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PROTECTING THE GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT

Environmental Policy Dialogue

The United States-Japan Environment Policy Dialogue continues to serve as a useful venue for the United States and Japan to discuss priority global environmental issues, and to consult on environment-related international organizations. We have focused our discussions on the implementation of a wide range of multilateral environment agreements, and general issues associated with the work of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) and the UN Environment Program (UNEP).

The Governments of the United States and Japan successfully used the most recent Environment Policy Dialogue meeting in September 1995 to pursue a common strategy on biodiversity and climate change conventions, exchange views on strategies for other key multilateral environmental issues, including the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movement of Hazardous Waste and their Disposal, explore ways to make the CSD and UNEP more effective, and discuss the progress on Agenda 21 of the Rio Earth Summit in preparation for the June 1997 UN General Assembly Review.

Coral Reefs

The Governments of the United States and Japan, with other international partners, sponsored an international coral reef workshop in the Philippines in 1995. "Call to Action" and "Framework for Action", two documents produced at the workshop, are now influencing the global agenda in important international fora such as the Convention on Biological Diversity, the United Nations Environment Program and the World Bank.

Building on the 1995 International Coral Reef Initiative Workshop, the Governments of the United States and Japan are supporting regional coral reef workshops and intend to participate in the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network. In addition, the Governments of the United States and Japan are working together to support the establishment of a coral reef conservation and research center in the Asia Pacific region. The center will support research on coral reef conservation, while also serving as an educational and ecotourism facility. The United States and Japan presently favor siting the center in Palau and are actively exploring that possibility with the Government of Palau.

Forests

Under the International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO), the two Governments are cooperating on many projects to preserve forests, including ITTO guidelines on the protection of tropical forests against fire, and are co-financing many projects, including those to monitor forest health in Indonesia, to develop genetically pest-resistant species in West Africa, and to reforest in Peru with high-value species. The two Governments have also expressed their intention to focus on promoting sustainable management of tropical forests under the 1994 International Tropical Timber Agreement.

At the Third Session of the CSD in April 1995, the two Governments contributed to the establishment of the Intergovernmental Panel on Forests (IPF). The IPF met for the first time in New York in September 1995 and again in Geneva in March 1996.

At the Third Meeting of the Forest Working Group, which was held in Yokohama, Japan in November 1995, officials from the United States and Japan consulted on possible cooperation on CSD, IPF, other international meetings, and bilateral aid to third countries.

Development Assistance for the Environment

The Governments of the United States and Japan are jointly funding nature park-based biodiversity conservation in several Central and South American and Caribbean countries through the Parks-in-Peril program. The assistance is helping to transform sites from mere "paper parks" to genuinely protected areas.

The Government of the United States signed a $19 million agreement with Indonesia to fund an endowment, initial grant-making capital and operating costs for the Indonesia Biodiversity Foundation (Yayasan Kehati). The Government of Japan is providing $23 million of assistance to Indonesia for improving its biodiversity conservation, and research and database facilities.

Conservation

The two Governments continue to coordinate training of wetlands experts from their respective hemispheres. In 1994, the Government of Japan started a training course for Asian developing country wetlands managers. In June 1995, the Government of the United States announced the availability of training grants to the wetlands managers of the Western Hemisphere. In March 1996, the Government of Japan, together with the Government of Australia, launched the East Asian Australian Shorebird Reserve Network. Both these projects are closely coordinated with the "Convention on Wetlands of International Importance especially as Waterfowl Habitat" (Ramsar Convention). In addition, the Government of Japan initiated a conservation project for the Tubbataha Reef National Marine Park World Heritage Site in the Philippines.

Oceans

A March 1996 joint meeting under the Pacific Ocean Observation and Research Initiative, conducted by the U.S.-Japan Cooperative Program in Natural Resources, endorsed twenty-one cooperative projects in the field of ocean observation and research.

Global Observation Information Network (GOIN)

In June 1995, after demonstrating how easily earth observation information can be exchanged through computer networks, agencies in both countries began to make their earth observation databases more accessible via trans-Pacific networks. Both Governments decided to extend for two years the GOIN action plan to increase the utilization of new networks among their agencies. The Japanese side hosted a U.S.-Japan joint GOIN technical workshop on June 4-5, 1996 for scientists, technical experts and government officials.

Regional Networks/Institutes for Global Change Research

The Governments of the United States and Japan are working closely with other interested countries to promote regional global change research through the Asia-Pacific Network for Global Change Research (APN) and the Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research (IAI). The APN and IAI are focusing on ocean-atmosphere interaction, especially as it relates to climate change and weather prediction, through scientific workshops and an initial multilateral meeting in March 1996.

Environmental and Energy-efficient Technologies

At the second Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) and Department of Energy (DOE) Joint Technical Meeting on Carbon Dioxide Sequestration in October 1995, both sides agreed upon a 1996 implementation plan under the UJSTA in which MITI and DOE will conduct cooperative research on technologies for the capture and disposal of carbon dioxide emissions.

Cooperative research involving the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and MITI is progressing well. During a recent visit of MITI researchers to EPA's laboratories in North Carolina, re-direction of this work and possible new activities were discussed.

The two Governments share a common determination to contribute to such multilateral efforts as the Climate Technology Initiative and Joint Implementation of the Climate Change Convention by building upon established bilateral U.S.-Japan collaboration.

At the second working group meeting held in May 1995 in Washington, D.C., the Geographical Survey Institute of Japan and the U.S. Geological Survey cooperated on establishing an International Steering Committee for Global Mapping. The first meeting of the Committee for Global Mapping was held in February 1996, in Tsukuba, Japan.

* Within the section Protecting the Global Environment, in view of the importance of the Arctic region, the two Governments will also collaborate on Arctic research at an International Arctic Research Center which will be established in the near future.

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