Environmental issues in Japan
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Environmental
Japan is the world's leading importer of both exhaustible and renewable natural resources[citation needed] and one of the largest consumers of fossil fuels.[2]
Environment deterioration in the 1960s
Current Japanese environmental policy and regulations were the consequence of a number of environmental disasters in the 1950s and 1960s that attended the high-speed economic growth associated with the
In
Environmentalist movements began to spring up around Japan in the wake of the 1960 Anpo protests, which energized a new generation of activists.[3] These movements gained momentum as Prime Minister Hayato Ikeda's Income Doubling Plan placed a priority on economic growth at all costs, exacerbating environmental problems.
In 1969, the Consumers Union of Japan was founded to deal with health problems and false claims by companies. The National Diet session of 1970 came to be remembered as "the Pollution Diet."[3] Responding to rising popular pressure and outrage, the Diet passed fourteen anti-pollution laws in a single session, in what was seen as a turning point in environmental policy.[3] As a result, Japan had what were at the time the strongest set of environmental protection laws in the world.[3]
These new laws included a Water Pollution Act and nationwide regulations of toxic discharges. The "polluter pays" principle was introduced. A national Environmental Agency, which later developed into the Ministry of Environment, was founded in 1971.
In the latter half of the 1970s, the Consumers Union of Japan led the opposition to nuclear power, calling for a nationwide Anti-Nuclear Power Week Campaign. This movement would continue to grow over the next several decades into a sizable anti-nuclear power movement in Japan.
In the 1990s, Japan's environmental legislation was further tightened. In 1993 the government reorganized the environment law system and legislated the Basic Environment Law (環境基本法) and related laws. The law includes restriction of industrial emissions, restriction of products, restriction of wastes, improvement of energy conservation, promotion of recycling, restriction of land utilization, the arrangement of environmental pollution control programs, relief of victims and provision for sanctions. The Environment Agency was promoted to full-fledged Ministry of the Environment in 2001, to deal with the deteriorating international environmental problems.
In 1984 the Environmental Agency had issued its first
The OECD's first Environmental Performance Review of Japan was published in 1994, which applauded the nation for decoupling its economic development from air pollution, as the nation's air quality improved while the economy thrived. However, it received poorer marks for water quality, as its rivers, lakes and coastal waters did not meet quality standards.[6] Another report in 2002 said that the mix of instruments used to implement environmental policy is highly effective and regulations are strict, well enforced and based on strong monitoring capacities.[7]
In the 2006 environment annual report,
Current issues
Waste management
Japan burns close to two thirds of its waste in municipal and industrial incinerators.[9] In 1999, some experts estimated 70 percent of the world's waste incinerators were located in Japan.[9] Combined with incinerator technologies of the time, this caused Japan to have the highest level of dioxin in its air of all G20 nations.[9] In 2019, technological progress had brought the problem of dioxins under control, no longer posing a major threat.[10] In 2001, the US Department of Justice brought suit against Japan for the deaths of U.S. service-members at Naval Air Facility Atsugi caused by a nearby waste incinerator known as Jinkanpo Atsugi Incinerator.[11] This has called into question the Japanese government line that the thousands of incinerators in Japan are safe.
Climate change
Nuclear power
Japan maintains one-third of its electric production from nuclear power plants. While a majority of Japanese citizens generally supported the use of existing nuclear reactors, since the
The treatment of
Fishery and whaling
In Japanese diets, fish and its products are more prominent than other types of meat, so much so that fish consumption in Japan has been noted to be the highest in the world at times.[16] In a fact sheet released by the FAO in 2010, it highlighted that with the exception of 2007, Japan has been the leading importer of fish and fishery products since 1970s.[17] Even in today's market, Japan, is the third largest single market in the world for fish and fish products.[18][19] It is estimated that in 2008 that Japan eat 81 percent of the worlds fresh tuna.[20] These reasons are why Japan has one of the most overfished waters in the world.
By 2004, the number of adult Atlantic Bluefin Tuna capable of spawning had plummeted to roughly 19 percent of the 1975 level in the western half of the ocean. Japan has a quarter of the world supply of the five big species: bluefin, southern bluefin, bigeye, yellowfin and albacore.[21] As of 2005, more than ten species faced serious stock depletion. Moreover, the authorities has started to implement stock rebuilding plans for mackerel, snow crab, sailfin sandfish, Japanese anchovy, tiger puffer, and several other species, as stock diminished to depletive measures.[22] These stock rebuilding plans were essential, because data shown by Japan's Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries highlights that mackerel stocks in the northern Sea of Japan were around 85,000 tonnes compared to 800,000 tonnes or so in the 1990s.[23]
However, because of the depletion of ocean stocks in the late 20th century and government intervention, Japan's total annual fish catch has been diminishing rapidly. Government policy that has been implemented include The Total Allowable Catch System (TACs). This was ratified by the Japanese government and a law simply known as the TAC law came into place on the 14th June 1996, which essentially sets quotas on the amount that fisheries are allowed to catch, together this coupled with the stock rebuilding plans is slowly reversing years of overfishing that has happened in Japanese waters.[16]
Whaling for research purposes continued even after the moratorium on commercial whaling in 1986. This whaling program has been criticized by environmental protection groups and anti-whaling countries, who say that the program is not for scientific research.
Urban planning
The massive nationwide rebuilding efforts in the aftermath of World War II, and the development of the following decades, led to even further urbanization and construction. The construction industry in Japan is one of its largest, and while Japan maintains a great many parks and other natural spaces, even in the hearts of its cities, there are few major restrictions on where and how construction can be undertaken. Alex Kerr, in his books "Lost Japan" and "Dogs & Demons",[24] is one of a number of authors who focuses heavily on the environmental problems related to Japan's construction industry, and the industry's lobbying power preventing the introduction of stricter zoning laws and other environmental issues.
Electronic waste management
Forests
Japan had a 2018 Forest Landscape Integrity Index mean score of 5.8/10, ranking it 95th globally out of 172 countries.[25]
Past issues
- Pollution from the Ashio Copper Mine in the 1880s
See also
References
- ^ The Ashio Copper mine pollution case: The origins of environmental destruction Archived 2010-12-02 at the Wayback Machine, Yoshiro Hoshino et al., United Nations University, 1992
- ^ "Japan is the second largest net importer of fossil fuels in the world". US Energy Information Administration. Nov 7, 2013.
- ^ ISBN 9780674988484.
- ^ "Environmental Protection Policy in Japan - Introduction". Ministry of the Environment, Japan. Retrieved 13 October 2012.
- ^ 環境問題に関する世論調査 Archived 2008-02-08 at the Wayback Machine, 内閣府大臣官房政府広報室
- Japan Times, June 2, 2001,
- Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
- ^ Annual Report on the Environment in Japan 2006, Ministry of the Environment
- ^ a b c "Dioxin: Levels high in incinerator-happy Japan". Archived from the original on 2015-11-28. Retrieved 2015-01-17.
- ^ "The Burning Problem of Japan's Waste Disposal". Tokyo Review. 2019-07-09. Retrieved 2019-10-18.
- ^ "Is the Atsugi tragedy finally drawing to a close? | The Japan Times". 28 February 2010.
- ^ a b c d e "CP - Home". www.climate-of-the-past.net. Retrieved 2023-05-16.
- ^ "Japan anti-nuclear movement gains traction as crisis drags on". Reuters. 8 April 2011. Archived from the original on 2022-05-07.
- ^ Global Public Opinion on Nuclear Issues and the IAEA Archived April 9, 2008, at the Wayback Machine, International Atomic Energy Agency
- ^ "Japan PM Naoto Kan vows nuclear-free future | The Australian". Archived from the original on 2011-08-07.
- ^ a b "Japan". www.fao.org. Archived from the original on 2021-09-27. Retrieved 2021-02-11.
- ^ "FACT SHEET: The international fish trade and world fisheries" (PDF). United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). April 2010.
- OCLC 1082364233.)
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: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: others (link - ^ Fish and fishery products, Food and Agriculture Organization
- ^ "Will Fish-Loving Japan Embrace Sustainable Seafood?". Yale E360. Retrieved 2021-02-11.
- ^ "Unprecedented Summit in Japan Aims to Tackle Overfishing of Dwindling Tuna Stock". Associated Press. 2007-01-24. Retrieved 2008-01-14.
- )
- ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2021-02-11.
- ISBN 0-14-101000-2
- PMID 33293507.
This article includes text from the public domain Library of Congress "Country Studies" at http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/.
Further reading
- ISBN 9780241958681). See chapter 9 entitled "Opposite Paths to Success".