JAPAN

Despite Japan's sustained period of growth since World War II, over 68% of the country is still forested. However, by the 1960s the demand for timber had outgrown the amount that could be sustainably harvested from its own forests and Japan became, and remains, a major timber importer. The sources of its timber are mainly its neighbouring countries in East Asia. Japan is now one of the world's largest consumers of tropical timber.

Japan, along with a number of other countries in the region, has been heavily criticised in recent years for importing illegal wood, mainly originating in Indonesia, but smuggled via other countries and exported as legal. This has driven Japan to introduce a number of measures.

In 2006, the government updated its Green Procurement Law to require all forest goods and services purchased by the state to be harvested legally and from sustainable sources. A number of private sector bodies, such as the Japan Lumber Importers Association, and individual companies have since pledged to verify the legality and origin of their supplies.

The government launched a major campaign in 2008 among public bodies and businesses to raise awareness of legally sourced timber and wood products. However, a number of allegations have continued to be made about imports of illegal timber from Indonesia.

As Japan assumed the presidency of the G8 in 2008, Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda pledged to make sustainable forest management and timber certification top G8 priorities. Japan is one of the founding members of the G8 Illegal Logging Dialogue, facilitated by GLOBE (Global Legislators Organisation for a Balanced Environment).

DOCUMENTS

DATE	TITLE	AUTHOR
01/04/2012	Where Next for Governance Reform? This article for ETFRN News explains the Chatham House Illegal Logging Indicators project and examines ...	Sam Lawson, Chatham House (for ETFRN Newsletter no.53)
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15/07/2010	Illegal Logging and Related Trade: Indicators of the Global Response - Country Report Cards This document contains the individual report cards for each country covered in the study. ...	Chatham House (Sam Lawson & Larry MacFaul)
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15/07/2010	Chatham House Illegal Logging Indicators Country Report Card - Japan ...	Chatham House (Sam Lawson & Larry MacFaul)
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01/03/2009	Buying a sustainable future? Timber procurement policies in Europe and Japan The aim of this publication is to act as a central source of information on the timber procurement policies ...	FERN
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07/01/2008	Japan's public procurement policy of legal and sustainable timber: progress, challenges and ways forward Report presenting the results of IGES research on public timber procurement policy to date. It includes ...	IGES
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07/01/2008	Japan's Green Purchasing Policy - Tackling Illegal Logging Japanese Government paper on Green Procurement of Timber. ...	Government of Japan
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01/01/2008	The illegal trade in timber and timber products in the Asia-Pacific region This report examines the scale of the illegal timber trade in the Asia-Pacific region, encompassing the ...	Australian Institute of Criminology (Andreas Schloenhardt)
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01/09/2007	Summary of Public Procurement Policies Summary documents with details of governmental timber procurement policies in a comparitive table format. ...	Proforest
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20/08/2007	Joint statement by Japan and the Republic of Indonesia on the enhancement of the cooperation on climate change, environment and energy issues The Prime Minister of Japan, H.E. Mr. Shinzo Abe and President of the Republic of Indonesia, H.E. Dr. ...	Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan
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01/03/2007	Good Wood, Good Business Good Wood, Good Business is written mainly for CEOs or senior managers of companies that produce and/or ...	Tropical Forest Trust
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01/11/2006	APP Stakeholder Update Asia Pulp and Paper's third statement on legality and sustainability issues in 2006. ...	Asia Pulp and Paper
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01/08/2006	Strengthening Forest Law Enforcement and Governance: Addressing a systemic constraint to sustainable development This report arises from the need to take stock of both the Bank's efforts in the arena of forest ...	World Bank
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01/03/2006	Japanese Government Public Procurement Policy Documents related to the Japanese Governmental Public Procurement Policy regarding procurement of verified ...	Japanese Forestry Agency
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15/02/2006	Guideline for Verification on Legality and Sustainability of Wood and Wood Products The Government of Japan set up methods for verifying legality and sustainability of wood and wood products ...	Forestry Agency of Japan
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15/02/2006	Japanese Government Procurement Policy: Introductory explanation for wood and wood products company overseas Introductory document for companies hoping to sell timber and timber products to government agencies ...	Forestry Agency of Japan
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01/07/2005	Current Activities to Combat Illegal Logging by Japan Review of current efforts to combat illegal logging and the associated trade in illegally-logged products ...	Forestry & Forest Products Research Institute (Dr. Sukeharu Tsuru)
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01/05/2005	Halting the Theft of Asia's Forests A useful analysis of contributing factors to Asia's illegal timber trade with recommendations to ...	FEER (Nigel Sizer)
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01/07/2003	National and International Activities to Control Illegal Forest Activities A report prepared for the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs critically examining the range of national ...	CIFOR (Luca Tacconi, Marco Boscolo and Duncan Brack)
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24/06/2003	Japan-Indonesia Memorandum of Understanding An announcement by Japan and Indonesia of their intent to cooperate over their opposition to illegal ...	Governments of Japan and Indonesia
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01/07/2002	Analysis of Illegal Logging and Practices in the Russian-Japanese Timber Trade A significant part of the boreal forest of South Siberia and temperate forests of the Russian far east ...	WWF Russia (Alexei Lankin and Alexander Voropaev)
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01/04/2002	Chains of Destruction leading from the world's remaining ancient forests to the Japanese market This report reveals the many 'chains of destruction' in which Japan is involved, leading from ...	Greenpeace
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15/09/2001	Summary Report of the FLEG East Asia Ministerial Conference This document details the conference which took place in Bali, September 2001 ...	IISD
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NEWS

DATE	TITLE	AUTHOR
01/02/2013	Australian conservationists accused of greenwashing Malaysian potentate’s timber operations Tokyo, Japan / Hobart, Australia - Australia’s Wilderness Society and the venerable Australian ...	Bruno Manser Fund, Switzerland
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21/05/2012	China, Korea, Japan Forestry Agreement is great news for Environment says FRA FRA has stated that the signing of a sustainable forestry agreement between China, the Republic of Korea ...	openPR
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16/12/2011	Environmental groups to Japan: stop importing illegally logged timber A coalition of environmental NGOs have called upon Japan to adopt stronger measures to block illicit ...	Mongabay.com
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26/08/2011	Japan, China target illegal loggers Japan and China have agreed to create a joint system aimed at cracking down on illegal logging to preserve ...	The Japan Times
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12/12/2010	S’wak committed to curbing illegal logging Tokyo - Sarawak is committed to curbing illegal logging and its associated trade, said Sarawak Forestry ...	The Borneo Post
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17/08/2010	Sarawak’s efforts to meet JFA guidelines According to some sources, the Sarawak Chain-of-Custody (CoC) has been approved by the Japanese Forestry ...	ITTO Market Report
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03/08/2010	STA: Japan recognises Sarawak's timber and timber products Kuching - Japan has recognised that timber and timber products imported from the state under the Sarawak ...	Bernama, Malaysia
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15/07/2010	Major decline seen in illegal logging Illegal logging in the world's forests has fallen by nearly a quarter since 2002, according to what ...	BBC News
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05/07/2010	Imports of verified legal and certified wood on the rise According to import statistics by the Japan Lumber Importers’ Association (JLIA), the volume of ...	ITTO Market Report
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16/03/2010	Japan wants world's largest woodchip exporter to sell FSC certified product It takes time, sometimes decades, but people power can turn around seemingly unstoppable juggernauts. ...	TreeHugger
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12/02/2010	Wood export guidelines from Japan needed: STIA Kota Kinabalu - The Sabah Timber Industry Association (STIA) wants its major timber importer, Japan, ...	Daily Express, Malaysia
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16/12/2009	U.S. pledges $1 billion toward $3.5 billion deforestation fund The U.S. pledged $1 billion toward a $3.5 billion fund that includes the U.K., Australia, France, Japan ...	Bloomberg
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30/10/2009	The West fuels illegal Myanmar timber trade Bangkok - The United States may have imported $3.8 billion of illegal timber products from China last ...	The China Post
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12/09/2009	The true costs of illegal logging The use of endangered wood to make elegant furniture and hardwood floors for homes in the US, Europe ...	The National, Abu Dhabi
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13/05/2009	Peru gets $120m to protect 212,000 sq mi of Amazon rainforest The Japanese government will loan Peru $120 million to protect 55 million hectares (212,000 square miles) ...	Mongabay.com
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04/11/2008	Editorial: Protecting the forests Japan - Forests cover about 30 percent of the world's land. These green tracts bustling with trees ...	asahi.com (Japan)
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02/05/2008	Lack of Information on Legal Timber and Wood Products Hampers Gov't Green Procurement Policy The Japanese Ministry of the Environment announced on December 25, 2007 the results of a questionnaire ...	Japan for Sustainability (Japan)
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30/04/2008	Japan: Ministry of Environment launches campaign against illegal wood The Ministry of Environment in Japan has embarked on a campaign against illegal wood to raise public ...	ITTO Tropical Timber Market Report (Japan)
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17/04/2008	Indonesian authorities seize illegal timber Jakarta, Indonesia - Indonesian national police have confiscated some 12,000 cubic meters of illegally ...	Furniture Today
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24/03/2008	U.S. furniture demand drives illegal logging in Laos Illegal wood for Vietnamese factories devastates forests in the Mekong region of Laos. Western desire ...	Mongabay.com (USA)
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19/03/2008	Vietnam: How the country has become a hub for the region's illegal timber trade (EIA Press Release) Vietnam is operating as a centre for processing huge quantities of unlawfully-logged ...	EIA (UK)
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05/03/2008	Fighting illegal logging to be a top G8 priority in 2008 As president of the G8, Japan puts focus on sustainable forest management and timber certification. ...	Mongabay.com (USA)
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23/10/2007	Timber kickbacks scandal: Stand-off in Sarawak ports Japanese ships are being made to wait at loading points off three ports in Sarawak reportedly as a retaliatory ...	Malaysiakini (Malaysia)
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31/07/2007	Sumitomo plans to exclude illegal products by 2009 Japan - By 2009, Sumitomo Forestry Co. Ltd. plans to exclude all illegally harvested wood products from ...	ITTO Tropical Timber Market Report (Japan)
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15/07/2007	JLIA redoubles efforts to curb illegal logging Japan Lumber Journal recently reported that the members of the Japan Lumber Importers' Association ...	ITTO Tropical Timber Market Report (Japan)
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27/04/2007	Letter to Malaysian PM: Corruption allegations against Sarawak CM Taib Mahmud and freedom We, the undersigned Japanese non-governmental organizations and citizen's groups, wish to express ...	Japanese NGO Coalition
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06/04/2007	RM32 mil kickbacks for Sarawak timber Malaysia - Sarawak Chief Minister Taib Mahmud has been implicated in a scandal allegedly involving RM32 ...	Malaysiakini (Malaysia)
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29/03/2007	Wood carriers allegedly hid 1.1 billion yen income Nine Japanese shipping companies that transport lumber from Sarawak, Malaysia, allegedly failed to report ...	Kyodo News (Japan)
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05/03/2007	Gardiner in Japan and USA to tackle illegal timber Britain's forestry minister will encourage politicians, the timber trade and environmental experts ...	Media Newswire (USA)
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16/09/2006	Major Forest Governance Initiative launched (Press Release) Singapore Ministers and senior parliamentarians from the UK, Japan, Indonesia, Cameroon ...	GLOBE
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11/08/2006	Sarawak, Japan agree on revised green procurement policy Sarawak has made a special arrangement with Japan on the revised requirements of the green procurement ...	Bernama (Malaysia)
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14/07/2006	JLIA to verify other panel products The Japan Lumber Importers Association (JLIA) has announced that it will verify the legality and origin ...	ITTO Tropical Timber Market Report
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15/06/2006	Green Procurement Law Revised to Help Prevent Illegal Logging Japan - The Cabinet has endorsed partial changes in the basic policy drawn up in accordance with the ...	Japan for Sustainability
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03/06/2006	27.8% of Local Governments in Japan Have Green Purchasing Programs Only 27.8 percent of the local governments have drawn up their green purchasing procurement policies, ...	Japan for Sustainability
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29/05/2006	JAPAN: Greenpeace Disappointed Forests Don't Figure Greenpeace has unfurled a 450 square-metre banner on the beach on the island of Okinawa, the venue where ...	Pacific Magazine (Hawaii)
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16/05/2006	Tassie pays price for its old growth Tasmanian woodchips are fighting a losing battle on world markets, with several major Japanese paper ...	The Mercury (Australia)
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05/05/2006	Environment Ministry to Revise Green Purchasing Law Requirements The Japanese Ministry of the Environment (MOE) obtained Cabinet approval for its proposal to partially ...	Japan for Sustainability
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28/04/2006	WTO: Ppoposals tables on forest tariff, non-tariff barriers to trade Draft negotiating text on accelerated liberalisation of tariffs on forest products and disciplining forest-related ...	Bridges Trade BioRes
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14/04/2006	Japanese Public Procurement Policy Enters Into Force A government procurement policy requiring all forest goods and services purchased by the state to be ...	Bridges Trade BioRes
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13/04/2006	Asia pacific loses six million hectares of forest The Asia Pacific region lost more than six million hectares of natural forests, mainly converted to agricultural ...	Pertubuhan Berita Nasional (Malaysia)
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25/03/2006	EU and U.S. main markets for products from illegal timber American, European and Japanese consumers are snapping up cheap furniture made in China, unaware that ...	The China Post (Taiwan)
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24/03/2006	China is black hole of Asia's deforestation Jakarta, Indonesia – China is the main channel for illegal logging in Asia while the United States, ...	AsiaNews.it (Italy)
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24/03/2006	China accounts for 30% of world furniture market; Second biggest importer of timber with a reliance on illegally harvested wood A new report released today by a coalition of international and Chinese organizations shows that the ...	FinFacts (Ireland)
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12/03/2006	GREENPEACE RUES KEY NATIONS' ABSENCE Manila: Greenpeace said yesterday it was disappointed with the absence of representatives from key countries, ...	Global News Wire
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02/03/2006	Papua New Guinea accused of ignoring illegal timber trade The pristine forests of Papua New Guinea are at risk of being wiped out through illegal and unsustainable ...	The Independent (UK)
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12/01/2006	Al-Pac Forests Now World's Largest FSC-Certified Area Alberta-Pacific Forest Industries Inc. (Al-Pac) in Alberta, Canada, a pulp manufacturer owned 70 percent ...
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31/10/2005	Japan Prepares a Wood Procurement Law Following the conclusion of the G8 Summit at Gleneagles, Scotland last July, the Japanese government ...	MIS Tropical Timber Market Report
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21/06/2005	ITTO reinforces commitment to forest law enforcement and combating illegal logging Brazzaville, Republic of Congo - Assisting countries to develop and enforce forest laws remains one of ...	ITTO (Japan)
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16/06/2005	PM to bring up illegal logging at G8 summit Japan - Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi is expected to propose a set of measures against illegal logging ...	Daily Yomiuri (Japan)
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03/06/2005	Japan: Forestry Agency Sets up Task Force on Illegal Logging The G8 Summit to be held in the UK in July 2005 will have illegal logging on its agenda, and to prepare ...	Japan for Sustainability (Japan)
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07/05/2005	ASEM (Asia-Europe) Foreign Ministers draw attention to the impacts of illegal logging The Seventh ASEM (Asia-Europe) Foreign Ministers’ Meeting (FMM7) was held in Kyoto, Japan on 6-7 ...	eu2005.lu (Luxembourg)
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06/04/2005	More work needed to end illegal logging Japan, a major importer of timber, has been urged to develop measures to help eradicate the growing international ...	Daily Yomiuri (Japan)
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15/02/2005	Japan firms taken to task over Tasmania logging KYOTO, Japan -- Despite promises from Japanese corporations to halt logging in Tasmania's ancient ...	The Japan Times
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07/11/2004	Japan, Malaysia end free-trade talks without agreement Japan and Malaysia ended three days of talks on a free-trade agreement (FTA) on Saturday still divided ...	The Independent (Bangladesh)
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03/09/2004	Japan 'to intensify efforts' to combat illegal timber trade The Jakarta Post spoke with Japan's senior vice minister of agriculture, forestry and fisheries, ...	The Jakarta Post
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02/09/2004	Japanese lawmakers visit E. Kalimantan East Kalimantan - Indonesia - A delegation of 10 Japanese legislators visited the East Kalimantan provincial ...	The Jakarta Post
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05/08/2004	World Bank's nod for forest concessions angers watchdog The World Bank stands accused of recommending to the Cambodian government that the forest concession ...	Inter Press Service News Agency
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02/08/2004	Into the woods ...	The Independent
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27/07/2004	Forest 'frontier' beckons tribal leader THE destruction of forests is a global problem and a key political debate, says a Philippines tribal ...	Hobart Mercury, Australia
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14/07/2004	4-year prison term sought for Suzuki Japan - Prosecutors on Wednesday sought a four-year prison term for former lawmaker Muneo Suzuki, saying ...	Asahi.com
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21/02/2004	Indonesian paper company losing customers over environment concerns Customers in the United States and Japan have suspended contracts with Asia Pulp & Paper ...	Associated Press
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11/02/2004	Japan strives to cub Sumatra Logging A fund to preserve Sumatra's forests was established recently by a nongovernmental organization ...	The Japan Times
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22/01/2004	Japan Called on to Join Efforts to Source Legal Timber The Timber Trade Federation has called on Japan to join the efforts of European and North American traders ...	Timber Trade Federation
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01/01/2004	Japan - Forest-friendly move would stop imports of illegal logs The Japanese Environment Ministry plans to help save the world's forests by cracking down on imports ...	Asahi.com
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28/10/2003	WTO committee discusses Japan paper on illegal logging The WTO Committee on Trade and Environment discussed a Japanese paper describing various measures for ...	BRIDGES Weekly Trade News Digest - Vol. 7, Number 36 30 October, 2003
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04/09/2003	Demand rises for goods from legally logged trees The popularity of products made from trees certified as having been legally logged is spreading in Japan ...	Japan Times Online
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24/06/2003	Japan and Indonesia make a joint announcement of cooperation on Illegal Logging Japan and Indonesia have announced their intent to cooperate over their opposition to illegal logging ...	mofa.go.jp
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PRESENTATIONS

DATE	TITLE	AUTHOR
06/07/2012	Legal timber flows in Asia - regional consumer perspective	Shizuka Yasui, Ehime University, FSC Japan
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24/06/2010	Japan's approach to tackling illegal logging	Toshiyuki Akagi, Forestry Agency, Japan
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17/01/2008	Designing a robust procurement policy for legal and sustainable timber: Lessons for Japan	Federico Lopez-Casero, IGES Japan
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26/04/2007	Japan's timber public procurement policy	Institute for Global Environmenetal Strategies (Dr Federico Lopez-Casero)
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20/07/2006	The reform of public timber procurement in Japan	Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (Federico Lopez-Casero)
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EVENTS

DATE	TITLE
Wednesday 30th April 2008	Addressing Climate Change Through Sustainable Management of Tropical Forests International Expert Meeting is to promote the role of tropical forests and their sustainable management ...
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Monday 3rd December 2007	International seminar for tacking illegal logging Japan Federation of Wood Industry Association (JFWIA) are sponsoring this seminar, December 3 & 4, ...
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Monday 26th February 2007	International Seminar in Tokyo for Tackling Illegal Logging, 2007 - Response of the world to the Procurement Policies of Japan To address the global problem of illegal logging, the Japanese government implemented measures to prioritize ...
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Thursday 20th July 2006	Illegal Logging Update and Stakeholder Consultation Number 8 The eighth in a regular series of meetings coordinated by Chatham House and funded by DFID. The meeting ...
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Friday 7th January 2005	Forest Governance and Trade – Japan, the UK and EU Initiatives The meeting aimed to share information about efforts by UK and EU governments and the private sector ...
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Tuesday 8th June 2004	Japanese Timber and Forest Products Markets The meeting was convened to coincide with the visit of Kenichi Nakazawa of FOE Japan, Takahiro Kohama ...
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LINKS

TITLE	DESCRIPTION	REPORT
Japan: Ministry for the Environment	Link to Japanese law on green purchasing. For more information on procurement and activities to counter illegal logging in Japan link here to Goho-Wood, a site maintained by the Japanese Council for Tackling Illegal Logging Issue.	Broken link
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