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