Masato Hayafune * , 1 (2023) Grouping Structure of Small-and Medium-Scale Forest Owners in Sweden, Finland and Germany: Regional Characteristics of PEFC Group Certification. J Jpn For Soc 105: 45-53 One of the challenges for sustainable forest management in Japan is the small and dispersed ownership structure of private forests, but new types of cooperation among forest owners have begun to emerge, such as group forest certification. However, these grouping structures vary from region to region and have not yet led to the intensification of forest management and its nationwide development. The purpose of this paper is to present a typology of the grouping structure of small-and medium-scale forest owners in each country by clarifying the acquisition structure of group certification through field surveys, data analysis and literature searches in Sweden, Finland, and Germany, which are regions where group certification has been developed. As a result, the following three typologies are presented: (1) Sweden; Freely competitive groups based on organizations responsible for forest management services to owners, such as forest owner associations and forest production companies (individual organization type), (2) Finland; regional groups based on forest management cooperatives that exist in all over the land (national organization type), (3) Germany; State-based regional groups of state, common and private forests (local organization type). This study clarifies that each three countries has standardized the grouping structure of forest management, and has strategically selected and built sustainable and efficient certification systems by adhering to certification standards and reducing costs.
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