Japanese Logging
In recent decades the timber industry has intensified efforts to harvest logs from tropical, temperate, and boreal forests worldwide to meet an increasing demand for wood and wood products. Japanese companies have been particularly active in logging and importing timber from around the world. Because of wasteful and destructive logging practices that result from efforts to maximize corporate financial gains, those interested in reducing deforestation have raised many concerns about Japan's logging industry.
The world's forests, especially tropical rain forests, are rich in species, including plants, insects, birds, reptiles, and mammals. Many of these species exist only in very limited areas where conditions are suitable for their existence. These endangered forest dwellers provide unique and irreplaceable genetic material that can contribute to the betterment of domestic plants and animals. The forests are a valuable resource for medically useful drugs. Healthy forests stabilize watersheds by absorbing rainfall and retarding runoff. Mat roots help control soil erosion, preventing the silting of waterways and damage to reefs, fisheries, and spawning grounds.
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization reports tropical deforestation rates of 42 million acres (over 17 million ha) per year. More than half of the Earth's primary tropical forest area has vanished, and more than half of the remaining forest has been degraded.
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