[Grandpa Saw It!] Part 2: A Look at the Global Forest Resources Assessment (FRA) 2020 Summary!?

My heart is Gen Z! My body is a Showa-era person past sixty! I am Grandpa, a supporter of Gen Z!?

This time, I am looking at the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations) report on forests, FRA2020 (Global Forest Resources Assessments Main Report 2020).

This is the second part. The first part would be appreciated if you could read it first.

✅ Trends in Forest Fire Area

Surprisingly, the survey since 2001 only reveals the fact that about 400,000 hectares are affected by fire annually, and it is not necessarily increasing in recent years.

Looking at recent news reports, there is an image that it has increased rapidly due to global warming, but looking at the numbers, the fact is that 400,000 hectares of forest (about the area of Saitama Prefecture, 379,000 hectares; for reference, Tokyo is 219,000 hectares, Kanagawa is 241,000 hectares, and Chiba is 515,000 hectares) are affected by fire every year. that is the reality.

In other words, assuming the entire Saitama Prefecture is a forest zone, a forest fire equivalent to that entire area burning down is happening somewhere every year.

However, the destruction of forests by fire or landslides has been happening since ancient times, and it was also a natural process called disturbance that fosters biodiversity.

In the case of forest ecosystems, when forests are significantly destroyed by typhoons, wildfires, avalanches, or landslides, new open spaces are formed where trees have fallen or died, which has fostered biodiversity.

Events that disturb the structure of ecosystems, communities, or populations, and change the availability of resources or the physical environment in this way are called disturbances.

Since it is a natural process, in the past, long-term natural regeneration was probably fine. However, with population growth, forests are being converted to other purposes through artificial activities, and in a situation where they continue to decrease, I don't think we can afford to leave wildfires alone.

In other words, isn't it necessary to quickly restore forests burned by wildfires through reforestation?

✅ Forest Degradation

It seems that countries define the criteria for forest degradation and report them to the FAO as follows:
1. Disturbance 2. Reduced canopy cover 3. Reduced productivity of forest products 4. Reduced carbon/biomass storage 5. Changes in stand structure 6. Reduced forest functions 7. Reduced biodiversity 8. Soil degradation/erosion

Grandpa is particularly concerned about these three: reduced carbon storage, soil degradation, and reduced biodiversity.

Reduced carbon storage means that even though the world is working hard to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, we are treating the forests that absorb CO2 poorly, doing the opposite of the world's efforts to the forests. I cannot accept this, and it is very concerning.

Also, soil degradation and reduced biodiversity are directly linked to food crises, so I am very concerned about them.

✅ Diverse Functions of Forests

Beyond timber products, forests provide us with non-wood forest products. Looking at the figure above titled 'Importance of Non-Wood Forest Products,' the following items are listed:

1. Food (edible plants) 30%
2. Medicinal ingredients 14%
3. Raw materials for tools 13%
4. Wild animal meat 9%
5. Ornamental plants 7%
6. Honey 6%
7. Tree sap 6%
Total 85%

Looking at global data like this really helps us understand the importance of forests.

What is pathetic about Japan is that after we were allowed to make good use of the resources our ancestors worked hard to plant after the war, we are now abandoning them without replanting in the name of natural regeneration, or covering them with solar panels, which shows we are only thinking about short-term profits and not sowing seeds for the future. It's a shame.

Recently, Miyagi Prefecture announced that it would impose local taxes on solar power projects on sites where forests have been cleared. Since the national government isn't doing it, local governments are starting to emerge that are trying to guide projects to suitable renewable energy sites in this way.

However, incentives for reforestation are still not sufficient.

We have also seen from the data that, so far, it is China's afforestation that has been the brake on the global decline of forest resources.

Since 68% of Japan's land is forest, and even though the country is small, it ranks 8th in the world in terms of planted forest area alone, I truly hope that it will be a country that can maintain and expand its planted forests so that their area does not decrease.

Go for it, Gen Z!

Thank you for reading until the end.
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