Japan’s Environment Policy

-

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.

#Japan #Environment #Policy #GreenhouseGas #GGE #Harmonization

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Avoid Plastic and Save Environment

-
Image
Avoid Plastic and Save Environment Plastic is like a common commodity which is essential in our daily lives. Bakelite, nylon and rubber are some examples of synthetic plastics. Almost everything is made of plastic! They are very convenient to use because of their malleability and plasticity. They can be easily moulded by heating. Plastic product may be non-toxic, but some small amounts of the chemicals remain trapped in the product. As a result, when these plastics come in contact with food stuffs, the chemicals mix with the food which we subsequently consume. Plastics are non-biodegradable solids. When we burnt, they release some toxic fumes which cause ozone depletion and pollution; many chemicals are released into the air as well as into water. All these bear hazardous environmental consequences. Plastics are made of crude oil and can be used as fuel. One litter of hydrocarbon is produced from one kilogram of plastic waste. Over 1 trillion plastic bags are used every year w...
Read more

Sustaining Renewable Energy

-
Image
Sustaining Renewable Energy By Dr Arvind Kumar T he success, thus far, of fossil fuels in meeting energy demand any time required has led to a belief that whatever we want we can always have whenever we want it. This of course is leading to problems as it patently can no longer be maintained. It also has lead to the development of quite unrealistic expectations as to how far renewables can replace fossil fuels. Renewable energy is being tagged on to a massive existing demand led fossil fuelled energy system that has historically recorded tremendous growth. Efforts at demand reduction and increased efficiency have seemingly resulted in slight savings and these are often deferred by people opting for higher comfort levels. Viewed in a broad spectrum, almost all the renewable technology presently installed has only made us 96% fossil fuel dependent rather than 100%! This is a cause of worry as to the very extreme degree of energy descent that may be experienced as we move further in...
Read more

Kisan Divas

-
Image
Kisan Divas By Dr Arvind Kumar 23 December is celebrated as Kisan Divas or Farmers’ Day to commemorate the memory of Chaudhary Charan Singh, whose life reflected his peasantry background and he understood problems of the farmer and did his best to help them. The plight of farmers in India has been very miserable in present-day India and they have always been at the receiving end since Independence. Their hard toil fetches them nothing except fake assurances from the dispensations at the helm. It’s sad and unfortunate that people who are indispensable for the growth of nation have been left to their fate. This is quite evident from the suicide cases in Maharashtra, Andhra and other parts of the country including West Bengal. In state like UP middlemen and Mandi officials ensure that the farmers turn into object of grief. The need of the hour is implementation of schemes introduced by the government. This can take place effectively if the village panchayts are provided more powe...
Read more