**2.3 Management problems of the forest producer cooperatives**

Based on the statistics10 for fiscal year 2009, 67.9% of the forest producer cooperatives was founded by the modernization procedure. There were about 247,000 cooperative members, including 7,000 living outside of the community. The common forest rights, which were relinquished at modernization, were strictly limited to the households living onsite. Only about 1% of the cooperatives had full-time executives; thus, nearly all cooperatives were organizationally weak. The total forest area owned by forest producer cooperatives was approximately 357,000 ha, including 10.8% of profit-sharing forest11. The percentage of planted forest to the total forest area, of which the main species were *Cryptomeria japonica* and *Chamaecyparis obtusa*, was 50.3%. In fiscal year 2009, total newly planted area was 147 ha, the total area for tending operations was 5,045 ha, the total area for final cutting was 109 ha, and the total area for thinning was 1,007 ha, representing 0.04%, 1.41%, 0.09%, and 0.28% of the total area, respectively. As the area for final cutting and thinning was small, the income from cutting was generally low. The forest producer cooperatives are now facing several issues. Three such challenges are highlighted below.

The first problem is due to the age-class distribution of the planted forests. As planting activities were generally conducted just after the cooperative started from the mid-1960s to mid-1980s, the current average age is 30 or 40 years. Before the modernization procedure, the main species of the common forest were broad-leaved trees for the production of fuelwood or charcoal; thus, the area of coniferous trees tended to be small. Accordingly, most of the planted forest could not produce income via, for example, timber sale, through final cutting. In addition, certain age classes of tree require thinning. However, at the current

Recent Problems and New Directions

**3. Case studies** 

**3.1.1 Description** 

planted in a large area.

**3.1.2 Largest problem and background** 

sites. Accordingly, thinning activities tend to be put off.

These values are extremely low compared to the area of planted forest.

**3.1 Case 1 (Hyogo Prefecture)<sup>18</sup>**

problems related to non-timber functions may occur.

for Forest Producer Cooperatives Established in Common Forests in Japan 167

At the time the Act was enacted, there were approximately 2 million ha of common forest. As mentioned above, the total area of modernized forest during the 43 years from 1967 to 2009 was approximately 575,000 ha. As of December 1, 2007, there were 618,000 ha of common forest remaining, and the modernization procedure began on approximately 109,000 ha among these 618,000 ha. Among the 618,000 ha, only 32,000 ha, which is equal to approximately 5% of the total common forest area, is continuing to undergo modernization. The modernized procedure was discontinued for the remaining 95% of common forest and there has been no will to modernize common forest rights for this area. The deteriorating economic and social conditions described above have also occurred in areas in which modernization has not taken place, and several small settlements are now facing dissolution in the near future. In such areas, the common forest rights will become more ambiguous and complex and it is possible that such areas will be removed from forestry policy and thus

Most forest producer cooperatives are facing management difficulties. They planted coniferous trees. If cutting activities are not conducted, the cooperatives cannot obtain income from the selling of logs. As a result, some cooperatives have chosen to dissolve the organization. However, a small number of cooperatives are persisting. Here, three such

This cooperative was founded in 1971. In fiscal year 2009, there were 184 members and the cooperative was managing 563 ha of forest, including 466 ha of planted forest (Hyogo Prefecture, 2011b). This cooperative has planted a substantial number of coniferous trees; currently 82.8% of its land is planted forest, which is extremely high compared to the national average of 41.7% in non-national forests in this prefecture (Hyogo Prefecture, 2011a). *Cryptomeria japonica* and *Chamaecyparis obtusa* are the two main species in the planted forest. The age-class distribution of the forest is as follows19: 1.6% (1–10 years), 2.4% (11–20 years), 12.2% (21–30 years), 31.8% (31–40 years), 46.7% (41–50 years), 2.7% (51–60 years), and 2.6% (61 years). Thus, there is a large area of 30- to 50-year-old trees. As this cooperative was founded in 1971, trees that are about 40 or more years old were planted before the modernization of rights. Approximately half of the planted forest was already planted during the period when the forest was legally common forest. Generally, common forest is not utilized intensively, but in this case, coniferous trees had been

The biggest problem that the cooperative is now facing is managing the large area of the planted forest, in particular, thinning it. Generally, in Japan, the difference between the selling price of a log and the actual logging cost is small or even negative for many forest

Final cutting was last conducted in 2001. The total forest area for thinning between 1992 and 1995 was 45 ha, whereas that in 2003 was 2 ha and that between 2007 and 2009 was 33 ha.

cooperatives, located in Hyogo, Mie, and Fukui Prefectures, are described17.

domestic price for logs, it is difficult for many cooperatives to make money from thinning. Thus, the income from cutting is almost zero in many cooperatives. In addition, there are costs to maintain the organization, including taxes12, which many cooperatives have difficulty paying, which can lead to debt13.

The second problem is related to cooperative member labor. In a forest producer cooperative, it is ideal for forest practices to be conducted by the cooperative members themselves. Indeed, one common rule of cooperatives is that more than half of the members must engage in forest management. However, these principles are difficult to realize under the present circumstances. For one, the demographic composition of communities has changed since modernization took place. When the Act was enacted, there was an outflow of the rural population in almost all mountainous communities, and this trend continues today. In addition, the average age in these populations has increased considerably. As a result, some mountainous settlements have been forced to close, and the sustainability of associated cooperatives has become questionable. Problems related to ageing of the population are common throughout Japan. Due to the increasing population of elderly persons, the number of cooperative members that can engage in forest practice has been decreasing. It may be possible for aged members to planting trees or weed, which was the main work in 1960s and 1970s, but it is impossible for them to conduct thinning of 30- or 40-year-old coniferous trees. Hence, there is currently an extreme shortage of labor power14.

The third problem is a lack of organizational management. Many forest producer cooperatives are founded on administrative advice based on the national and prefectural forestry policies, including modernization policy for common forest rights, planting promotion policy for coniferous trees, and policy on profit-sharing forest. The percentage of planted forest increased to approximately 50% in fiscal year 2009, which seems to indicate that the planting program was a success. However, there seem to be no forest management practices being undertaken, such as improved cutting and thinning, after tree planting is finished, and any practices that are undertaken tend to be performed just after planting. As a result, forestry engineers were not included in the cooperatives15. In some cases, the executive of the cooperative was determined by rotation, and the members had no experience in, or concern with, forestry. There are almost no forestry technicians, managers, or other staff, and most cooperatives have never created a specific forest-management plan. Without a long-term forest-management plan, cooperatives are unable to conduct appropriate forest practices or construct road systems, and without an appropriate forest road system, for example, it is difficult or impossible to harvest trees.

These three problems are complicated, and correlated. The aging of cooperative members is occurring before many planted forests reach the final cutting age. Such rapid demographic changes are affecting almost all social and economic activities in mountainous areas, including forestry. In addition, younger people are leaving such areas, resulting in not only a decrease in labor but also a lack of managers for the future.

Thus, it is difficult to find a clear reason to continue cooperatives: income from the forest is lacking, there is no future vision for forest management, the tax payments are difficult, and debt is increasing. As a result, the number of established forest producer cooperatives has been decreasing, and the number of dissolved cooperatives has been increasing. Future research should investigate how forest lands are being managed after dissolution of forest producer cooperatives16.

At the time the Act was enacted, there were approximately 2 million ha of common forest. As mentioned above, the total area of modernized forest during the 43 years from 1967 to 2009 was approximately 575,000 ha. As of December 1, 2007, there were 618,000 ha of common forest remaining, and the modernization procedure began on approximately 109,000 ha among these 618,000 ha. Among the 618,000 ha, only 32,000 ha, which is equal to approximately 5% of the total common forest area, is continuing to undergo modernization. The modernized procedure was discontinued for the remaining 95% of common forest and there has been no will to modernize common forest rights for this area. The deteriorating economic and social conditions described above have also occurred in areas in which modernization has not taken place, and several small settlements are now facing dissolution in the near future. In such areas, the common forest rights will become more ambiguous and complex and it is possible that such areas will be removed from forestry policy and thus problems related to non-timber functions may occur.
