A forest political study on protection forests of Germany, Austria and Japan

In the investigation process of this research, a forest political study on protection forests of Germany, Austria, and Japan was chosen as study object because of its significance in conservational forest policy and its importance in current forest legislation and public welfare interests. Differences and similarities in the field of protection forests of the three case study countries were clarified, while it focused on the interpretation of significant historical and present outcomes. This study can be regarded as a descriptive reflection of background information concerning the development of forest history and forest policy, forest legislation regarding protection forests and current forest policy trends. It aimed to create a foundation for following research projects in the field of international protection forest policy. The evolution of protection forest policy was examined and the linkages between the protection forest policy and the forest policy programs were investigated. The study was based on the foundation of the forest law and other legal aspects. All three countries can look back to a long history of protection forests. Historical similarities transferred to current differences. Protection forests are an important part of the forest policy; however, the knowledge from the forest political view, as well as from the scientific view regarding this topic is insufficient. Protection forests even now play a kind of exotic role. It can be reflected clearly, that the technical term, protection forest, is from the view of the linguistic aspect very complex and it can be associated with a multiplicity of terms or meanings. Interpretation and understanding of protection forest matters on the national level is clear, but a dissimilarity in national terminologies make a clear comparison difficult. Unfortunately, there is no international agreement on the exact requirements for declaring a protection forest