(3) Environmental Cooperation for Sustainable Development

World Trends Relating to Sustainable Development While environmental problems have been discussed worldwide since the 1970s, it was the UN Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), or Earth Summit, in 1992 that brought this issue to the forefront of international debate. After comprehensive deliberations on environmental problems, Agenda 21 was adopted as a shared plan of action for all countries of the world. In Agenda 21, sustainable development.¹⁴ was used as the key concept relevant to the whole debate, and became a keyword for following efforts in response to global environmental problems.

Ten years after UNCED, the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) was held in Johannesburg in September 2002. During this decade, "sustainable development" has become established as a concept of development consisting of economic, social, and environmental elements. For this reason, discussions at the Johannesburg Summit focused not only on environmental issues but also on broader economic and social aspects of development. Therefore, the Johannesburg Declaration on Sustainable Development and the Plan of Implementation adopted at the WSSD are based on the view that the global trend of environmental deterioration has not been reversed since UNCED, that the issue of poverty must be overcome to prevent environmental degradation in developing countries, and that concrete action is needed to achieve the MDGs, including environmental conservation.

Announcement of EcoISD In August 2002, prior to the Johannesburg Summit, Japan announced the Koizumi Initiative of concrete measures for sustainable development, which contained, in response to growing international concern about the global environment, the Environmental Conservation Initiative for Sustainable Development (EcoISD), which defines Japan's philosophy and policies on environmental cooperation and outlines an action plan as a pillar for future cooperation. The EcoISD expresses that, while respecting the ownership of developing countries, cooperation should place emphasis on support for capacity building. It identifies efforts to address global warming, pollution control, fresh water issues, and conservation of the natural environment as priority areas for Japan's environmental ODA. As a concrete goal, it states that Japan will provide support for human resources development for 5,000 people in the environmental field over a five-year period from fiscal year 2002.

Following this policy, Japan's environmental ODA will support developing countries in a broad range of areas, as cited below, to overcome pollution accompanying economic development; to resolve the problem of poverty which lies at the root of environmental problems; and to respond to global environmental issues.

A. Efforts to Address Global Warning Japan will work to transfer and spread technologies related to countermeasures against global warming to developing countries and to help enhance the capacity to address this issue from scientific, social, and systematic perspectives. For example, Japan has provided assistance for the establishment of an energy conservation training center in Iran and the Upper Kotmale Hydropower Project in Sri Lanka, and it has been carrying out a variety of basic studies, primarily in Asia.

B. Pollution Control Japan will provide prioritized assistance to control pollution and improve the living environment in urban areas?such as controls on air and water pollution and waste management, mainly in the Asian region where economies are rapidly growing. For example, Japan has provided assistance to strengthen the capacity of developing countries through environment centers at the core of environmental administration in six countries, such as China and Mexico. It will also provide assistance in equipment for improved waste management in Hanoi, Viet Nam.

C. Fresh Water Issues Japan will implement water and sewerage programs that take the varying characteristics of urban and rural areas into account and promote "soft" cooperation for water resource management and protection of water quality control. Support measures include improving water quality in outlying cities in the Philippines, assisting community activities to secure safe drinking water in Senegal, and utilizing grant aid for grassroots projects to help NGOs and other organizations provide water supply in Pakistan, Tanzania, and elsewhere.

D. Conservation of the Natural Environment Japan will assist developing countries in conserving nature reserves and forests, preventing desertification, and managing natural resources, while giving consideration to efforts for poverty reduction. Examples include support to Biodiversity Conservation Project Phase II in Indonesia, an ecosystem protection project in the Galapagos Islands in Ecuador, the Forest Conservation and Afforestation Project Phase II in Laos, and the promotion of the Asia Forest Partnership (AFP).¹⁵