{"id":40359,"key":"Japanese_forest_policies","title":"Japanese forest policies","latest":{"id":1207027,"timestamp":"2025-11-27T21:21:47Z"},"content_model":"wikitext","license":{"url":"https://www.appropedia.org/Appropedia:Copyrights","title":"CC-BY-SA-4.0"},"source":"{{Copyright violation notice|compare: http://www.oecd.org/science/sci-tech/1881381.pdf}}\n\nAccording to the National Survey on the Natural Environment conducted in 1990,\nforests cover ca. 246 200 kM or 66 per cent of Japanese land. In 1951, after\nWorld War II, the area of plantation was only 49 700 km. Considering the economic\nimportance of the forestry production, Japan set up the forest policies to increase the\nplantation. Because of this effort, the total area of plantation becomes 103 300 km2.\nThe major reason for sustaining this level of man-made forests is that most of these\nforests are less than 35 years old, and have not reached the standard harvesting age.\nMeanwhile, the forestry and wood industries in Japan faced difficult conditions; i.e.,\nstagnation of timber prices, difficulties in maintaining labor force and competition\nwith imported timber and wooden products.\n\nUnder these economic and social conditions, the activities of management,\nmaintenance and improvement of forests are gradually going down. Approximately\n50 per cent of natural forests are concentrated in Hokkaido. In other regions, only\nsmall and fragmented natural forests remain. A big evergreen broad-leafed forest, in\nparticular, is rarely found. Groves owned by shrines and temples have excluded the\ndisturbance caused by human activities and the secondary forests near residences\nhave been preserved to a certain extent by human intervention. Although the\necological function of these groves is not comparable with that of huge forests, they\nhave also contributed to the distinctive features of biological diversity. However,\nbecause of the decreasing activities of management and maintenance of these forests,\nshrubs and herbaceous species have invaded abandoned forested areas in Japan.\nFurthermore, since many groves are situated in urban districts, these groves have\nsuffered from atmospheric pollution and diseases.\n\n{{Page data\n| license = CC-BY-SA-3.0\n}}"}