**3.2.1 Description**

168 Sustainable Forest Management – Case Studies

Thinning is necessary in a planted forest, particularly in a dense plantation, to direct the current forest stand to the targeted forest stand, and in this sense, a delay in thinning or changing the method are generally permitted. However, problems20 related to thinning have become more political and more complex since the Kyoto Protocol in 2008. The government promised a 6% reduction in greenhouse gasses compared to the base year, including a 3.8% contribution to the carbon sink of domestic forest resources. Thinning must be conducted in the planted forest to fulfill the national target. Without thinning, the planted forests are not considered well managed. Hence, thinning activity is now under political and social pressures related to the Kyoto Protocol, which is unconcerned with forestry activities. The Forestry Agency is now promoting thinning throughout Japan. In 2008, a special measure promoting thinning was enacted21. This is a typical problem being experienced by forest

This area, including the cooperative forest site, is among the model areas for promoting rapid and intensive timber production. In 2009, an association of which the forest producer

The new initiative of the cooperative included the introduction of a Japan Verified Emission Reduction (J-VER) Scheme, which is a public certification scheme for carbon offsetting managed by the Ministry of the Environment. In July 2011, there were four J-VER projects related to forest management in progress in Hyogo Prefecture. The representative business operator and the holder of the offset credits was the Hyogo Prefectural Federation of the Forest Owners' Cooperative Association22. This association founded a company that provides offset credits in 2008. This prefectural association can sell the offset credit to

The total area of forest for offset is 97 ha, and the credit period is from 2008 to 2012. The total CO2 sink for emission reduction is assumed to be 2,657 tons in CO2 over 5 years, which is 531 tons CO2 per year. The project was already registered and a field investigation was conducted in 2011. Due to declines in the log price and other reasons, forestry profitability is not expected to be regained, and the CO2 sink funds are expected to be utilized as part of the future cost of forest management and logging. Under these difficult economic

The J-VER Scheme, started in 2008, certifies the greenhouse gas reduction or carbon sink realized by domestic projects as a credit. In March 2009, with collaboration between the Ministry of the Environment and the Forestry Agency, the forest management project, in which project CO2 sink by doing forest practices such as thinning and planting, was added to the list of domestic projects which will act as a carbon sink. The forest management projects23 in J-VER Scheme are divided into two types, those that will promote thinning, and

At the time of our investigation, the carbon credit sales produced from the forest owned by the forest producer cooperative was not determined; the direct financial contribution is unclear. As the cooperative expects income from carbon credits, how these profits are to be distributed between the offset provider company, the cooperative, and other related organizations will be determined is the most important. The new relationships that the

those that will promote sustainable forest management. This case is the former type.

cooperative wants to build are evaluated from the following three points of view.

cooperative is a member began a project to stabilize timber production.

circumstances, the cooperative expects income from their CO2 business.

**3.1.4 Characteristics of and evaluation of the new activities** 

private companies by way of the offset provider company.

producer cooperatives.

**3.1.3 New activity and background** 

This cooperative was founded in 1960, to consolidate the municipalities at that time and to prevent common forest from being absorbed into the new municipal government after consolidation. Thus, all of its members are residents of a village, which was ultimately consolidated into a new municipality. In 2009, the total number of members was 505 (Mie Prefecture, 2010). The area of forest is 23.8 ha, including 21.4 ha of planted *Cryptomeria japonica* and *Chamaecyparis obtusa* forest. The age of the planted forest is approximately 40 years. The cooperative is holding lands other than forest, of which the largest and most important is land for a golf course. The management is generally good, as the cooperative can collect rent from a golf company every year. The main work of the cooperative is management of their forested and non-forested land.

Recent Problems and New Directions

companies.

with the logging company located in the same area.

for Forest Producer Cooperatives Established in Common Forests in Japan 171

unmanaged without cutting grass, but they begin to think that leaving it uncontrolled was not good practice. When the cooperative conducted thinning, it developed a relationship

Various private companies in Japan have recently started supporting management and forest conservation, including both national forests and non-national forests. In the case of national forest policy programs, companies can allocate money for future management costs for a specific forest site, which consists of coniferous trees in most cases, and the company can obtain some of the profits when the forest is finally cut30. During a contract with the national forest, the company can utilize the forest site without cutting. For example, the company can place a sign indicating that the company is contributing to the national forest environment, or it can utilize the forest for employee or customer events. Of course, companies can highlight their contribution to the national forest in their annual report on corporate social responsibility. Companies can easily fund national forest management as a

public contribution as it is governed by a department in the national government.

**3.2.4 Characteristics of and evaluation of the new activities** 

several new possibilities are suggested by Case 2.

cooperation will result in profits for both organizations.

By contrast, sustainable forest management in the privately owned non-national forest is supported mainly by subsidies. Recently, many prefectures have developed schemes by which private companies can support non-national forest31. The support of forest producer cooperatives by companies, such as Case 2, is a recent phenomenon. Forests owned by cooperatives are non-national forests in which the management area is generally larger than that of forests owned by individuals. Moreover, as the cooperatives are legally incorporated organizations, it seems that they have an advantage in making such contracts with private

This contract resulted in good forest practices such as thinning of the planted forest to some extent, which is strictly necessary, but the area that can be supported by a company is limited. More significant is whether the connection between the cooperative and the private company will result in sustainable forest management for the cooperative in the future. Expansion of forest practices in the regional forest might be expected. As the contract has recently just started, an evaluation from these points of view cannot be clearly shown, but

One of the important characteristics of Case 2 is the strong relationship between the forest producer cooperative and the residents' association. In this case, the forest producer cooperative, as owner of the forest, and the residents' association, as an organization that promotes regional activities in all fields of daily life, are working together. This co-sponsored fund resulted in a new relationship between the cooperative and the residents' association. As mentioned above, some of the forest producer cooperatives are facing management difficulties such as financial problems, and one of the solutions is dissolution of the cooperative and the transfer of the forest from the cooperative to the residents' association. In these cases, forest management is impossible for the cooperative but may be possible for the association. In such cases, the major role of forest management is changing from timber production to land management, because the main objectives of the residents' association do not include forest management. However, Case 2 shows that the appropriate divisional

In the case of a forest producer cooperative that was founded in a common forest originating during the Edo Period, the cooperative members were originally residents who were living in a limited area at the time the cooperative was created. However, as years pass
