Global Environment and Population
The 1972 United Nations Conference on the Human Environment and the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) brought global environmental problems to the attention of the world. Japan has actively tackled global environmental issues, through both multilateral conferences and bilateral environmental policy consultations with major countries. Japan is also striving to find a solution to the population problem, which is intimately linked to the environment.
The UNCED Conference met in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in June 1992.
Japan's Approach to Global Environmental Problems
Formulating a Sound International Legal Framework
To protect the global environment requires the formulation of a sound international legal framework. Hence, Japan attaches great importance to drawing up new rules that can apply to the entire international community and ensuring that these rules are strictly observed. The following is a summary of the efforts Japan has made so far in this regard.
First, Japan plays an important role in mediating between developed and developing countries during the course of treaty negotiations. In the process of drafting treaties, developing countries tend to argue that the root causes of environmental problems lie in the economic activities of the developed countries. They insist that the developed world should take the responsibility of providing financial aid and making technology transfer to developing countries. Japan's stance is to take the positions of both developing and developed countries into account in trying to find common ground. Japan has, for instance, made substantial contributions during the preparatory stage of the UNCED, and this effort led to the conclusion of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Convention on Biological Diversity. In this context, Japan has decided to host the third session of the conference of the parties to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, recognizing important year of 1997 for environmental problems. Japan is willing to contribute to adopt the protocol or another legal instrument. Japan also played a key role in the negotiations to draw up the U.N. Convention to Combat Desertification which was successfully adopted in June 1994.
The second area of Japan's efforts involved financial support to developing countries when taking part in international conferences where treaty negotiations are conducted. The dramatic increase of environmental treaties has entailed a steep rise in the number of such intergovernmental conferences. To ensure that these treaties are meaningful, Japan believes that it is essential to have the widest possible participation during the stage of treaty negotiations, particularly by developing countries. Acting on that conviction, Japan actively provides logistical support to developing countries eager to take part in such international conferences.
Third, Japan is contributing to solving global environmental problems through Official Development Assistance. Japan's ODA Charter, adopted at a cabinet meeting in June 1992, describes that environmental conservation is a principal part of Japan's ODA policy. Japan's ODA is implemented taking into account the importance of environmental conservation in economic development. At the UNCED, Japan made a commitment to expand its environment-related Official Development Assistance (ODA) to a level between ¥900 billion (approx. US$6.98 billion) and ¥1 trillion (approx. US$7.75 billion) over a five-year period beginning in fiscal 1992. In this connection, Japan provided ¥280 billion (approx. US$2.21 billion) in fiscal 1992, ¥228 billion (approx. US$2.05 billion) in fiscal 1993 and ¥196 billion (approx. US$1.92 billion) in fiscal 1994 respectively. Japan had accomplished its goal in fiscal 1995, with the total amount reached at approx. ¥980 billion (approx. US$9.12 billion).
Japan believes it is important to assist developing countries' self-help efforts, thus emphasizes the kind of assistance which creates a long-range impact by developing human resources. One of the good examples of such cooperation is Japan's efforts to set up environmental research and training centers in Asia which aims at improving the capacity of the government to tackle local environmental problems. Three centers are now in full operation in Indonesia, Thailand and China. Japan provides technical assistance through these centers.
On Japan's invitation, in 1992 the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) set up an International Environmental Technology Center in Osaka and another in Shiga Prefecture. The Main purpose of these two UNEP facilities is to transfer environmentally sound technologies to developing countries.
Contributions to the Global Environment Facility
The Global Environment Facility (GEF) is an international multilateral funding mechanism set up in 1991, previous to the UNCED (1992), with a view to contributing to the solutions to global-scale environmental problems.
The work of the fund is directed toward four areas: climate change, biological diversity, international waters and ozone layer depletion.
Japan is channeling massive funding to the GEF for addressing global environmental problems. Japan believes it is appropriate to make a funding strategy for achieving the most effective use of limited financial resources from a balanced overall point of view of global environmental problems.In this sense, Japan hopes the GEF will become the core funding mechanism as a follow-up to the UNCED. Thus, when the Instrument for the Establishment of the Restructured GEF was accepted in March 1994 to increase the capitalization of a restructured GEF to US$2 billion over a three-year period, Japan pledged to contribute over 20% of the GEF capital. This amount was the second largest, next to the United States.
Toward More Environmentally Conscious Life-style
The environmental problem, at its most basic level, is a matter of mind-set and life-style. Changing long-held attitudes is a long-term task, and individuals must pay greater attention to the environment in their life-styles; governments must do likewise.
One of the most important initiatives taken by the Government of Japan is the establishment of its environmental legislation. The Basic Environment Law, which went into force in 1993, goes beyond Japan's own pollution problems. This comprehensive law provides for full-scale measures to deal with environmental problems on a global scale.
In December 1994, the Government of Japan followed this up by adopting a Basic Environment Plan. Based on the Basic Environment Law, this action plan is expected to lead to a comprehensive environmental policy. At the local level, the spirit of the Basic Environment Law has spawned a local initiative known as "Local Agenda 21." These actions all have significance for changing attitudes/life-styles at the national, regional, corporate and individual levels and are extremely important in fostering an international approach to global environmental problems.
The Population Problem
Closely connected to environmental problems is the problem of population. At present, the population of the world stands at approximately 5.8 billion and is growing at more than 86 million people a year. More than 90% of this population growth occurs in developing countries, where the rising population load is causing food shortages, unemployment and swelling urban slums as a result of a steady population in flow from rural areas. Population growth in these countries hinders economic and social development and causes the worsening desertification of green lands, global warming and other worldwide environmental problems. By contrast, Japan and other industrialized countries are facing a different set of population problems, including an aging population and migration of people from developing countries.
To deal with these critical and complex population problems, the United Nations sponsored the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), which was held in Cairo from September 5 to 13, 1994. The U.N. holds such intergovernmental conferences once a decade to discuss population issues, and Japan sent a 55-member delegation led by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs Yohei Kono to the Cairo conference. Three representatives for Japanese non-governmental organizations (NGOs) active in population issues also joined the delegation.
Even though the conference got off to a rocky star, there was opposition from certain groups that do not condone abortion in any form, and clashes between developed and developing countries over human rights and funding issues-in the end the conference adopted a new "Programme of Action" for the next 20 years.
The Programme covers some new ground, such as the relationship between population and the environment and the rights and improved status of women. Although some countries expressed reservations about parts of the programme, the fact that it was adopted as a whole signifies the emergence of a new willingness to look at population and environmental issues in a long-range perspective. Thus, Japan believes that the Cairo conference played an extremely important role as driving force for an international solution to the population problem.
Japan is also making every effort to find solutions to these problems, as the continued existence of mankind is at stake. For instance, in February 1994, Japan announced a "Global Issues Initiative (GII) on Population and AIDS." This is a seven-year programme designed to provide US$3 billion worth of ODA to developing countries from fiscal 1994 to fiscal 2000 to help them address population and AIDS-related problems. Japan is putting this initiative forward, providing US$1 billion (a third of the target) in the first two fiscal years.
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