Shigeru Tanaka

Forest cooperatives as a policy measure for small woodlands.

Tanaka S. (1981). Forest cooperatives as a policy measure for small woodlands. Silva Fennica vol. 15 no. 1 article id 5103. https://doi.org/10.14214/sf.a15044

Abstract

In Japan, there are 2,990,000 forest owners within the scope of Forest Cooperatives, 60% of which are members of forest cooperatives. These are the largest functional organizations concerning private forests in Japan. The majority of members are small woodland owners with less than 20 ha per person, and 90% of the members are of agricultural cooperatives. The variety of memberships makes it difficult for cooperatives to strengthen its solidarity. The article describes the legislation concerning cooperatives in Japan, characteristics of business, reforestation and logging made by the forest cooperatives, and reorganization of the forest workers of the cooperatives.

Steady expansion of the main activities of the Forest Cooperatives, i.e. logging, marketing and reforestation, has been seen during the past 20 years. Logging and marketing have been taken over from the timber-dealers, and reforestation has been expanded by the Forest Cooperatives on the members’ behalf.

Keywords
forest policy; forest owners; private forests; small-scale forestry; forestry cooperatives; Japan

Published in 1981

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