Abstract
While the workload of municipal forest administrations has been increasing since FY 1998, the number of their staff is far from sufficient. In 2017, the Forestry Agency introduced the “Regional Forest Policy Adviser” scheme for the assistance of municipal forest administrations, in which prefectural or municipal governments appoint technical experts in forest and forestry as municipal advisers. The number of Advisers has reached 258 in FY 2021, and their role is expected to become more important with the introduction of the “Private Forest Entrustment Scheme” and the “Forest Environment Transfer Tax” in FY 2019. This study clarifies the current situation of the Advisers through questionnaire surveys to all the currently enrolled Advisers. The result shows that: 61％ of respondents are in their 60s or older, 63％ are full-time staff, 42％ of full-time staff are retired prefectural officials while 43％ of part-time staff are employees of Forest Owners’Cooperatives, 54％ were directly recruited by municipalities while feeling uncertainties of their job duties, 30％ are conducting administrative work while providing technical advice, and 82％ are fully/somewhat satisfied with their jobs. In order to ensure the appointment of Advisers, technical assistance by the prefectural governments, mutual communication among Advisers, and cooperation among regional stakeholders need to be further strengthened.
