[Grandpa Saw It!] Part 1: Motivation for Reforestation, Good Job Forestry Agency!?
My heart is Gen Z! My body is a Showa-era person past sixty! I am Grandpa, a supporter of Gen Z!?
Grandpa has been pointing out problems in posts like this, arguing that the rules of the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) are promoting deforestation.👇
Renewable energy uses "solar" or "wind" as an energy source to generate electricity, and besides not emitting CO2 (emissions during the manufacturing and maintenance stages are a different story, so please don't nitpick), it is also power generation using sustainable, free fuel called sunlight and wind so it is good for the environment.
However, biomass energy requires a continuous supply of woody fuel, and when wood is burned, CO2 is emitted.
Yet, Grandpa has been pointing out that there is a mistake in the application of international rules that count CO2 emissions as zero.
If reforestation-first ensured that forests were increasing, it might be okay to not count burning wood, but in reality, it is burning-first, and forests continue to decrease. I have been wondering what to make of this.
As the data below shows, the rate of deforestation has not changed since 2000. Try adding up the increases and decreases. Reforestation (forest growth) is not keeping up with logging. Environmental reforestation based solely on donations is insufficient for resource circulation.
The Forestry Agency has worked hard this time on creating a "Japan-originated" and "world-first" rule.Please, Japanese government, work hard to build partnerships around the world so that the world follows suit and "reforestation" is incentivized.
Let's take a closer look!
✅ 70% of Japan's forests are not reforested after logging!?
From April to June 2022, a Forest Subcommittee was established under the Ministry of the Environment's J-Credit Operating Committee, and a mechanism for reforesting mountains after logging without leaving them abandoned has been under consideration.
The reason for this can be understood by reading this article👇.
On August 10, 2022, the revision and implementation of the system document were announced under the title "Regarding the Review of the System Concerning Forest Management Projects in the J-Credit System".
What happened to the composition of Japan's artificial forests from 1986 after 30 years?
It had grown into a forest powerhouse with a very large area of artificial forests in the 10th age class (46-50 years old), 11th age class (51-55 years old), and 12th age class (56-60 years old), which have high economic value.
Reforestation after logging is not progressing, and the absorption capacity of mature forests is hitting a ceiling.
In terms of CO2 absorption, it is clear that Japan's forests have already entered a period of decline from maturity.
Demand for domestic timber has gradually increased, and as of 2018, 87,000 hectares of forest were logged.
On the other hand, only 30,000 hectares were reforested after logging.
In other words, the reforestation rate is 3 divided by 8.7 = 34.4%, and 65.6% is left abandoned after logging.
✅ Why is it not being reforested?
Reforestation is not progressing because mountain owners have no successors or cannot afford the reforestation costs
(because it is not profitable, they cannot generate the funds).
Because main harvesting is not being carried out, industries utilizing Japan's forest resources are not circulating.
While Japan's reforestation was post-war, China's is recent, so
I believe their timber stock 30 years from now will overwhelm the rest of the world.
In other words, China is investing in the future.
Japan also invested in the future during the post-war period.
But now, the whole country has become selfish, prioritizing immediate personal gain.
As mentioned above, Japan's artificial forest (reforestation) resources have tremendous potential even by global standards.
However, unfortunately, forestry is not a core industry of the country, and as usual, Japan's agriculture, forestry, and fisheries industries are all small in scale. They share a beautiful small-to-medium enterprise structure: individual farmers and agricultural cooperatives for agriculture, and individual mountain owners and forestry cooperatives for forestry.
In a climate that has been hostile to 'large corporations' and a management structure dominated by stubborn, older Showa-era people, even if the 'IPCC rules' were brought up, I doubt any of the forestry cooperatives seriously lobbied for rule changes.
Even in an unprofitable structure, they have continued to prioritize vested interests and follow precedents, sharing meager profits through the exchange of favors among acquaintances.
Can't we break through vested interests and create a profitable business model?
To do that, we must use our heads so we don't lose to the West.
Forestry Agency, you really did your best this time.
✅ Turning CO2 absorption effects into economic value!?
Until now, attention has been focused only on CO2 emission reductions, such as EVs and solar power generation, butthe CO2 absorption effect of trees and forest loss have not received much attention.
The Forestry Agency is visualizing the effect that products made from harvested timber have in sequestering CO2 for a long period (CO2 is not emitted until they are discarded and burned).
The ratio of produced wood products that remain without being discarded is extremely high.
Using the example of clear-cutting mature cedar forests,
this is the material the Forestry Agency used to argue that they want
CO2 sequestration (114 tons/ha) to be credited and given economic value.
From a mature cedar forest, 315 cubic meters of raw logs can be obtained per hectare (100m x 100m).
Of that, 242 cubic meters (76.8%) become lumber logs (called A-grade material and can be sold at a high price).
56 cubic meters (17.8%) are used for plywood logs (called B-grade material).
What doesn't become A-grade or B-grade material becomes C-grade material, which is 17 cubic meters (5.4%) used as raw material for papermaking.
Furthermore, parts that do not become A, B, or C-grade material (branches, leaves, and parts too thin to be C-grade) have traditionally been burned in biomass boilers for heat utilization.
Trees have been used as a resource from the thick trunk parts down to the branches and leaves.This is called the cascade use of wood.
The problem is that the IPCC created a rule that CO2 emissions are zero even if wood is burned, and the European and Japanese governmentsgave subsidies to boilers that burn wood, giving them purchasing power for fuel.
If trees are used in a cascade as A-grade, B-grade, C-grade, and biomass fuel, there is no problem, but because they only gave subsidies to those buying biomass fuel, the problem is that they gave biomass boilers the purchasing power to burn B-grade, C-grade, and in some cases, even A-grade material.
Also, can you accept that the FIT surcharge that each and every one of you is paying is being used to cut down natural forests overseas that don't need to be logged, just to manufacture wood pellets to import to Japan and burn?
You just haven't been told, but if you knew, you'd feel bad about it, wouldn't you?
While possessing forest resources we can be proud of to the world, a country that doesn't even reforest its own land, reduces its own artificial forest area, and imports wood pellets made from logging other countries' natural forests—you wouldn't want Japan to be like that, would you?
In the second part, I will introduce how the Forestry Agency worked hard and what kind of system they created ahead of the rest of the world.
Thank you for reading until the end.
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