JAPAN - AIM TO DOUBLE TIMBER SELF-SUFFICIENCY ( 30.12.09)
The government plans to boost Japan’s timber self-sufficiency rate to 50% from the current 24% over the next 10 years by promoting forest road development to cut timber production costs, government sources said Friday. Under a new plan aimed at invigorating the forest industry and creating jobs in mountain villages, the government aims to increase the road density for two-thirds of artificial forests in Japan to 100 meters per hectare, a level similar to Germany, which is known as an advanced forestry country, the sources said.
