Historical Changes in Industrial and Household Fuel Sources Supply on Tarama Island, Okinawa, Japan

Abstract

We analyzed the historical changes in the nature, supply, and provision of biomass resources in terms of fuel sources supply on Tarama Island, Okinawa, Japan, to clarify the situation regarding the local community and governmental regulation. A sugar industry was developed on the island in 1898, which resulted in higher demand for both fuel for use in sugar production and lumber for processing into sugar barrels. Bagasse and forest litter were used as fuel sources for sugar production. Meanwhile, the lumber for processing into barrels was imported. These conditions allowed for adequate supply of household fuel sources to continue. However, the consumption of forest litter for fuel was increasing competed with its alternate use as a fertilizer for farmland, leading to diminished productivity of the island farmland. An afforestation plan was made in 1917 by using Pinus luchuensis in order to create a communal forest. However, because felling in a communal forest was prohibited, the value of private forest increased. Subsequently, in 1938, the government encouraged afforestation P. luchuensis and Casuarina equisetifolia. Consequently, private forest area increased, and it became possible to supply barrel lumber. In the periods of postwar, the population decline and barrel became paper box allowed the exported of fuelwood. The afforestation declined by the spread of alternative fuels after the 1960s. These governmental regulations concerning biomass resources effectively led to self-sufficient fuel sources production.