Public forest - Kouyuurin

This refers to forests owned by local governments. Along with national forests and private forests, it is the basic form of forest ownership. The area of ​​publicly owned forests in Japan was 2.83 million hectares (2007), accounting for 11% of the total forest area. Public forests consist of prefecture-owned forests, municipal forests, and property district forests, the former covering 1.19 million hectares and the latter two covering 1.64 million hectares. Of these, prefecture-owned forests have a different history from the others, being relatively new, having been established through grants, purchases, and the establishment of surface rights, with Hokkaido Prefecture and Yamanashi Prefecture-owned forests accounting for nearly 70% of them. Most municipal forests and property district-owned forests originate from village-owned mountains. Since the Meiji period, through the division of land into public and private ownership, the implementation of the municipal system, and the unification project for the consolidation of public forests, the dissolution of common forests and their reorganization under the pretext of establishing municipal finances and promoting afforestation have been consistently pursued. Traditionally, there has been a conflict between the theory of public rights and the theory of private rights, and the policy of modernizing common forests = dissolution has been based on the former. The product of such conflicts and compromises are municipal forests and property district forests owned by part of municipalities. Although the ownership is in the name of a public organization, many of them still retain the practice of membership, and their forms of use are diverse, including directly managed forests, profit-sharing forests, lending, and traditional customary use (where rights holders use the forests jointly according to traditional practices). However, in recent years, even directly managed forests have not contributed to local government finances, and in many cases, raising funds for maintenance and repaying loans have become major problems. How to make public forests the core of local resources and demonstrate their public role has become an important issue.

[Toshikuni Noguchi]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

地方公共団体が所有する林野をいう。国有林、私有林とともに林野所有の基本形態をなしている。日本の公有林野面積は283万ヘクタール（2007）で、林野総面積の11％を占めている。公有林は都道府県有林および市町村有林、財産区有林からなり、前者が119万ヘクタール、後二者で164万ヘクタールである。このうち都道府県有林は他と沿革を異にし、下賜、買収、地上権設定などによって比較的新しく成立したもので、その7割近くを北海道有林と山梨県有林が占めている。市町村有林および財産区有林はほとんどが村持山(むらもちやま)を源基形態としている。明治以降、土地官民有区分、市町村制の施行、公有林野整理統一事業などを通じて、市町村財政の確立、造林推進の名目で入会林野の解体と市町村所有への再編が一貫して追求されてきた。従来から入会権公権論と私権論との対立があり、入会林野近代化＝解体政策は前者にたつものであった。このような対立と妥協の産物が市町村有林および市町村の一部が所有する形の財産区有林である。所有名義は公共団体になってはいるが、入会慣行を残すものも多く、その利用形態としては直営林、分収林、貸付け、旧慣使用（旧来からの慣行に従って権利者が共同して利用するもの）など多岐にわたっている。しかし近年、直営林においても自治体財政へ寄与するどころか、逆に保育資金の調達や借入金の償還が大きな問題となっているところが多い。いかにして公有林を地域資源の核として、その公共的役割を発揮させるかが重要な課題となっている。

［野口俊邦］

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