KANBATSU 間伐 means to thin the forest. The two Japanese characters mean "in between" and "cut (trees)".
67% of Japanese land is forests, and 40% of the forests are forest that need to be maintained by people. It is called "Satoyama". Forestry used to be a large industry in Japan. It is a pity that these days timber is mostly imported from other Asian countries, cheap wood sometimes cut out illegally or without care for natural order.
This is resulting in forest destruction in Asian countries.
"Satoyama" forests need to be maintained by people to keep growing properly, because it was half created for forestry. Thinner trees and grass must be cut once in a while so the strong ones can survive. This is called KANBATSU. However because cheaper wood is coming in, the timber market inside Japan collapsed, and forest thinning cannot be done anymore for economic reasons. It costs too much compared to what can be earned for wood.
I wonder if other countries are having the same problem, or is this only in Japan? Please tell us about Kanbatsu in your country.
2 comments:
Though other countries are having similar problems--Germany and Finland come to mind off the top of my head--Japan's vast human-shaped forests are causing much more ecological havoc I think.
In the village where I live, Otaki, things are pretty bad; bear, monkey, and recently even deer predation has become a serious problem.
You can read more at my blog: In the Pines
True, I heard about that when traveling Germany... Tell me more when you have time! (I will check out your blog too)
Post a Comment