For Immediate Release
September 9, 2010
The Asahi Glass Foundation Announces Results of the 19th Annual“Questionnaire on Environmental Problems and the Survival of Humankind”●The average time on the Environmental Doomsday Clock retreated by 3 minutes from last year
to 9:19p.m, representing a retreat in the time for the second year in a row.
●The sense of crisis was lowest among respondents from Asia, including Japan.
●Respondents most often cited global warming as the main environmental concern in considering their
response on the Environmental Doomsday Clock.
●The majority of respondents do not view the outcome of COP15 favorably.
●Overall, the highest percentage of respondents chose “acceptance of international verification of reduction
measures by high emitting developing countries like China and India” as the first measure of success ofCOP16.
●More than 40 percent of respondents stated “unanimous consent of COP process has reached its limits.”●On the relationship between people and biodiversity, a dominant majority chose the importance of“managing, nurturing and conserving ecosystems” over “the use of biodiversity.”
The Asahi Glass Foundation (Chairman: Tetsuji Tanaka) has conducted surveys with environmental experts
around the world each year since 1992. This year, the Foundation received 675 responses from 81 countries.
The following are the major findings of the survey. (Please refer to the attached appendix for details on thesurvey and this year’s results.)

1. Awareness of the Crisis Facing Human Survival – The Environmental Doomsday Clock・ The average time on the Environmental Doomsday Clock retreated by 3 minutes from last year to 9:19,
representing a retreat in the time for the second year in a row. The sense of crisis diminished for thesecond consecutive year.
Movements in the Environmental Doomsday Clock (1992-2010, Overall)Movements in the Environmental Doomsday Clock( 2005-2010, Overall)1

・ By region, the average time on the environmental doomsday clock advanced by 65 minutes from lastyear in the Middle East, the highest of all regions, followed by Latin America and Oceania byapproximately 20 minutes as well as North America by 12 minutes and Africa by 9 minutes. The clock
advanced by 1 minute in Japan.
・ By contrast, the average time on the environmental doomsday clock in Asia excluding Japan retreated by 3
minutes from last year. Similarly, the time retreated in Western Europe, Eastern Europe & the former Soviet
Union, and the Rest of Asia approximately 10-14 minutes from last year.

Regions where the time advanced compared to last year are marked in red andwhere time retreated are marked in green.

●Environmental Conditions of Concern
・ In determining the time on the environmental doomsday clock, overall, respondents most frequently
cited “global warming” as the main environmental condition of concern upon selecting the time on thedoomsday clock. This was followed by “water shortage, food problems” and “deforestation,desertification, loss of biodiversity” at approximately the same levels.
・ Japanese respondents made similar selections to those from overseas.

（For more information about the Environmental Doomsday Clock, please refer to P5～P7of the survey report）

22. Evaluating the COP15●Evaluating the COP15/The Copenhagen Accord and Its Effects
・ Overall, 50% of respondents selected “it should not be commended,” with those who selected “it shouldbe commended” stagnating at 34%.

・ Overall, “CO2 emission reduction of high emitting emerging countries like China and India werediscussed for the first time” and “all major economies including the United States and China accepted
responsibility, paving the ground for emission reduction schemes” were the top reasons to commend
COP15, at 28% and 26% respectively.
・ In contrast, “the agreement at COP15 is limited to “taking note’ of the Copenhagen Accord and lacks
legal enforceability” was the top reason it could not be commended, at 34%.
Reasons for “Should be Commended”

Reasons for “Should not be Commended”

3

●The Conference Process at COP15・ At 42% , the highest percentage of respondents overall selected “as participants diverge in a multi-polarworld, unanimous consent has reached its limits. A set of mechanism and procedures to resolve
differences, separate from the conventional COP procedures, need to be developed.”（For more information about Evaluating the COP15, please refer to P10～P13 of the survey report）

3. The Outlook for COP16
・ Overall, respondents selected “acceptance of international verification of reduction measures by highemitting developing countries like China and India” and “finalization and commitment to a midterm
goal among developed countries” at 31% and 26% respectively, representing more than half of the total.

・ In Japan, the combined total of these two items reached approximately 70%. Additionally, 42% ofJapanese respondents, the highest of all regions, chose “acceptance of international verification ofreduction measures by high emitting developing countries like China and India” as the first measure ofsuccess of the COP16.

（For more information about the Outlook of the COP16, please refer to P14 of the survey report）

44. Expectation for the Convention on Biodiversity (COP10)●The relationship between people and biodiversity
・ Overall, respondents chose “conservation and rehabilitation of biodiversity through protecting species
and ecosystems,” “establishment of an international framework to protect and monitor biodiversity,”“reconstruction of traditional, harmonious relationships between people and biodiversity,” and“containment of activities that affect biodiversity like hunting, logging, fishing, and gathering,” at a
combined total of 73%. These four items amounted to dominant majority, and an indication that
respondents value managing, nurturing, and conserving ecosystems over the use of biodiversity.

●The agenda to be dealt with in COP10
・ Overall, respondents raised “fundamentally halt biodiversity loss by making it a primary concern ofsociety” and “reduce deforestation and overexploitation of natural resources and promote its sustainableuse” as the top two post-COP10 objectives.

（For more information about the COP10, refer to P17-P22 of the survey report）

55. Breach in Documents from Climate Research Institution
・ Overall, a majority of respondents indicated that their “understanding of climate change has notchanged; it has not been affected by the recent skepticism,” at 73%.

（For more information about the Breach in Documents from Climate Research Institution,
Please refer to P15 of the survey report）

6. Respondents’ Comments on “Simultaneous Achievement of Emission Reductions andEconomic Growth in Developing Countries”
We requested respondents to provide their opinions on a specific subject for the first time since theinception of this survey in 1992. We received valuable opinions from 228 respondents in 63 countries
overseas as well as from 206 respondents in Japan, for a total of 434 comments. We would like to sharethese opinions at Exhibit A.
The survey also requested respondents to write comments on any topic related to environmental problems.
This year we received 99 comments from 39 countries and 118 from Japan, totaling 217. From among them,
47 comments from 27 countries and 34 from Japan are listed in the report.

* Please refer to the report for the full results and details of the survey.
* The results are also available at the Foundations website, at www.af-info.or.jp, starting from 3:30pm on
September 9th.
For more information, please contact:
Tetsuro Yasuda, Secretary General
The Asahi Glass Foundation
2nd Floor, Science Plaza 5-3 Yonbancho Chiyoda-ku Tokyo 102-0081 Japan
Phone: +81-3-5275-0620 Fax: +81-3-5275-0871, e-mail: post@af-info.or.jp
URL: http://www.af-info.or.jp
6Appendix• About the “Questionnaire on Environmental Problems and the Survival of Humankind”
Since 1992, the Asahi Glass Foundation has conducted a survey each year with experts around the world
who are knowledgeable and are involved in environmental issues. The respondent pool includes
government officials and those in universities and research institutions, nongovernmental organizations,and within industries, and is queried about various endeavors to counter environmental problems. (Thesurvey is supervised by Professor Akio Morishima, Special Research Advisor of the Institute for Global
Environmental Strategies and board member of the Foundation.) The questionnaires are sent out toapproximately 4,000 respondents every April and collected by June. After the responses are compiled,compared, and analyzed, the survey results are announced in September. The questionnaire, as well as thereport, is available in Japanese, English, Chinese, Korean, and Spanish. The pie chart below shows theaffiliation of the questionnaire respondents in descending order. The questionnaire was sent to respondents
in 192countries.
No. of Countries Surveyed
Asia
AfricaOceania
Western Europe
Eastern Europe &former Soviet Union
Middle East
USA & Canada
Latin America

TotalSurveyed
2653
13212715234191• Facts about This Year’s Questionnaire

Srurvey period: Questionnaires were sent out in April 2010 with a return deadline of June
2010.
Questionnaire respondent pool: Environmental experts selected from members of governmentorganizations, academic and research institutions, NGOs, and corporations (based on theAsahi Glass Foundation database).
Questionnaires mailed: 4,290
Questionnaires returned: 675
Response rate: 15.7%
Breakdown of respondents by region, gender, and occupational affiliation:
RegionNumber of responses
Japan292
United States & Canada
28
Western Europe
55
Asian Four98
Developed Regions (Including Asian Four) 473
Rest of Asia (Excluding Japan, Asian Four) 114
Latin America
27
Africa20
Developing Regions
161
Oceania
13
Eastern Europe & former Soviet Union
21
Middle East
6
Others40
Overseas Total
383
Total
675

7

Percent of total
43.5
4.1
8.1
14.5
70.1
16.9
4.0
3.0
23.9
1.9
3.1
0.95.956.7
100.0