2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

Comparative study between Japan and European countries on forest management entities altering owners

Research Project

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Project/Area Number	19KK0027
Research Category	Fund for the Promotion of Joint International Research (Fostering Joint International Research (B))
Allocation Type	Multi-year Fund
Review Section	Medium-sized Section 4:Geography, cultural anthropology, folklore, and related fields
Research Institution	Forest Research and Management Organization
Principal Investigator	Kuboyama Hirofumi 国立研究開発法人森林研究・整備機構, 森林総合研究所, 主任研究員等 (90353672)
Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha)	山下詠子東京農業大学, 地域環境科学部, 准教授 (10733561) 岡田美香一般財団法人林業経済研究所, 一般財団法人林業経済研究所, 研究員 (30790703) 岩永青史名古屋大学, 生命農学研究科, 准教授 (60726107) 佐藤宣子九州大学, 農学研究院, 教授 (80253516)
Project Period (FY)	2019-10-07 – 2024-03-31
Keywords	森林所有者 / 管理主体 / 日欧比較研究 / オーストリア / ノルウェー / ドイツ / 林業
Outline of Final Research Achievements	Family forest owners (FFO) in Japan are not motivated for forestry while FFO in Austria, Norway and Germany are motivated even though they also have small scale forests. The reason for this was hypothesized that differences in institutions and support organizations may have influenced on their motivations for forestry. To examine this, questionnaire surveys had been conducted in four countries. The size of forest holdings or parcels was large and the average age of respondents was young in Austria and Norway because of the different institutions and customs. As a result, FFO obtained large forestry income in those countries, however, high log distribution cost reduced forestry income in Japan. Once motivated FFO sold forests in Japan while FFO purchased forestlands to expand forest management in Austria. We confirmed that differences of institutions and support organizations affected FFO's motivations for forestry.
Free Research Field	林業経済・政策
Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements	日本の林家の林業意欲喪失の要因は、所有規模の零細性にあるとされてきたが、今回の研究結果から、相続や売買による所有規模や林分規模の零細化を回避する仕組みの欠如が零細性を助長した結果、欧州との林業意欲の違いにつながっている可能性が示された。また、意欲と能力のある若手への林地継承を促進するオーストリアの制度は、自伐率の向上等を通じて林業収入の拡大に影響しており、それが高い林業経営意欲と事業継承につながっている可能性が示された。これまで深掘りされてこなかった、法制度や林業関連組織の違いが欧州と日本の林業経営に与えた影響を明らかにした意義は大きい。