午夜剧场

It all started with a simple "discovery."

First, France is a forested nation that has spent a long time restoring its greenery. Second, its methods are based on a tradition of "the right tree for the right place," suited to its diverse, mosaic-like topography. Furthermore, the journeys of the individuals who inherited and developed these methods contain more drama than a historical novel.

It was nearly 30 years ago that I first went to France to verify this realization on the ground. I resigned from a professional journal on Official Development Assistance and enrolled in a master's program at the University of Paris to study French ecosystems and forest management systems.

Fortunately, guided by many encounters with nature and people, I was able to compile all my local observations into a thesis in French by the end of my third summer in Paris.

Between then and now, France has increased its forest coverage from one-quarter to one-third of its land area. It has recovered from the worst cyclone damage of the 20th century. Furthermore, while leading international measures against climate change, it is pushing forward with a forestry transformation in line with decentralization reforms.

It was a very long hiatus, but I feel it has become the perfect timing to write down the progress made during that interval as a book in Japanese.

That is this new publication. Surprisingly, this is the first book in Japan to focus on the theme of French forests and forestry.

The book is composed of three parts: forest ecosystems and forestry since the Gallic era; the history of forest restoration utilizing unique techniques such as "multi-storied forests" and the "control method"; and a comparison of Japanese and French forests and forestry, including the introductory period of French silviculture.

A common keyword across these three parts is "broadleaf forestry," born from the plains that make up 70% of France's land. While the forestry industry is currently experiencing a kind of broadleaf boom, the French forestry method can clearly be called its pioneer.

However, the elegant and majestic image of France that many people envision is not found here. Rather, the emphasis is placed on the "spirit of miscellaneous trees" (zoki-damashii)—the story of those who have struggled through obscure bottlenecks and continued to bluntly question what nature truly is.

France, the forest nation that no one talked about. Resurrecting natural vegetation. Moving forward, if we retrace the modern history of Western Europe from a forest-centric perspective based on these realities, there are likely to be new "discoveries."

Hitoshi Kadowaki

Tsukiji Shokan

304 pages, 2,640 yen (tax included)

*Affiliations and titles are those at the time of publication.