2021 Volume 103 Issue 1 Pages 22-32
In this study, we conducted a questionnaire survey that targeted all forest owners' cooperatives nationwide and clarified the actual situation and problems of the district committee members (DCMs) and regional organizations (ROs). DCMs and ROs are expected to function as boundary spanners that connect forest owners and forest owners' cooperatives. As a result, the rate at which forest cooperatives reach out to members has increased, with the recent increase in logging business. In spite of a decrease in the number of cooperatives, DCMs/ROs, and the number of activity days, about 40％ of the respondent cooperatives had DCMs/ROs with diverse activities ranging from distribution of public relations magazines to arrangement of explanatory meetings. Cooperatives where the DCMs/ROs coordinated village and district projects communicated actively and the logging business volume was high. In contrast, many cooperatives had non-functioning coordinator and had a tendency to become polarized. Thus, to improve the functions of DCMs/ROs and to secure new leadership, it is vital that cooperatives improve communication frequency, share goals and information, and return benefits. Improving the environment that DCMs/ROs playing a more active boundary spanning role is important for promoting the forest management's business and local autonomous forest management.
