During his address to the UN General Assembly Special Session on the Environment and Development in June 1997, then-Prime Minister Hashimoto announced the Japanese Government's "Initiatives for Sustainable Development toward the 21st Century (ISD)" a comprehensive package of ODA-led undertakings in Japan's international environmental cooperation. The ISD plan comprises action programs spanning five areas of environmental significance: (i) countermeasures against air pollution, water pollution, and industrial waste, (ii) global warming, (iii) water issues, (iv) conservation of the natural environment, and (v) an improved public environmental awareness. Also, in September 1998, Japan signed the Convention to Combat Desertification, and has been striving to build on its international contributions in the environmental dimension.

At the 1992 UN Conference on Environment and Development (the UNCED, commonly known as the Earth Summit), Japan pledged to disburse between 900 billion and 1 trillion yen in environmental ODA over the ensuing five years. In reality, though, by the end of 1996 it had already disbursed 1.44 trillion yen (approx. $13.3 billion)--more than 40 percent over the pledged amount. (An additional 243 billion yen was disbursed in FY 1997.)

Then-Prime Minister Hashimoto addressing the third conference of parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (Dec. 1997)

Note:
1. Parenthetical figures other than those in the "Total" column represent the share (%) of each type of aid in that particular year. In the "Grant aid" column, the percentage of general grant aid extended that year is referred to (and does not include grant aid for debt relief, non-project grant aid for structural adjustments, or grant aid for grassroots projects). In the "Loan assistance" column, percentages of the total (excluding loan assistance for debt relief) in project and non-project loan assistance (e.g., commodity loan assistance and structural adjustments lending) are represented.
2. The parenthetical figures in the "Total" column represent the share of total ODA committed that year.
3. Amounts for grant aid and loan assistance were calculated on a commitment (Exchange of Notes) basis; technical cooperation, on a JICA disbursements basis; and multilateral assistance, on a budget basis for contributions to multilateral institutions.

Note:
1. Project and personnel totals include figures for new as well as ongoing programs. Instances of project-type technical cooperation include post-project follow-up cooperation.
2. Project-type technical cooperation is a type of technical cooperation which bundles expert assignments, trainee programs in Japan, and the provision of equipment.

Note:
1. The annual personnel totals represent newly accepted trainees as well as new and continuing assignments for experts and JOCVs.
2. The percentages represent the share of all personnel in that category that year.

Note:
1. Figures are totals for loan assistance, grant aid, and technical cooperation. Multilateral assistance is not included.
2. Percentages in parentheses represent the share of total ODA in the environmental field that year.
3. "Other sectors" include nature conservation, environmental administration, and seawater contamination.

In December 1997, Japan hosted the 3rd Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Kyoto. On that occasion, it announced the Kyoto Initiative, which bundles various measures aimed at enhancing cooperation to developing countries engaged in efforts to battle global warming.

Viewing the trend in global warming as a threat to human survival, and hence, a security issue in the broadest sense, the Kyoto Initiative notes that the industrial countries will need to assume the lead in addressing this issue. However, reflecting projections that the developing world will generate more green-house gases than the industrial world early in the next century, it also emphasizes that measures taken by the developing world to address global warming will also be increasingly important. On that understanding, it expresses the view that although independent efforts will be crucial, it will still be necessary for the industrial countries to help developing countries assume a responsible "ownership" role in the implementation of their programs against global warming.

Based on the Kyoto Initiative, Japan has decided to actively assist developing countries with measures against global warming while engaging in close policy dialogues. In the process, though, it will conceivably be more effective to link steps against global warming with other efforts that many developing countries consider to be of high priority: namely, the task of addressing pollution and energy issues.

In addition to providing bilateral assistance, Japan will also have an important role to play in furnishing aid through the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the UNDP, UNEP, and other multilateral institutions that have put together the Global Environmental Facility (GEF), a funding mechanism mandated by the Framework Convention on Climate Change.

Within the above context, Japan has hammered out three initiatives as part of its quest to aid developing country efforts against global warming.

First, over a five-year span beginning in FY1998, it plans to train 3,000 personnel in four fields relevant to the drive against global warming: (i) air pollution, (ii) waste disposal, (iii) energy saving technologies, and (iv) forest conservation and afforestation.

Second, Japan will offer the most attractive terms available (interest of 0.75 percent and redemption periods of 40 years) on yen loans for projects against global warming in the developing world, including those for (i) energy saving technologies, (ii) new and renewable energy sources, (iii) forest conservation and afforestation, and (iv) the reduction of air pollution.

Third, it plans to harness the expertise it has amassed in crafting extremely efficient systems for pollution abatement, energy saving, and complementary reductions in greenhouse emissions. In particular, to develop or transfer technologies tailored to local conditions, Japan will send factory inspection missions to target countries, set up networks for the dissemination of information on technologies effective against global warming, and sponsor workshops of related interest. Japan will be actively engaged in technology transfers through arrangements for bilateral technical cooperation. In addition, it will also be vital to step up environmentally related technical cooperation through programs run by the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, the UNDP, and other multilateral organizations. Japan will therefore expand its financial contributions through these institutions for undertakings in the environmental field.

In keeping with its ISD framework, Japan has already begun furnishing substantial levels of assistance for programs aimed at addressing environmental problems in the developing world. It has been particularly 24 active in providing assistance to help China deal with air pollution and other increasingly serious environmental ills. ²⁰

The collaborative effort between Japan and China on the environmental front has brought together participants from a variety of backgrounds, including government agencies, local municipalities, and NGOs. In the interest of strengthening that collaborative effort, Japan sent a joint public-private survey team to China in May 1995. To foster a heightened, far-reaching exchange of views and opinions on themes in environmental cooperation, in 1996 both countries began cosponsoring the Japan-China Comprehensive Forum on Environmental Co-operation with participation by Japanese and Chinese government agencies, local municipalities, NGOs, and specialists. At the second forum, which Tokyo hosted in November 1997, participants discussed topics ranging from trends in environmental pollution and countermeasures to viable environmental technologies and programs designed to improve public awareness.

At their summit meeting in September 1997, Japan's and China's leaders reached an agreement on "Japan-China Environmental Cooperation toward the 21st Century." The primary underpinning of future cooperation in that context is an environmental model city plan that calls for the selection of model cities for environmental programs. In model cities, efforts such as strengthening environmental regulations, Japan's assistance including ODA loans with most preferential terms for environmental projects, and technical assistance are intensively applied. These environmental measures, directed at reducing air pollution and acid rain, for example, are aimed at generating successes that will encourage extension of conservation efforts and wider adoption of environmental policies throughout China. As it happens, a committee of Japanese and Chinese experts was set up in conjunction with the new model city plan. ²¹ After two meetings, that committee selected Chongging, Dalian, and Guiyang as the model cities, and reached a consensus on the following actions:

• Implement measures against air pollution on a prioritized, intensive basis.
• Initiate water quality programs where conditions for implementation are met.
• Strive to cultivate recycling-oriented industries and social systems that are explicitly designed to utilize gypsum, fertilizer, and other by-products of emission-desulfurization processes.
• Implement measures against global warming that are geared to aid for programs of energy conservation.

The second key underpinning of bilateral cooperation will be the establishment of a nationwide environmental information network by installing computers for environmental information processing at 100 locations throughout China. The hub of that network will be the Japan-China Friendship Environmental Conservation Center completed in 1996 with Japanese grant aid.