Japan: National forest plan approved

At a Cabinet meeting, the Japanese government recently approved the National Forest Plan, which runs for a period of 15 years starting from next April. Overseen by the Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, the National Forest Plan conforms to the Basic Plan for Forest and Forestry, and with an effective period of 15 years to be revised and updated every 5 years, it clarifies items concerning targets for forestry management and conservation, forest management, and construction of forest roads. The plan is also a guideline for the Regional Forest Plan, which is formulated by the prefectural governors.
Among the current revisions, descriptions based on items that are seen as essential such as strengthening national territories and recent changes in conditions such as projects for national forests shifting to general accounting are included.
During the next period of the plan, the total amount of felled trees is 799,610,000 m³ (15.9% increase compared to the current plan), and within this amount, the amount of logging (non-forest thinnings) accounts for 361,840,000 m³ (23.4% increase), and the amount of trees from forest thinning accounts for 437,770,000 m³ (10.3% increase). The land area for forest thinning is 7,281,000 hectares (6.6% decrease).
Concerning the amount from forest thinning, the land area for forest thinning will decrease due to the increase in felling the trees, but because of the increase in the accumulated amount per area of felled trees, the amount of lumber is seen as increasing more than the current plan.
The length of forest roads to be built is 89,900 km (1.2% decrease).
The current (as of the end of March of last year) 13,788,000 hectares of natural growth forest are expected to decrease to 13,263,000 hectares by March 2029.