Promoting Japan's Economic Security and Regional Development through Game-Changing Forestry and Forest Products
Updated by Kazuaki Hiraishi on May 05, 2025, 7:04 PM JST
Kazuaki HIRAISHI
（Platinum Initiative Network, Inc.
After graduating from the University of Tokyo in 1984 with a bachelor's degree in Civil Engineering, he joined Mitsubishi Research Institute, Inc. He served as Director of the Overseas Business Center, Director of the Policy and Economic Research Center, Deputy Director of the Policy and Public Affairs Division, Secretary General of the Asian Pipeline Study Group, Secretary General of the Northeast Asian Gas and Pipeline Forum, and Executive Vice President of MRI Research Associates, Inc. He has served as President of M.R.I. Research Associates, Inc. He specializes in infrastructure planning, transportation economics, and energy economics. D. in Engineering, Bachelor of Engineering (Construction).
Forests contribute to the prevention of global warming by absorbing and fixing CO Their effective use will facilitate the transition from a fossil resource-based to a biomass resource-based social economy as fossil resources such as oil, coal, and natural gas become unusable to achieve carbon neutrality. In particular, the utilization of domestically produced biomass resources will help Japan's economic security through increased self-sufficiency. The utilization of forest resources, which are abundant in rural areas, will revitalize the forestry and timber industries and create income and employment, thereby realizing regional development, a longstanding issue in Japan. Furthermore, proper management of forest resources will bring diverse benefits to the people, such as preventing erosion and collapse of forests, mitigating floods, storing water resources, purifying water quality, and fostering forest culture.
Japan is a forest resource-rich country, with forests covering two-thirds of its land area. In order to realize the multifaceted functions and benefits of forests in a sophisticated and sustainable manner, it is necessary to promote efforts to create a well-balanced variety of forests, including natural forests and natural forests. The Basic Plan for Forests and Forestry, which is prescribed by the Japanese government, also outlines the desirable form of forests and the approach to guiding forests toward that form. It clearly states that forests with particularly good natural and social conditions and suitable for forestry will promote the recycling and utilization of resources through reliable renewal by planting trees after main harvesting.
However, Japan's forestry industry has long been identified as needing to improve its fragile management, but there has been no improvement. Believing that a major paradigm shift is essential to overcome this situation, Platinum Initiative Network launched the "Platinum Forest Industry Initiative" and is working in cooperation with 99 member organizations and persons.
The basic idea is to stimulate the supply side (forestry and forestry) by creating a new and large demand for woody biomass, thereby triggering a game change in the forestry and forestry industry. In addition to conventional demand for building materials, pulp, and fuels, new demand was focused on "biomass chemistry" (the conversion of woody biomass into raw materials for plastics and other chemical products) and "wooden cities" (the conversion of non-residential buildings into wooden structures and woody materials). By showing large demand, the project aims to encourage innovation in forestry and forestry, including the participation of players from other fields, and to realize a "circular economy of forestry (cutting down trees, using them, and planting them).
Platinum Network for Sustainable Development has launched the web media "Forest Circular Economy" with the aim of supporting the establishment of a circular forest economy in Japan. Over the next several issues, we will report on our vision of a circular forest economy and the activities of the Platinum Network for Sustainable Development toward its realization. (Kazuaki Hiraishi, Secretary General, Platinum Network for Sustainable Development)
