Speaker
Description
In recent years, Japan's timber supply has been on the rise. The timber supply in 2023 was 34,259,000 m3, an increase of nearly 60% over the past 10 years. Forestry production activities require the presence of workers. The purpose of this study is to find ways to further promote forestry production activities by analyzing the current state of forestry labor from several perspectives.
Therefore, the author conducted research and analysis from the perspective of the current state of Japan's forestry industry, forestry labor force, and forestry working environment. The author focused on occupational accidents as the working environment.
In Japan's forestry industry, problems in the silvicultural process include an increase in abandoned forest land and the high cost of reforestation work, while problems in the logging process include high costs for logging, inefficient work, low profits for forest owners, and the dangers of forestry work. The number of forestry workers, which was 126,000 in 1985, has now fallen to 44,000. Comparing 1985 and 2020, the number of silvicultural workers has decreased by 76% and the number of timber logging workers by 56%. A shrinking and aging workforce, coupled with a long-term slump in timber prices, have been major challenges. The Forestry Agency launched a human resources development support program for new employees in 2003. By 2023, 20,400 people had been employed in forestry through this program. While the forestry industry once had a large female workforce, this number has declined significantly over time. The decline in silvicultural workers is particularly notable. The number of timber harvesting workers has also gradually declined, falling below 500 in 2020. Women's employment in the forestry industry is believed to play a major role in revitalizing the industry, and it is necessary to identify and resolve the issues that will increase this number. The results showed a decrease in the number of casualties due to accidents in the forest industry over the long term, but reveal that this decrease is due to a decline in forestry production works. The author compared the incidence rate of accidents with that of other industries. Since 1987, this index has remained unchanged, but that for forestry work shows the highest value. In 2019, the incidence rate was 20.8 for forestry, about 9.5 times the average for all industries. We believe that in order to further ensure safety in forestry work, it is effective to promote the development of advanced mechanization, information and communication technology, safety education, improvement of working conditions, and analysis of work-related accidents.
In Japan, it is necessary to promote forestry as an attractive growth industry by utilizing forest resources. In order to revitalize the forestry industry in the future, it is important to use new technologies such as geospatial information, ICT, and AI to develop forest management plans and efficient and safe work plans, and there is a need to enter the forestry industry and develop human resources with such knowledge and skills.
| Keywords | forestryactivites; forestryindustry; laborforce; workingenvironment; |
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