Our Planet, Volume 16, Number 1, 2005 Page: 10
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Our Planet
The Spirit of
"M ottai Nai"
Yuriko Koike describes how one of the world's
most urbanised countries is working towards a sustainable
environment through action on waste and climate changeM any of the world's current
environmental problems arise from
fundamental socio-economic
activities, including regular business activities
and daily life. Recognising this, we need
fundamentally to re-evaluate our economic
activities and lifestyles. This can be done by
proactively mobilizing all our knowledge of
environmental conservation. I believe that
this will lead to the establishment of a
sustainable society by ensuring a synthesis of
environmental protection and economic
growth.
Japan will advance policy measures to
bring about a fundamental socio-economic
shift to realise a sound material-cycle society
and establish a low-carbon economy.
Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Prof.
Wangari Maathai, who serves as Assistant
Minister for Environment of Kenya, highly
evaluated the Japanese spirit of"mottai-nai" -
meaning behavior or attitude that respects
and conserves products and resources - when
she visited Japan in February 2005. Believing
that it is necessary for the entire globe, she
has been working on disseminating the word,
hoping that it enters everyday usage, like the
Japanese word "tsunami".
Formulating guidelines
In the spirit of "mottai-nai", Japan is
committed to accelerating the establishment
of a sound material-cycle society through the
3Rs: reducing, reusing and recycling waste.
It is committed to promoting the
comprehensive and systematic reduction of
materials, and their sound cyclical use, so as
to realise a zero-emission society. To achieve
this, we will accelerate the reduction and
recycling of municipal wastes by formulating
guidelines on sorted collection and fees for
waste treatment.
We will encourage local governments tobuild efficient and effective waste treatment
and recycling facilities, and johkasoh on-site
household sewage treatment systems by
creating a new subsidy for establishing the
sound material-cycle society. We will conduct
a review process to revise the Law for the
Promotion of Sorted Collection and
Recycling of Containers and Packaging.
Revisions of other laws concerning waste
treatment - including the Waste Management
and Public Cleansing Law - will be
introduced during the current Diet session to
strengthen measures to address large-scale
illegal dumping and the inappropriate export
of wastes and to establish a more appropriate
system
The promotion of reducing, reusing and
recycling wastes, resources and products-
also known as the "3R Initiative",- has
become an important issue internationally. Aministerial meeting held in Japan in April
2005 formally launched the 3R Initiative,
advocated by Prime Minister Koizumi at the
G8 Sea Island Summit in 2004. Through this
opportunity, I am committed to extending 3R
activities into the broader international
community.
Enviromental problems
In the past year, Japan first endured a record-
breaking summer heat wave, and then found
itself suffering great loss of life and
significant damage from an extremely high
number of typhoons hitting the mainland. In
such circumstances, I believe every citizen
directly perceives the changes and
abnormalities of the climate system, and their
consciousness has been raised as a result. This
heightened awareness gives us an
opportunity to renew our awareness of
climate change and other environmental
problems as issues deeply connected to us.
The frequency and magnitude of extreme
weather events are projected to increase as
climate change advances.
International society took a step forward
in mitigating climate change with the Kyoto
Protocol's entry into force on February 16,
2005. I believe that it is essential for Japan-
as the country which chaired the Third
Session of the Conference of the Parties to the
UNFCCC, at which the Protocol was adopted
- to fulfill its commitment to its six per centA-r
10
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United Nations Environment Programme. Our Planet, Volume 16, Number 1, 2005, periodical, 2005; Nairobi, Kenya. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc28518/m1/10/: accessed April 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; .