The Forestry Agency tried to acquire self-sponsored funds in 1985, because the expenditure for public works had been reduced. It is a water resources conservation tax. The technocrats of the Forestry Agency acted autonomous though this tax was not founded. Both the professional network and the iron triangle of the technocrats of the Forestry Agency have been understood a little there. The professional network was made by the technocrats who got a position from the Forestry Agency to the related groups. The network is made between the Forestry Agency and the related group that made Japan Forestry Association a leader, and has extended even the field organization of each group. The iron triangle was composed of the technocrat of the Forestry Agency, meetings of the LDP, and the related group. And, the professional network was one of constituent members of the iron triangle. The technocrats of the Forestry Agency in budgetary process are not specialists of a special area, but bureaucrats who control the policy decision process by using the professional network and the iron triangle.

View full abstract

One purpose of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) is to recognize and respect indigenous people's rights in forest management. In this paper, the author examined the application of the FSC principles and criteria that are supposed to recognized indigenous people's rights in D Forest Reserve (DFR), located in the mid stream of Kinabatangan, Sabah, Malaysia. After the Sabah Forestry Department (SFD) achieved the FSC certification in DFR, the certification body issued a Major Corrective Action Request, and the SFD enforced the boundary control. As a result, some customary forest uses of the indigenous people was also restricted. The reason why this happened was that the forestry law had been applied strictly, and on the other hand, the customary forest use was not secured by the land laws, so it was difficult to recognize the indigenous people's rights within the FSC. In the area where the indigenous people's rights are not fully recognized by the conventional laws and systems, conflicts may be actualized by applying the strict forest law enforcement. It is important for forest managers and certification bodies to understand customary forest uses and conflict over resources in the forest reserve when they apply the forest certification.

View full abstract