Abstract
Improved understanding of the value of multifunctional environmental services of ecosystems led to the development of the theory of Payments for Environmental Services (PES), which proclaims that the beneficiaries should compensate for the services they receive from forests and other ecosystems. Environmental Taxes for Forestry were introduced as provincial tax in many prefectures of Japan in the 2000s Though their names, purposes, targets and foundations vary depending upon the prefecture, they can be regarded as an environment protection mechanism based on the PES thinking. The fairness of public management of private forests, adequateness of confining the tax payers to those who live in the prefecture, effective and efficient use of revenues, etc, are the common questions raised in the institutionalization process of the taxes. In order to answer these questions, the comprehensive evaluation of the tax schemes is necessary. In particular, the attention should be paid to the issues of the benefit and burden sharing among different stakeholders. This paper analyses the particular features of the Environmental Taxes for Forestry as a scheme of PES. First, the comparative analysis of the schemes in 23 prefectures is conducted focusing on the three central PES elements: payment by beneficiaries, compensation to the service providers, and projects carried by using the tax revenues. Then, public opinions, which were presented at town meetings and opinion surveys, are systematically analyzed in order to explore the major public opinions about the design and enforcement of the scheme. Finally, the specific features of the Environmental Tax for Forestry in Japan as a scheme of PES is summarized. The Environmental Tax for Forestry satisfies several important conditions of PES : it aims at strengthening of forest environmental functions and the payments are made by the beneficiaries. However, it differs from the typical PES models introduced in other countries in that the suppliers of environmental services do not receive direct compensation.
