Abstract
We analyzed original municipal forest policies, focusing on the policy process and operation and the role of human resources in the policy process. The policy process can be divided into three stages: issue setting, policy formation, and policy implementation. As the policy formation stage determines the policy content, we focused on this stage. We classified policy formation into three types: the “committee” and “municipalstaff” types, in which policies are formed by an independent committee and the municipal staff, respectively, and “a private sector utilization” type, in which policy formation is entrusted to the private sector. The three methods have been developed to best ensure cooperative relationships between the actors involved in each type of policy formation. In the “committee” and “private sector utilization” types, the municipal staff played a role in connecting key persons outside the local governments. It is suggested that municipal governments should recruit forestry professionals and assign forestry staff in the long term, and increase collaboration with various policy-related organizations and human resources to strengthen the forest administration system.
