Quality of the Environment in Japan 1997

New Approaches and Responsibilities to Arrest Global Warming

Environment Agency

contents

To Readers

This booklet is based on the summary of the Japanese government's "White Paper on the Environment" which was drawn up for the fiscal year 1997 and made public after its adoption at the June 3rd Cabinet meeting. The Environment Agency has re-edited the paper, adding new information and photographs, in order to make it easier to understand and more accessible to the general public.

This year is the 25th anniversary of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment that was held in Stockholm. During the quarter of a century that has ensued, new environmental issues have emerged, such as global warming and loss of biodiversity, and these do not just have the potential to hugely impact the future generations of humankind but also threaten the basic life support base that maintains humanity. Furthermore, this year is an Important year for the global environment as It witnesses the Special Session of the United Nations General Assembly Devoted to Environment and Development which was held in June, and will also mark the Third Session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change which is to be held in December.

Bearing the above points in mind, this year's "White paper" Is developed along the following theme "New Approaches and Responsibilities to Arrest Global Warming." Focusing on the global warming" issue, the Paper analyses current situations and suggests concrete measures to address the problems that exist. The white paper also deals with two problems which are becoming familiar issues in the daily lives of the general public, those of waste disposal and of the chemical contamination of the environment. In order to solve these problems, it suggests the revision of the existing mass-production, mass-consumption, mass-disposal society in which we live and, in the process, a revision of the very lifestyles that all of us lead. The white paper also introduces various approaches that have been developed to cope with the problems that exist in the fields of science and technology, education, and the economy.

We hope that this booklet will help each of you to start taking action and to become involved in concrete environmental conservation activities.

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New Approaches and Responsibilities to Arrest Global Warming

Environment Agency

contents

To Readers

This booklet is based on the summary of the Japanese government's "White Paper on the Environment" which was drawn up for the fiscal year 1997 and made public after its adoption at the June 3rd Cabinet meeting. The Environment Agency has re-edited the paper, adding new information and photographs, in order to make it easier to understand and more accessible to the general public.

This year is the 25th anniversary of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment that was held in Stockholm. During the quarter of a century that has ensued, new environmental issues have emerged, such as global warming and loss of biodiversity, and these do not just have the potential to hugely impact the future generations of humankind but also threaten the basic life support base that maintains humanity. Furthermore, this year is an Important year for the global environment as It witnesses the Special Session of the United Nations General Assembly Devoted to Environment and Development which was held in June, and will also mark the Third Session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change which is to be held in December.

Bearing the above points in mind, this year's "White paper" Is developed along the following theme "New Approaches and Responsibilities to Arrest Global Warming." Focusing on the global warming" issue, the Paper analyses current situations and suggests concrete measures to address the problems that exist. The white paper also deals with two problems which are becoming familiar issues in the daily lives of the general public, those of waste disposal and of the chemical contamination of the environment. In order to solve these problems, it suggests the revision of the existing mass-production, mass-consumption, mass-disposal society in which we live and, in the process, a revision of the very lifestyles that all of us lead. The white paper also introduces various approaches that have been developed to cope with the problems that exist in the fields of science and technology, education, and the economy.

We hope that this booklet will help each of you to start taking action and to become involved in concrete environmental conservation activities.

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