지역임업 및 지역 산림 관리 활성화 방안(1/2차연도)

Abstract

1960년대 우리나라 산림은 대단히 헐벗은 상태였지만 1970년대부터 정부의 강력한 의지와 효과적인 정책 추진으로 우리나라의 산림은 녹화에 성공할 수 있었다. 산림녹화의 성공을 위해 정부는 농산촌 지역의 에너지를 화석연료로 바꾸고 입산금지 등 강력한 보호정책을 추진하였으며 한편으로 산림계를 조직하여 지역주민들을 동원하였다. 그 결과 우리나라는 단기간에 산림녹화에 성공한 모범사례로 평가받게 되었다.

그러나 목재가격의 하락으로 임업경영의 수익성이 낮아지고 지나친 보호위주 정책으로 산림이용을 제한하면서 사람과 산림의 관계는 점차 멀어지게 되었다. 산림자원이 소득원이 되지 못하여 산촌 사회의 분해가 가속화되고 있다. 인간의 개입이 줄면서 산림이 조밀하게 되었고 이는 생물다양성의 저하뿐만 아니라 산림재해에 취약하게 된다. 이제 사람과 산림의 관계를 복원해야 하는 시점이다.

지속가능한 산림경영의 실현을 위해 지역주민들이 산림관리에 참여하는 형태의 산림관리가 필요하다는 문제인식이 확산되고 있다. 외국에서는 지역기반 산림관리가 보편화되고 있는데 이는 개발도상국뿐만 아니라 선진국에서도 발견되는 현상이다.

이 연구는 이러한 문제인식에 기초하여 지역임업 또는 지역기반 산림관리의 필요성을 제기하고자 한 것이다. 외국의 지역임업 사례들을 수집하여 분석하였고 우리나라 산촌주민과 도시민들의 산림관리에 대한 인식을 조사하였다. 이러한 조사에 기초하여 차년도 연구에서는 지역임업의 도입과 활성화를 위한 제도 개선 문제를 다루게 될 것이다.

In order to rehabilitate degraded forests, Korea government had implemented various policies such as tree planting campaign, promoting energy conversion and preventing slash/burn cultivation. Due to these strong policies, it was possible to green degraded forests in a short period. However, local people have been isolated from forests in the process. It caused various problems such as degrading the ecosystem services of forest (e.g. biodiversity), collapse of mountain village society and increasing burden of government budget. Consequently, the sustainability of forest is threatened. Thus, it is needed to convert Korean forest policy from government led- to private sector and local community led-. Community based forest management (hereafter CBFM), in which local people participate, have been emerging as an alternative way for recovering the broken relationship between human and natural resources. This study aims to find appropriate ways of implementing CBFM in Korea. We collected the various cases of CBFM in not only developing countries but also developed countries. In order to gather the information efficiently, we carried out oversea research and held an international seminar on CBFM. In order to evaluate the preferences of Koreans to CBFM, we conducted a survey with 1,000 urban dwellers and face to face interview with 22 representatives of forest village from two counties. We reviewed the cases of CBFM from 11 countries (USA, Canada, Mexico, Sweden, England, Japan, Bhutan, Nepal, Philippines, Ghana and Ethiopia). By analyzing these cases, we can derive two important messages. (1) In most countries, CBFM has played an important role in enhancing the value of forests as well as in stabilizing the livelihood of local people. Thus, Korean government also needs to apply CBFM to current forest policy. (2) When we apply CBFM, various conditions of forest and local people should be considered. Because the type of CBFM is dependent on its historical background, legal and institutional system, level of public awareness and so on. For example, the aims of CBFM in Western Europe and Japan are oriented to recreational and educational services. On the other hand, stabilizing livelihood is the most important purpose of CBFM in Bhutan and Nepal. The major player of CBFM in Western Europe and Japan was volunteers. In North America, Indian tribes have played an important role in community. The survey results of urban dwellers show that about 62% of respondents are willing to participate in urban forest management. The activities that they can easily participate in were preferred such as greening their own garden and picking up waste in trails. It is preferable that government and citizens share their role in forest management. Even though most local people recognize the necessity of their participation in forest management, the willingness of local people to participate was relatively low. It can be interpreted as due to the lack of resources such as labor, capital and skill. Policy challenges that can be derived from these results are as follows: (1) the governance system which local people easily participate in forest management should be established; (2) the supporting system which helps the aged in rural areas should be set up; (3) government should lower the barrier preventing local people from utilizing not only non-timber products but also various ecosystem services in national forests; (4) the governance should develop their own business model to ensure stable income of local people; (5) various programs that urban dwellers can participate in should be prepared by local government.

Researchers: Min Kyung-taek, Seok Hyun-deok and Koo Ja-choon Research period: 2014. 1. ~ 2014. 12. E-mail address: minkt@krei.re.kr