developed as systems to promote sustainable forest management from the perspective of the general public and consumers, and to promote sound use of timber resources produced in those forests.

Especially after the Earth Summit in 1992, these systems expanded considerably around the world, and independent certification schemes have since been introduced that reflect the different conditions in each country.

Today, Japan is one of few developed countries that does not have its own forest certification system.

In this context, in order to create something more suited to Japan, the Japan Forestry Association established a committee to consider forest certification systems.

It invited the participation of not only forestry and wood industries, but also the academic community and non-governmental organizations.

Numerous meetings were held since October 2001, resulting in the recently-announced proposal for the Sustainable Green Ecosystem Council (SGEC).

Considering the difficult situation humanity faces with the global environment, this sponsoring committee sees the creation of a “forest certification system suited for JapanEas a timely initiative, and would like to fully support and work to promote it.

Also, to ensure that we obtain the support and trust of the general public and consumers for this planned forest certification system, we seek not only persons involved in the forest, forestry and timber industries, but also from a broad spectrum of society, including NGOs and citizensE organizations, and we think a wide exchange opinions is important.

 

Among the sponsors of this initiative are many representatives of Japan’s wood industries, including the director of the Japan Federation of Wood Industry Associations, as well as representatives of international environmental NGOs such as FoE Japan.

 

 

 

 

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