Japan’s Environment Policy
By Dr Arvind Kumar
The Japanese government has recently adopted a new environment basic plan, which is the fourth since the first plan was adopted in 1994. It includes the experience of the Fukushima nuclear crisis and says that the idea of safety should serve as the basis of anr attempt to attain the main goals of the plan. It has been hailed as a commendable approach. However, well-concerted efforts are called for to promote safety in every sphere of society as well as energy-saving efforts and the development of renewable energy sources. The new plan calls for the realization of a sustainable society through efforts to build a low-carbon and recycling society, and to promote harmony between people and nature on the foundation of ensuring safety. Harmonization between people and nature is included from the viewpoint of protecting biodiversity. Nevertheless, when looked at closely, though, the plan contains various problems.The plan says that Japan aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent by 2050. This is an ambitious goal, and one wonders whether the government is ready to seriously tackle this task. The plan fails to explain how it will deal with the government’s present goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent by 2020 from 1990 levels. The government should immediately work out a middle- and long-term “road map” incorporating specific steps to achieve large reductions of greenhouse gas emissions. Without such a road map, efforts to increase the use of renewable energy sources will not gain momentum.
The plan calls for strengthening measures to recycle and utilize useful resources such as rare metals in electronic appliances. But attention should be paid to the basic issue — drastically changing our current mass-production, mass-waste society. A recent editorial in Japan Times calls upon the Japanese government to push environment-friendly policies in earnest.
