Abstract
Due to high demand for wood materials during and after World War II, expansive afforestation was promoted in Japan during the 1950s and 1960s. The area of plantation forests is currently 40 % of the total forest area in Japan. As economic growth in Japan continues, so has higher wood demand, but imported woods have been used due to their lower prices. Forestry has declined with increasing imported wood and decreasing population in the forest–rural area. Much of the forest area has been kept but the accumulation of forest volume has increased by three times during the past 50 years. Recently, to achieve the promise of the Kyoto Protocol, forest management has been accelerated, along with higher governmental subsidies. Soil degradation can occur after harvesting wood and even after re-planting the forest trees. Forest soils support an ecosystem that serves as carbon storage, nutrient cycling, biodiversity, and controlling water quality, but it can be degraded without sustainable forest management.
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Yamamoto, K., Hirano, Y. (2017). Plantation Forest Landscape: The Paradigm Shift in Forestry, a Belowground Ecosystem for Sustainability Land Use. In: Shimizu, H., Takatori, C., Kawaguchi, N. (eds) Labor Forces and Landscape Management. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-2278-4_6
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