Proceedings of 2006
International Symposia

Transition toa Resource-circulating Society
Strategies and Initiatives in Asia

EDITED BY

Tohru Morioka
Kazuhito Haruki
Helmut Yabar
Supported by:Special Coordination Funds for Promoting Science and Technology of the Ministryof Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) of Japan㩷㩷Transition to a Resource-circulating Society㩷㩷Transition to a Resource-circulating Society
Strategies and Initiatives in Asia
̅̅ Proceedings of 2006 International Symposia ̅̅

Edited by
Tohru Morioka
Division of Sustainable Energy and Environmental Engineering,
Graduate School of Engineering, Osaka University, Osaka, Japan

Associate Editors
Kazuhito Haruki, Helmut Yabar
Research Institute for Sustainability Science (RISS)Osaka University, Osaka, Japan

Copyright © T. Morioka, K. Haruki and H. Yabar. 2007
Published by Osaka University Press, Osaka University, 1-1 Yamadaoka Suitashi, Osaka, Japan 565-0871
Printed in JapanAll rights reserved. No part of this publicaion may be reproduced or transmitted
in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy,
recording, or information storage and retrieval systems, without permission inwriting from the publisher.

Printed on 100 percent recycled paper.

㩷㩷

Table of Contents
List of Figures ······················································································································· vii
List of Tables··························································································································· x
Preface ··································································································································· xi
Corresponding Authors········································································································· xiii
The Pathway to a Sustainable Industrial Society
1.

Industrial Transformation Strategies towards Sustainable Development·····················3
Tohru Morioka and Helmut Yabar

2.

Rethinking, Reform and Renovation: Switch the Eco-complexity of

Production-Consumption into Sustainability of Efficiency-Harmony································21
Rusong Wang and Feng Li
3.

Towards a Closed-loop Economy: Experiences from Zhejiang Region in
China····································································································································35
Minjun Shi, Huan Zheng Du and Zhaodong Mao

4.

Environmental Management in Industrial Development: Resource
Conservation and Material Recycling Strategy in Vietnam ··········································41
Phung Thuy Phuong

5.

What does Sustainability Mean to Yuhan-Kimberly? ···················································57
Joong Woo Ahn, Ki Wook Song, Kyung Shin Kim and Ji Yeon Ahn

6.

Toward the Sustainable Circulation of Products among Asian Countries ··················65
Yasushi Umeda and Yusuke Kishita

Sustainable Management of Food, Biomass and Water Resources
7.

Key Obstacles to Sustainable Agriculture in Hokkaido·················································79
Yutaka Saito and Nobuyuki Tsuji

8.

Integrated Water Resources Management Strategies towards Sustainable
Development in Vietnam····································································································89
Kenichi Nakagami, Dung Nguyen Vo Huyen and Van Huy Nguyen

vi Table of Contents

㩷

㩷
9.

Biomass Asia Partnership································································································101

Shinya Yokoyama and Yutaka Kaizu
10. Conservation of Biological Productivity Supporting Sustainable Biomass
Utility ································································································································· 111
Takashi Machimura
Policy Measures towards Sustainability at Different Scales
11. Multiple Approaches to Asian Sustainability ································································123
Kazuyoshi Okazawa
12. Current Environmental Issues in South Korea and Policies towarda Sustainable Society ···············································································································135
Jung Wk Kim
13. Environmental Problems and Strategies in China ·······················································153
Yanqing Wu
14. On the Circular Economy Legislation of Shanghai City Guided by the
Ideal of a Circular Economy Society··············································································163
Xi Wang, Yuan Hu and Lu Fu
15. Towards Sustainable Rural Development: Combining Biodiversity
Conservation with Poverty Alleviation - a Case Study in Phu My Village,
Kien Giang Province, Vietnam ·······················································································181
Tran Triet and Richard Caines㩷

Table of Contents vii

㩷List of Figures
1.1

Implementation plan towards a closed-loop economy in Japan································ 5

1.2

Eco-town projects in Japan······················································································ 7

1.3

Product and process policy: green product design ··················································· 9

1.4

Corporate green management strategies ································································ 10

1.5

CO2 emission trends in Asia (1990-2000) ······························································11

1.6

Urban redevelopment with sustainable urban metabolism ····································· 12

1.7Japan’s action plan for the global promotion of zero waste···································· 13

1.8

RISS flagship project: achieving a closed-loop economy in Asia··························· 15

2.1

Closing the loop: social-economic-natural complex ecosystem ····························· 22

2.2

Three goals of circular economy············································································ 25

4.1

Kalundborg industrial ecosystem··········································································· 46

5.1

Yuhan-Kimberly organization chart for sustainability············································ 59

5.2

A new sustainability paradigm··············································································· 59

5.3

Water emissions ···································································································· 60

5.4

Air emissions ········································································································ 60

5.5Effect of sourcing change in recycled paper ·························································· 61

5.6

Printing process of conventional vs. digital ··························································· 62

5.7

LCA result of digital vs. conventional printing ······················································ 62

5.8

Yuhan-Kimberly supply chain environmental management (SCEM) ····················· 62

5.9

Achievement of SCEM in 2006············································································· 62

5.10

Campaign logo ······································································································ 63

5.11

Planting trees by newly-wed couples since 1985 ··················································· 63

6.1

Secondhand market of car parts in Bangkok·························································· 67

6.2

Fuji Xerox eco-manufacturing (Fuji Xerox 2006)·················································· 70

6.3

Global circulation in the case study ······································································· 72

6.4

Simulation results·································································································· 74

7.1

Spatial separation of farming areas of Hokkaido agriculture·································· 81

7.2

Implementing agencies for the Sustainability Governance Project (SGP)in Hokkaido University and its main themes ························································· 83

7.3

Brief sketch of the systems flow in Furano city ····················································· 84

7.4

An example of restoring damaged Fujian bamboo forests throughviii Table of Contents㩷㩷
biodiversity ··········································································································· 86
8.1

Integrated water resources management ································································ 92

9.1

Characteristics of biomass ··················································································· 103

9.2

Biomass energy conversion technologies····························································· 104

9.3

Oil supply and demand in Asia ············································································ 107

9.4

Example of whole biomass utilization system ····················································· 107

9.5

Image of Biomass Asia Strategy ·········································································· 108

10.1

Global NPP map (Efimova 1977). Unit is tdw ha–1 y–1·······································113

10.2

Actual NPP of Japanese cedar (Cryptomeria japonica) plantation ofdifferent yield classes in Hyogo prefecture, central Japan·····································114

10.3

Concept of systematic biomass products selection based on potential
productivity and product pathways ·······································································116

10.4

Nitrogen cycle related to agriculture activity in 1990–92 and 2000–02 in
Khon Kaen Province, Thailand (kgN ha–1 y–1) ···················································116

10.5

Wood volume yield distribution in the Yodo River basin, 30 years after
beginning forest management in units of m3 ha–1················································118

10.6

Soil carbon storage distribution in the Yodo River basin in units of tC
ha–1 ·····················································································································118

10.7

Estimated potential habitat of the Japanese black bear (Ursus thibetanus
japonicus) in the Yodo River basin by means of linear discriminant
analysis ················································································································119

11.1

Several approaches towards a sustainable society················································ 127

11.2

Copper material flow in Japan (2003)·································································· 129

11.3

National and regional cycles (MOE 2005)··························································· 130

11.4

Urban-rural material cycle··················································································· 132

13.1

3-type water quality of China’s main rivers ························································· 155

13.2

4-5 types water quality of China’s main rivers····················································· 155

13.3

Wastewater discharged into surface water bodies from 1989 to 2005 ·················· 155

13.4

Soot discharged into the atmosphere of China from 1989 to 2005 ······················· 156

13.5

Industrial dust discharged into the atmosphere of China from 1989 to
2005 ···················································································································· 156

13.6

Sulfur dioxide emissions of China from 1989 to 2005 ········································· 156

13.7

5- type water quality of China inshore sea from 1999 to 2005 ····························· 157

㩷

Table of Contents ix

㩷
13.8

The frequency of red tide occurrence in the China inland sea region ··················· 157

13.9

The area of red tide occurrence in the China inland sea region ···························· 157

13.10

Industrial solid waste production of China from 1989 to 2005····························· 158

13.11

Environmental effects of human activities ··························································· 158

13.12

Common three-ring sector view of sustainable development ······························· 159

13.13

The nested model for sustainable development···················································· 159

13.14

Fuzzy boundaries: merging society and economy and opening up to theEnvironment········································································································ 160

13.15

A model of sustainable development merging society, economy and theEnvironment········································································································ 160

15.1

The project site: Phu My Village, Kien Luong District, Kien Giang
Province ·············································································································· 183

x Table of Contents㩷㩷
List of Tables
1.1

Asian environmental policy: 3R and integrated waste management
Orientation ············································································································ 14

6.1

Scenarios of the global circulation········································································· 72

8.1

Water volume supplied in Ho Chi Minh in recent years (Saigon Water
Supply Company)·································································································· 95

8.2

Water volume supplied in June 2006 (Saigon Water Supply Company,2006)····················································································································· 96

8.3

Water Demand and Supply in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon Water Supply
Company, 2006) ···································································································· 96

8.4

The percentage of water usage of each user’s group at different block
rates (Water Supply Company, 2005) ···································································· 97

11.1

Asia among the world·························································································· 125㩷㩷
Preface
The rapid economic growth of emerging nations in Asia is bringing welfare and higher living
standards to many people. However, this economic growth is usually accompanied by hugematerial resources and energy consumption that, due to the lack of appropriate technology
development, is putting an enormous burden on our already fragile environment. Problems
such as environmental degradation, solid waste and air pollution, energy and resource
depletion, biodiversity loss, and overpopulation in urban regions constitute a bottleneck for thetransition to a sustainable Asia. In order to promote a smooth transition towards sustainability,
we need an integral system innovation that can decouple economic growth fromenvironmental pressure while bringing welfare to our societies. This means we have toimprove our current socio-economic and engineering practices and strategies in such areas as
renewable energy promotion and utilization, emission reduction in production andconsumption, and urban and regional planning, etc.
Terms like “sustainability” have been widely used in recent years. However, given
its complex and wide-ranging meaning, there are considerable differences among people,
regions and countries. In addition, until recently the sustainability issue was addressed
separately by engineering science and social science, eliciting only limited results. In an
attempt to address the sustainability challenge, Osaka University’s Research Institute for
Sustainability Science (RISS) proposes a dynamic system innovation, where science andtechnology play a central role in fulfilling societal functions within the limits of the earth life
support systems. The system innovation is based on a problem-solving approach that exploits
backcasting techniques with long-term visions and mid-term strategic goals.
As part of its research program, RISS organized two international symposia in 2006:“Sustainable Society and Industry Transformation” in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam and“Strategies to Achieve a Closed-loop Economy in Asia” in Osaka, Japan. This volumecontains a selection of fifteen papers that were presented at both events. The volume is divided
into three chapters. The first, entitled “The Pathway to a Sustainable Industrial Society”
addresses the various efforts and initiatives to promote system innovation through science andtechnology and sustainable engineering practices, industrial systems development based on
the industrial ecology approach, the application of sustainable management practices incorporations and the Asian trade in end of life products through the introduction of extended
producer responsibility (EPR) on a regional scale. The second, entitled “Sustainablexi

xii Preface㩷㩷Management of Food, Biomass and Water Resources”, outlines the different strategies at local,
national and regional levels to preserve these valuable resources. The articles outline specificpractices to promote sustainable agriculture through bio-diversity augmentation andpolycultural agriculture, the management of water resources based on financial mechanisms,
energy alternatives to fossil fuels through the development and dissemination of biomassenergy conversion technologies, and sustainable biomass production through biologicalproductivity conservation. Finally, the third chapter, entitled “Policy Measures towards
Sustainability at Different Scales”, addresses the policy initiatives used to achieve asustainability transition. The articles introduce multiple approaches towards sustainability in
Asia through sustainable cities, a de-carbonized society, the 3R initiatives (reduce, reuse andrecycle), national environmental and land-use management policies, initiatives to addressenvironmental degradation caused by rapid industrialization, and local legislation to promote
the circular economy.
By introducing innovative ideas and strategies in environmental and social changes,
policy innovation, and industrial transformation, this book expects to contribute to theadvancement and cooperation of the research and education activities towards a sustainableAsia.
We would like to express our gratitude to the Special Coordination Funds for
Promoting Science and Technology of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science andTechnology (MEXT) of Japan for their support. We also would like to thank the co-organizersof these events: Integrated Research System for Sustainability Science (IR3S), The United
Nations University Zero Emissions Forum (UNU/ZERI), Hokkaido University Sustainability
Governance Project (SGP), University of Natural Sciences Vietnam National University Ho
Chi Minh City (VNU-HCMC), Nong Lam University, Ho Chi Minh City Department of
Natural Resources and Environment (DONRE) and EBARA Hatakeyama Memorial Fund.
Finally we would like to thank the participants for their important contribution to the successof these symposia.
The editors
Tohru Morioka
Kazuhito Haruki
Helmut Yabar㩷㩷

Corresponding Authors

Ahn, Joong Woo
Yuhan-Kimberly, Sustainable Management, Seoul, South Korea
E-mail: jwahn@y-k.co.kr
Kim, Jung Wk
Graduate School of Environmental Studies
Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea
E-mail: kimjw@snu.ac.kr
Machimura, Takashi
Graduate School of Engineering,Osaka University, Osaka, Japan
E-mail: mach@see.eng.osaka-u.ac.jp
Morioka, Tohru
Division of Sustainable Energy and Environmental Engineering,
Graduate School of Engineering, Osaka University, Osaka, Japan
E-mail: tmorioka@see.eng.osaka-u.ac.jp
Nakagami, KenichiCollege of Asia Pacific Studies
Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University, Oita, Japan
E-mail: nakagami@apu.ac.jp
Okazawa, Kazuyoshi
University of Tokyo,
Integrated Research System for Sustainable Science, Tokyo, Japan
E-mail: okazawa@ir3s.u-tokyo.ac.jp
Phuong, Phung Thuy
Department of Botany and Ecology,
University of Natural Sciences, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
E-mail: ptphuong@hcmuns.edu.vn
Saito, Yutaka
Research Institute of Agriculture,
Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan
E-mail: yutsat@res.agr.hokudai.ac.jp
Shi, Minjun
Research Center of Data Technology and Knowledge Economy,
Graduate University of Chinese Academy of Sciences
Email: mjshi@gucas.ac.cn

xiii

xiv Corresponding Authors㩷㩷
Triet, Tran
International Crane Foundation, Southeast Asia Program, andUniversity of Natural Sciences, Vietnam National University - Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
E-mail: ttriet@gmail.com
Umeda, Yasushi
Research Institute for Sustainability Science,
Osaka University, Osaka, Japan
E-mail : umeda@mech.eng.osaka-u.ac.jp
Wang, Rusong
Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences,
Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
E-mail: wangrs@rcees.ac.cn
Wang, Xi
Environmental and Resources Law Institute,
Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China
E-mail: wangxi@sjtu.edu.cn
Wu, Yanqing
School of Environmental Science and Engineering,
Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China
E-mail: wuyanqing@sjtu.edu.cn
Yokoyama, Shinya
Department of Biological and Environmental Engineering
Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences
The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
E-mail: syokoyama@bme.en.a.u-tokyo.ac.jp

㩷㩷

The Pathway to a Sustainable Industrial Society㩷㩷

1. Industrial Transformation Strategies towards Sustainable
Development
Tohru Morioka1 and Helmut Yabar2
1

Graduate School of Engineering, Osaka University, Osaka, Japan

2

Osaka University, Research Institute for Sustainability Science (RISS), Osaka, Japan

ABSTRACT
Strategies towards a closed-loop economy with green industry, on local, nationwide and regional scales,
are among the most important sustainability-oriented initiatives. In Japan, the 3 Rs (Reduce, Re-use andRecycle) programs, eco-town promotion, and green product design initiatives have dramatically
improved its eco-efficient performance in terms of both production/consumption and urban activities.
Japan has passed through various stages in addressing environmental issues: the reactive policies driven
by the environmental degradation of the 60’s and 70’s, the strategies to improve efficiency in the
production process through resource use optimization following the oil crises in the late 70’s and 80’s
and the development of markets based on improved eco-efficiency performance, the dissemination of“green” products through integrated supply management, the introduction and dissemination of productand service systems and corporate social responsibility from the 90’s. In this article, based on successful
experiences in Japan and other developed nations, the authors outline the efforts and strategies to achievea sustainable Asia through 3R programs, Eco-town and Eco Industrial Park (EIP) networking systems,
Product and Service Systems (PSS), urban-rural linkages, and eco-infrastructure management inmetropolitan areas. This initiative is discussed within the research framework of the Research Institutefor Sustainability Science (RISS), as well as the research framework of the Integrated Research System
for Sustainability Science (IR3S) Flagship research project “the design and development of sustainable
closed-loop economies in Asia”. The authors also introduce a research framework for sustainable urban
metabolism. A comprehensive understanding of the urban metabolism is imperative to promotesustainable urban development. In this sense, MFA is an important tool that allows us to identify themain problems and constraints along the total material throughput of the economy, while seeking viable
and sustainable alternatives to overcome these constraints. The article also stresses that while thephysical analysis of the economy is important, it may be more important to monitor the level of societal
services provided by the economy, such as health, employment, education, housing and recreation.
Keywords: Industrial transformation, Sustainability science, Regional strategies, Green product design

4 Tohru Morioka and Helmut Yabar㩷㩷
INTRODUCTION
The strategies to develop a “closed-loop ecologically sound and innovative society” havesome similarities with the International Human Dimensions Program on Global
Environmental Change – Industrial Transformation project (IHDP-IT) research frame(IHDP-IT 2001). These research initiatives have in common the search for a transition towards
a sustainable society. This article outlines current generic efforts, particularly the ResearchInstitute for Sustainability Science (RISS) initiative, to achieve a sustainable Asia bypromoting a closed-loop economy through 3R programs, Eco-town and eco-industrial park(EIP) network systems, product and service systems (PSS) and the harmonization ofurban-rural-industry linkages. These industrial metabolism issues are discussed within the
research framework of RISS, as well as the research framework of the Integrated Research
System for Sustainability Science (IR3S) flagship research project.
JAPANESE STRATEGIES TOWARDS SUSTAINABILITY
One of the most important challenges modern societies face is how to bridge thesocio-economic gap between developed and developing nations while also promoting andreorienting current strategies towards sustainable development in a cooperative way. The
promotion and transfer of technology development and management for environmental
conservation are among the key strategies to bridge this gap. Even though product and process
innovations are important to address the problems generated by current production andconsumption patterns (Morioka et al. 2006a) they are insufficient to achieve a sustainability
transition.
Sustainable urban metabolism strategies aim to decouple economic growth fromenvironmental degradation at the level of the firm as well as locally and nationwide. The
IHDP-IT program, for instance, deals with decoupling economic growth from environmentalpressure via system transformation. The program established five flagship research activities,
namely: energy and material flows, food (production and consumption), water and transport inurban contexts, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and governance andtransformation processes (IHDP-IT 2001). In Japan, the 3R programs, eco-town promotion,and green product design initiatives have helped dramatically improve the resource
productivity of the economy.

㩷

1. Industrial Transformation Strategies towards Sustainable Development 5㩷Environmental policies in Japan
Figure 1.1 shows the linkage between the fundamental law for establishing a sound material
cycle society and specific related laws in Japan. These laws perceive, for instance, containers
and packages (glass, PET and other plastic and paper cartons), end-of life (EOL) home
appliances and EOL vehicles as resources rather than waste and demand their appropriate
recovery. In this sense, the policy priority clearly emphasizes that resource recovery must
follow the hierarchical order of reduce, reuse and recycle. At the same time the government
has promoted local and regional action plans for “Establishing Environmentally Sound
Material-Cycle Society” in local governments through eco-town projects. Eco-towns are
local/regional initiatives that promote sustainable resource management. Currently, a variety
of EOL resources are being recycled and/or recovered on local and regional scales.
Japanese policies based on macroscopic metabolism accounting
In order to promote sustainable production and consumption patterns, the Japanese
government went one step further and formulated the “Basic Plan for Establishing a
Recycling-based Society” in 2003, which introduced indicators derived from physical material
flow accounting (MOE 2003). The objective of the plan is to promote comprehensive policies
towards a closed-loop economy. More specifically, the plan sets a target for each of the three
indicators representing the three aspects of the material flows of the economy. These arenamely input, cycle and output indicators. The three indicators with quantitative targets for theperiod 2000-2010 are:
Basic Environment Law andPlan
Fundamental Plan for Establishing a Sound Material-Cycle Society

Waste Disposal and Public Cleansing Law
Law for the
Promotion ofSortedCollection andRecycling
Containers andPackaging

Law for the
Recycling ofSpecifiedKinds of Home
Appliances

Local action planLaw for the Promotion of Effective Utilities ofResources

Construction
Material
Recycling Law

Law for the
Recycling of
Law forEnd-of-Life
Promotion of
VehiclesRecycling andRelatedActivities for
Treatment of
Cyclical Food
Resources
Local council‷⁥⁦⁓⁔⁞⁛⁥⁚⁛⁠⁙‒‵⁡⁧⁠⁕⁛⁞‒⁡⁠‒⁂⁤⁡ ⁡⁦⁛⁠⁙‒⁌⁗⁤⁡‟⁩⁓⁥⁦⁗‒‟ ⁂⁞⁓⁠‒⁘⁡⁤‒‷⁥⁦⁓⁔⁞⁛⁥⁚⁛⁠⁙‒‷⁠⁨⁛⁤⁡⁠ ⁗⁠⁦⁓⁞⁞⁫‒⁅⁡⁧⁠⁖‒‵⁛⁦⁫‒⁛⁠‒⁆⁡⁝⁫⁡‒‿⁗⁦⁤⁡⁢⁡⁞⁛⁦⁓⁠‒″⁤⁗⁓‒⁓⁠⁖‒‽⁫⁡⁦⁡‟‿⁓⁦⁗⁤⁛⁓⁞‟‵⁫⁕⁞⁗‒⁅⁡⁕⁛⁗⁦⁫‒⁛⁠‒⁞⁡⁕⁓⁞‒⁙⁡⁨⁗⁤⁠⁗⁠⁦⁥‒
Law Concerning the Promotion of Procurementof Eco-Friendly
Goods and Services by the State and⁁⁥⁓⁝⁓‟‽⁡⁔⁗ ″⁤⁗⁓‟ ⁂⁤⁡ ⁡⁦⁛⁠⁙‒‷⁕⁡‟⁦⁡⁩⁠‒⁂⁤⁡⁜⁗⁕⁦
Other Entities

Figure 1.1 Implementation plan towards a closed-loop economy inJapan6 Tohru Morioka and Helmut Yabar㩷㩷xResource input: Resource productivity: GDP/DMI (40% improvement);x

Material recycling rate (40% improvement); andx

Waste output: Waste for final disposal (50% decrease).
Whereas the material recycling rate and waste output indicators relate to theconventional view of waste management, the input indicator reflects a comprehensive view of
the relationship between economic activities and natural resources use, i.e. the decoupling of
economic growth from environmental degradation.
Japanese governmental efforts also include the sustainable use of energy resources.
The legal framework of Japan’s strategies to combat global warming includes two main
policies: the law concerning the promotion and measures to cope with global warming and thelaw concerning the rational use of energy. With this policy platform and societal collaboration,
Japan expects to achieve the Kyoto Protocol 6% GHG emissions reduction commitment by
the period 2008-2012.
Along with its national policies, the government also promotes local and regional
action plans for establishing an environmentally sound material-cycle society in local
governments by means of eco-town projects. Eco-towns are regional initiatives that target themutual utilization of by-products and waste among industries at a local level. Currently, avariety of EOL resources are being recycled and/or recovered at local and regional levels.
Eco-town initiatives not only encourage the application of industrial ecology practices throughthe exchange of by-products, but also promote sustainable business models by promoting theextension of the products/services life-cycle by means of repair and maintenance services(Morioka et al. 2005).
Practical implementation on a local scale towards a closed-loop economy: Eco-towns in
Japan
The Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) and Ministry of theEnvironment (MOE) introduced the eco-town initiatives in Japan in 1997. Eco towns areenvironmentally harmonized industrial recycling sites with governmental financial support(Morioka et al. 2003). These projects were triggered by learning from EIP experiences, suchas Chattanooga in the USA and Kalundborg in Denmark and their efforts to promote thecirculation of resources in industrial areas by using the practices and concept of industrial
ecology. Eco-town projects can be defined as regional scale initiatives that target the effective㩷

1. Industrial Transformation Strategies towards Sustainable Development 7

㩷resource circulation of a full range of by-products.
Currently there are 26 eco-town projects in Japan (Fig. 1.2). Among the mostrepresentative eco-towns, Kitakyushu eco-town, for instance, focuses on the comprehensive
management of EOL resources, such as PET bottles, home appliances, office automation (OA)
equipment, and EOL automobiles. Some other eco-towns, such as Aomori, Kamaishi, andToyama, focus on biomass resources, while others focus on the development and promotion ofadvanced technology, such as gasification plants, to produce industrial chemical products from
EOL resources. There are also efforts to promote integral cooperation among eco-towns
through clustering. Tokyo, Kawasaki and Chiba eco-towns started a clustering initiative in
2001. There have been some efforts to classify the eco-towns in terms of their most
predominant characteristics. Sato et al (2004), for instance, categorized the eco-towns into:
eco-towns that promote the development of environmental industries, eco-towns that focus onwaste treatment and those that promote and enhance citizens’ participation.

Volumeof recyclable
operated
EIP in Japan
Volumeof recyclableresources
resources treatedin 25inEco-towns
metal resources
6%

mixed waste
19%

other resource2%

Total Volume
in Eco-Towns

fossil fuelresource
25%

Hokkaido

1,400[thousand ton / year]

nonmetallic
mineralresource
37%

Aomori, Kamaishi,
Toyama, Chiba:
Biomass resources
recycling

biomassresources
11%

Sapporo

Akita
Hyogo, Yamaguchi, Kitakyushu,
Kawasaki:
Advanced technology gasification
plants to produce industrial
Gifu
Hiroshimachemical products (methane, Acetic
OkayamaAcid, Hydrogen, etc)
Yamaguchi
Hyogo
Kitakyusyu

AomoriToyamaKamaishi

Iida

Kurihara

26 EIP approved by METI and EA(2006)
Kitakyushu: Comprehensive Omuta
EOL resources recycling(PET, home appliances, OA
equipment, EOL vehicles,
wood, fluorescent tubes,
construction wastes)
Minamata

Ehime

Naoshima

Kochi

Aichi
SuzukaOsaka

Yokkaichi

Figure 1.2 Eco-town projects in Japan

Chiba

Tokyo, Kawasaki,
Chiba: Integral
Tokyo
Cooperation:
Eco-cement, CH4
KawasakiAcetic Acid,
Construction wastes
recycle8 Tohru Morioka and Helmut Yabar㩷㩷Green product design
Developed nations have passed through four stages along the path to a sustainable society. The
environmental policies of the 60’s and 70’s were driven by environmental degradation causedby rapid economic growth. Improving efficiency in the production process through resource
use optimization became a major task following the oil crises in the 70’s and 80’s. From the
90’s onward, the environmental concerns were transformed into opportunities to develop
markets, based on improved eco-efficiency performance and the dissemination of “green”
products through integrated product policy. These product and process innovations included
design for the environment (DfE), design for Disassembly (DfD), and energy-efficientequipment. Environmentally-aware producers showed the benefits of their products throughlabeling and other means of communication, while governmental bodies also promoted thegreen market development through green procurement. Finally, in the fourth stage of social
evolution, our challenge is to achieve a system innovation: large-scale transformations in theway societal functions, such as transportation and communication, are fulfilled i.e a transition
from one socio-technical system to another (Geels 2004).
Developed nations are now at a stage where environmental concerns have beentransformed into opportunities to develop markets; based on improved eco-efficiency
performance and the dissemination of “green” products and services through integrated supply
management.
In order to enhance the eco-efficiency and resource productivity of the totalmaterial-product chains, it is essential to follow the approach shown in Figure 1.3 to address
all the stages of the product chain management: resources input, product design andmanufacture, use and consumption, and recycling and recovery. In Japan, thanks to theintroduction of a comprehensive environmental policy, technological development has had agreat impact on eco-design. Morioka et al (2006b) showed the correlation between the
introduction of these policies and the rapid increase in the number of environmental-related
technological patents. It is also important to enhance the social participation and collaboration
among stakeholders for shared responsibility towards sustainable production andconsumption.

㩷

1. Industrial Transformation Strategies towards Sustainable Development 9

㩷

Eco Production

Production/ Assembly

Product-oriented Environmental
Management System

Eco Design

Extended Producer Responsibility
Cleaner Production
Material Lease
Design for
Zero-emission
Environment
Green Chemistry
Environmentally Sound Technology
Eco-labeling
Eco Material

Material
Manufacturing

Environmental
ReportingConsumption

Servicizing
Resource Productivity

Inverse Manufacturing
Remanufacturing
DfD

Eco Wise Use
Product Service
SystemReverse
Reverse Logistics
Manufacturing
Risk Management
Post-Consumer Product Recovery

Figure 1.3 Product and process policy: green product design

Corporate green management
The participation of both producers and consumers is important to promote and enhancesustainable production and consumption. Consumers play a key role with their increasing
demands for environmentally-friendlier products and services while producers provide more
eco-efficient products and services to meet those incresing demands. Green product andprocess policies are also very important. However, these policies will not be effective without
an appropriate corporate management strategy. In this sense, the Japanese METI introduced
the path towards green corporate management through internal and external strategies (seeFigure 1.4). In the internal strategies, the manufacturing corporations prioritize green
management practices in all the upstream stages of the product lifecycle: green procurements
for materials, components, eco-design, zero-emissions through energy saving systems at the
manufacturing stage and the strengthening of sales for green products and services.
The external strategies are related to corporate efforts to maintain smooth
relationships with shareholders, employees, consumers and the community. Among external
strategies, we can mention the employee incentive systems and performance evaluation
systems, the strengthening of risk communication, the release of environmental reports,
eco-labeling, and the corporate social responsibility (CSR) efforts toward the community.

㩷

10 Tohru Morioka and Helmut Yabar

㩷Management
Stakeholder

Purchasing &Procurement Div.
Development andexpansion of green
procurement routes

Development &Design Div.
Design anddevelopment of ecoproducts using LCA,
DfE

Manufacturing
Division
Efforts towards zero
emissions, energy
saving systems in
manufacturing

Data release
Risk Communication

Sales
Division
Strengthened salesof green products
and services

Planning, Management and PR Div.
Improved provision of information concerning corporate env. efforts(business activities, products, services)
Promotion of Disclosure tools (environmental reports)
Improved environmental advertisingData
releaseExchange withstakeholders

Implementation of environmental management systems, environmental
auditing and environmental management accounting
Coordinated implementation of energy saving systems, 3R efforts andstrategies against hazardous chemicals

Provision of green
products & services

Green procurement formaterials, parts

Evaluations

Strengthening of environmental governance
Performance evaluation of company efforts
Employee incentive systems & performance evaluation system
Strengthening of risk communication

LegendProducts/
services
Information

Figure 1.4 Corporate green management strategies

REGIONAL STRATEGIES AND INITIATIVES TOWARDS A SUSTAINABLE ASIA
The Asian region has become a major player in the global economy. For instance, Asia
provides 40% of global pig iron and steel, 90% of global personal computers (PC), 85% of
shipbuilding, etc (Kojima 2005). While this rapid economic growth is good in the sense that itprovides higher living conditions to the citizens, at the same time these industrial activities
require huge amounts of material resources and energy and, to make matters worse, due to thelack of appropriate technological development, most of the industrial activities in Asiandeveloping nations are causing severe environmental degradation.
Figure 1.5 shows the CO2 emissions and GDP trends in Asian nations for the period
1990-2000. In this decade, for instance, although the amount of CO2 emissions per GDP in
China decreased considerably, these levels still remain high. At the same time, the amount of
CO2 emissions for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations plus the People’s Republic ofChina, Japan, and Republic of Korea (ASEAN+3) showed the highest levels. Besides China,
Vietnam also shows a steady decreasing pattern. Although this decreasing pattern indicatessome level of decoupling, they remain far behind those of developed nations.
Along with CO2 emissions, one of the major problems faced by emerging nationsin Asia is how to deal with increasing amounts of both domestic and industrial waste
generation (Morioka et al. 2006b). Observing the environmental pressure per GDP in terms ofmunicipal and industrial solid waste, there seems to be an Environmental Kuznets Curve(EKC) pattern: decoupling of economic growth from environmental pressure after reaching acertain level of economic development, but again these values are still far from those ofdeveloped nations, such as Japan.

㩷

1. Industrial Transformation Strategies towards Sustainable Development 11

㩷㪏

ASEAN+3㪎

Other Asian major nations㪚㪿㫀㫅㪸㪚㪦㪉㩷㪼㫄㫀㫊㫊㫀㫆㫅㩷㫇㪼㫉㩷㪞㪛㪧㩷㩿㫂㪾㪆㩻㪀㪍㪌㪩㫌㫊㫊㫀㪸
㪋㪭㫀㪼㫋㫅㪸㫄
㪊
㪠㫉㪸㫅
㪠㫅㪻㫀㪸
㪉

㪧㪸㫂㫀㫊㫋㪸㫅
㪠㫅㪻㫆㫅㪼㫊㫀㪸㪤㪸㫃㪸㫐㫊㫀㪸
㪧㪿㫀㫃㫀㫇㫇㫀㫅㪼㫊㪈㪣㪸㫆㩷㪧㪛㪩

㪚㪸㫄㪹㫆㪻㫀㪸

㪟㫆㫅㪾㩷㪢㫆㫅㪾㪫㪿㪸㫀㫃㪸㫅㪻 㪫㫌㫉㫂㪼㫐㪪㫀㫅㪾㪸㫇㫆㫉㪼㪪㫆㫌㫋㪿 㪢㫆㫉㪼㪸
㪡㪸㫇㪸㫅

㪇
㪇㪅㪈

㪈㪅㪇

㪈㪇㪅㪇

㪈㪇㪇㪅㪇

㪈㪃㪇㪇㪇㪅㪇

㪈㪇㪃㪇㪇㪇㪅㪇

㪚㪦㪉㩷㪼㫄㫀㫊㫊㫀㫆㫅㩷㩿㫄㫀㫃㫃㫀㫆㫅㩷㫋㪆㫐㪼㪸㫉㪀

Figure 1.5 CO2 emission trends in Asia (1990-2000)

Urban environmental problems come mainly from the need to satisfy increasing
demands for food, water, energy, and mobility. Strategies towards a sustainable urban
metabolism management are vital to address this task. On the upstream side, cities provide
major opportunities for change in areas such as energy production, transportation, water andfood supply, resources management, etc. Japan started its integral policies of urban
management with the introduction of an urban environmental restoration program;
ecologically sound river-basin management, urban compact cities initiatives, and mobility
management and environmentally sustainable transport with the priority on public
transportation (Hayashi et al. 2004).
When emphasizing intervention in the sections of the driving forces towards
sustainable urban metabolism, waste treatment becomes integrated waste management andsubsequently integrated resources management. The introduction and development of green
building and zero-emission programs for the recycling of construction materials are among themost important measures towards sustainable urban infrastructure management (Obayashi
2002). Action programs targeting zero-waste in metropolitan regions through area-wide
eco-town collaboration have enhanced the development of green industries and promoted anurban-distributed energy supply web, furnished by renewable energy technologies, such as
photovoltaic and biomass technologies (Koizawa 2006).

㩷

12 Tohru Morioka and Helmut Yabar㩷Infrastructures,assets, patrimony
and other stocks
Human resources,
information, financial
resources

Resources input

Capitalize

Dynamics ofhuman settlement,
industrial activities,
urban cultural life

Materials, energy

Environmental
Recapitalization

Health, employment, income,education, housing, recreation,community services

Products, Welfare

Waste output
Wastes, emissions,
ecological disruption, landdegradation, scenic beauty
deterioration

Urban renovation, urban
environmental restoration,industrial transformation

Figure 1.6 Urban redevelopment with sustainable urban metabolism

A comprehensive understanding of the urban metabolism is imperative to promotesustainable urban development (Fig. 1.6). In this sense, material flow analysis (MFA) is an
important tool that allows us to identify the main problems and constraints along the totalmaterial throughput of the economy while seeking viable and sustainable alternatives toovercoming the same (Yabar and Morioka 2006). Along with the physical analysis of theeconomy, it is also important to monitor the level of societal services provided by the economy,such as health, employment, education, housing and recreation. On the downstream side,
while introducing measures to minimize solid waste and emissions, we must also develop
strategies to avoid ecological disruption, land degradation and scenic beauty deterioration.
Urban renovation, urban environmental restoration and industrial transformation are among
the measures to promote environmental recapitalization.
In Asian countries that are experiencing rapid economic development, it is crucial totake precautionary actions to achieve environmental sustainability alongside economic
development policy. It is also important to integrate trans-sectoral policies, with anticipatedsynergy effects among the sectors, and to introduce technologies together with effective
institutional design that will maximize the potential outcome of the technologies application.
In rapidly developing countries it is imperative to facilitate social infrastructures that would
result in a more effective implementation of environmental protection.

㩷

1. Industrial Transformation Strategies towards Sustainable Development 13

㩷Japan’s action plans to develop a global zero-waste society
Sustainable urban metabolism strategies aim at decoupling economic growth fromenvironmental degradation at the level of the firm and also on local, nationwide, regional andglobal scales. (IHDP-IT), for instance, has been dealing with decoupling economic growthfrom environmental degradation by means of industrial transformation (IHDP-IT 2001).
IHDP-IT has established five flagship research activities to achieve this objective, namely:
energy and material flows, food, water and transport in urban contexts, information andcommunication technology (ICT) and governance and transformation processes.
In Japan, the 3R programs, eco-town promotion, and green product design programs
are supported to achieve eco-efficient performance improvements in production/consumption
and urban activities. The Japan Action Plan for Developing a Global Zero Waste Society
through the 3R initiative could be an important starting point for a steady decoupling of
economic growth from environmental pressure at local, nationwide and Asian levels.
As shown in figure 1.7, Japan’s 3R plan has the following three main strategies:
achieving a zero-waste society by means of the fundamental plan towards asound-material-cycle society, supporting developing nations’ initiatives towards zero-waste
societies with capacity building and international cooperation. The plan focuses particularlyon the promotion of 3R initiatives at all levels, the reduction of barriers to the international
flow of goods and services, cooperation among developed and developing nations and thepromotion of science and technology (S&T) suitable for the 3R initiative.

Achieving zero-waste society in Japan
9Implementing the fundamental Plan
9Strengthening 3R actions

GlobalZero-waste

Support to developing nations
initiatives
9Capacity building promotion indeveloping countries.

International cooperation
9Implementing effective policy measures
9Enhancing knowledge and technology base
9Providing information and networking

Figure 1.7 Japan’s action plan for the global promotion of zero waste

14 Tohru Morioka and Helmut Yabar㩷㩷
Asian policies towards a resource-circulating society
Table 1.1 outlines the basic orientation of the laws that promote resource conservation andwaste management strategies in Asia (JEC 2005). In the case of the Asian initiatives, somecountries, like China, utilize a resource-circulating and circular economy law approach totarget the effective utilization of resources in its economic system, while others, like Indonesia,
have a comprehensive environmental policy agenda including waste recycling among otherinitiatives. In recent years, the Japanese government and MOE have promoted the 3R
initiative and enhanced cooperation with other Asian countries.
China introduced theĀharmony societyā initiative, which pursues symbiosis, suchas in harmony between people and nature, while promoting well-balanced economic growth
between development actions and conservation initiatives. The initiative also promotes the
improvement of national economic strength and competitiveness, and helps encouragesustainable approaches for the economy and the environment. The Chinese government also
proposed a set of sustainability indicators as the means to measure the effects of this policy.
Among the main targets of the Chinese policy for the period 2006-2010, we can highlight the
20% decrease in energy consumption per GDP, the 10% decrease in the emission of major
pollutants and the 5% increase in per capita income. With the introduction of these targets,
China is also trying to decouple economic growth from environmental pressure. This andother initiatives have been developed in conformance with the Japanese 3R programs, which
encourage resource and energy saving while promoting economic development.
Table 1.1 Asian environmental policy: 3R and integrated waste management
orientation
3R position in laws, plans and the like
Program
South
Korea

“Act Relating to the Promotion of Resource Saving and Reutilization”
ὉProduct charge system (pesticide and cosmetic containers,(enacted in 1992)
batteries, etc)
Promotion of efficient use of resources, waste prevention, resources
ὉDeposit system, disposable items use regulation
reutilization towards improving environmental conservation, sustainable
ὉEPR (tires, oil, electric machinery, fluorescent lamps)
economic development and citizens well-being

China“Law on the Prevention and Control of Environmental Pollution by Solid
Waste” (enacted in1995)
Promotion of waste prevention and treatment as well as loop economic
development (law after the amending enforcement of 2005)

ὉTax reduction/exemption to entities undertaking recycling (from1994)ὉConstruction of recycling industrial parks to handle imported
wastesTaiwan“Waste Disposal Act” (amended in 1997)
Installation of resource recycling fund committee under theEnvironmental Protection department“resource Recycling Act” (enacted in 2002)
Waste reduction, recycling/reuse promotion

Ὁ “Basic System”: advanced payment of treatment/recycling costs
by producers (waste dry-cell batteries, tires, lead batteries,
plastics, home appliances, computers, etc. Payment to recycling
businesses“Ecological Solid Waste Management Act 2000” (enacted in 2001)
Philippine Guidelines for promotion of wise utilization of resources, resourcessaving and recovery and waste reduction

ὉEnforcement of the sorting and recycling in local governments
ὉSupport pilot projects

ὉEstablishment of ḛWaste Utilization Data CenterḜ (Ministry of“Enhancement and Conservation of National Environmental Quality Act”
Technology)
Thailand (1996 cabinet approval)
ὉCooperation and experience sharing in the local governments
Waste generation below 1 kg/cap, recycling/reuse promotion
recycling activities leading to waste reduction,“The Third Outline Perspective Plan”
Malaysia Promotion of zero emission technologies, energy use reduction, reuse
and recycling of wastes (regeneration)
Singapore“Singapore Green Plan 2012” (released in 2002)
Recycling targets: 44% by 2001, 60% by 2012

ὉNational recycling programs (from 2000/12), waste reduction
promotion through 3R, Construction of the Waste Reduction
master plan with JICA cooperation
ὉNational recycling program from 2002: call for the participationof complex housing, schools, factories. Introduction of 3R
initiatives through internet“Agenda 21-Indonesia” (released in 1997)
ὉResearch in composting and plastic recycling under the Agency
Indonesia Waste minimization, enhancement of sustainable resource management for the Assessment and Application of Technology
ὉEstablishment of the Cleaner Production Center (MOE)“Environmental Law Act” (released in 2005)
Vietnam Clean industrialization, Recycling enforcement, sorting at source(households)

ὉEstablishment of Cleaner Production Center (Hanoi University ofTechnology) and technical assistance to corporations㩷

1. Industrial Transformation Strategies towards Sustainable Development 15

㩷
RISS INITIATIVE TOWARDS A SUSTAINABLE ASIA
The integration of both bottom-up and top-down strategies are important to achieve asustainable Asia. The Osaka University RISS, for instance, leads a flagship research project
which targets the design and development of sustainable closed-loop economies in Asia. As
shown in Figure 1.8, within national and local boundaries, it is important to focus on 3R
programs and EIP initiatives in the first stage of development, as well as on green products
and supply chain management strategies during the mature stage. As typically for such stage,
China, for instance, focuses its current environmental policies on land and energy
management, land cover and land use change in urban-rural linkages, and energy efficiency
and conservation, with particular focus on renewable energy development.
At the regional level we emphasize the Asian trade level. The trade of recyclable
goods in Asia also requires new regulations as well as the promotion of technology transfer.
For the Asian trade to work successfully, consumers and especially producers must take into
account the impacts of their products and services along the lifecycle and supply chains.
Firstly, it is important to introduce the three principles of environmental responsibility alongproduct life cycles:ḩ. Grand Design
㽵Closed-loop economy in harmony
with natural ecosystem
㽴China, India, continental level :closed-loop economy coupling withland, water, energy conservation

㽳Asian trade level: closed-loop
economy based on resources
circulation
㽲 Nation or region level: 3R programs,
EIP, green products

Ḫ. Sustainability
assessment system

ḫ. Research/education
networking and capacity
building

Figure 1.8 RISS flagship project: achieving a closed-loop economy in Asia

16 Tohru Morioka and Helmut Yabar㩷㩷x

The polluter pays principle (PPP), which implies that those who use and produce
pollutants must bear the responsibility for their actions;x

The extended producer responsibility (EPR), which implies that the producer
responsibility for the product is extended to the post-consumer stage of the productlife-cycle; andx

The advanced shared responsibility for indirect or shadow effects, which implies that all
partners in the production and consumption chain have considerable roles to play in their
particular parts of this chain.
These principles have not yet been established in Asia, despite the pre-existing

European regulations, such as the restriction on hazardous substances (RoHS), energy-using
products (EUP), or the registration, evaluation and authorization of chemicals (REACH).
To promote the fair trade of goods and EOL products in Asia, it is important toovercome three major barriers. Firstly, the international division of labor cites thestandardization of environmental regulations as a benchmark to clearly establish the allocationof responsibility. Secondly, the current inappropriate trade in EOL products causes pollution,
especially from persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and heavy metals contained in electricand electronic waste. The main reason is the lack of monitoring capacity within the recipient
country. Stricter trade- restrictions, on the other hand, will hinder the trade of these secondary
materials for appropriate recovery. Finally, Asia still lacks the necessary capacity building andhas not established a legal framework that could promote an environmentally friendly and fair
form of trade.
At the continental level, including China and India, we must pay particular attention
to the sustainable closed-loop economy alongside land, water, and energy conservation. The
project vision is to promote a loop-closing society in harmony with the natural ecosystem.
A detailed analysis of this strategy reveals three main pillars. The first is the granddesign for the closed-loop economy in Asia. Morioka et al (2006a) argued that the transition tosustainability is a long-term journey that must be addressed now. The backcasting approach –i.e. envisioning a desirable sustainable society based on defined parameters and designing
strategies identifying alternative paths towards that end – is the approach that most ably serves
the sustainability goal. RISS research will firstly analyze the related initiatives in Asia,
secondly design mid and long-term future scenarios and finally propose an integrated researchframework by means of long-term visions and mid-term strategic goals with their inclusive
roadmaps. The second pillar is the sustainability assessment system. In order to measure our㩷

1. Industrial Transformation Strategies towards Sustainable Development 17㩷progress towards sustainability, we must have a comprehensive sustainability assessment
system. RISS flagship research includes three main steps: the analysis and revision of existing
indicators, and intervention to bridge the gap between the targeted vision and the present
condition in terms of the legal framework, economy, information/ knowledge and education.
Finally, the third pillar is the research/education network and capacity building. Sustainability
science unifies knowledge systems and practical, global and local perspectives, both fromviews in developed and developing nations, and disciplines across the natural and social
sciences. RISS stresses the role of universities as centers that identify, promote anddisseminate successful practices and strategies through local/regional cooperation. We expect
to build a cross-cutting platform towards the design of an Asian research and education
network, upgrade the information infrastructure and build capacity to support knowledge andexperience sharing towards improving problem-identification, analysis, and solving skills.
CONCLUSION
The strategies and initiatives to decouple economic development from human activities that
impact on the earth life support systems must focus on a broader scope, namely systeminnovation. A system innovation implies the improvement of the chain of production,
distribution, consumption and disposal activities. Greening industry initiatives on both a local
and nationwide scale are among the most important sustainability-oriented initiatives. In Japan,
3R programs, eco-town promotion, and green product design programs have improved its
resource productivity performance in terms of both production/consumption and urban
activities. In order to pursue the path to a sustainable society, governments have to change
and/or actualize their policies and engineering practices in the promotion of energy efficiency
and conservation and promote sustainable land use planning in urban and rural regions. It isalso necessary to enhance cooperative and comprehensive initiatives on a regional scale, suchas regional development policy, urban management and industrial transformation strategies
towards sustainable development. This article addresses both regional and national initiatives
to promote the transition towards a sustainable Asia, with particular emphasis on the current
research by the Osaka University Research Institute for Sustainability Science (RISS). At a
local and national level, the article outlined the framework of the Japanese implementation
plan towards a sustainable closed-loop economy, which includes action plans for developing a
global zero-waste society, macroscopic metabolism accounting, the fundamental plan for

18 Tohru Morioka and Helmut Yabar㩷㩷establishing a sound material-cycle society, product and process policy by means of green
product design, corporate green management strategy, and the practical implementation at a
local scale through eco-towns. The article also addressed current Asian policies towards a
resource-circulating society. Finally, the article introduced RISS strategies towards the designand development of sustainable closed-loop economies in Asia. These strategies stand on threemain pillars: grand design, a sustainability assessment system and research/education
networking and capacity building along local, national, regional and continental boundaries.
RISS future research tasks include:x

The construction of a statistical database access and exchange platform that will allow us
to improve our research in sustainability science.

x

The continuous promotion of scientific events and release of academic journals. RISS
has organized many domestic and international workshops where researchers fromvarious disciplines and countries exchange innovative ideas and strategies towards asustainable Asia. The Japanese Integrated Research System for Sustainability Science(IR3S), of which RISS is a member, launched the Journal of Sustainability Science thisyear. This journal provides a platform for building a new academic discipline insustainability science.

x

Collaborative research pilot models with Asian countries. RISS is developing acollaborative pilot research with Vietnam and China as an initial step.
With these initiatives, RISS research expects to make an important contribution in

the design of the platform towards a sustainable Asia.

REFERENCES
Geels F (2004) Understanding system innovations: a critical literature review and conceptual synthesis.
In: Elzen B, Geels F, Green K (eds) System innovation and the transition to sustainability. Edward
Elgar, Cheltenham, UK, pp. 19-47.
Hayashi Y, Doi K, Yagishita M, Kuwata M (2004) Urban transport sustainability: Asian trends, problems
and policy practices. European Journal of Transport and Infrastructure Research, special issue:
Environmentally Sustainable Transport 4(1): 27-45
IHDP-IT (2001) Industrial transformation science plan. Report No. 12, International Human Dimensions
Program on Global Environmental Change – Industrial Transformation Project, Amsterdam
JEC (2005) The state of the environment in Asia 2005/2006. Japan Environmental Council (ed). Tokyo,㩷

1. Industrial Transformation Strategies towards Sustainable Development 19㩷Japan: Springer
Koizawa K (2006) NEDO’s R&D and dissemination activities in energy and environmental fields.
NEDO-SJTU joint workshop on energy, October 27, Shanghai, China
Kojima R (2005) Compressed Environmental Pollution caused by Fast Economic Development in East
Asia. Environmental Information Science, Vol. 34, No. 3, Center for Environmental Information
Science
MOE (2003) Fundamental plan for establishing a sound-material cycle society. Report of the Ministry ofEnvironment, Japan
Morioka T, Saito O, Yabar H (2006a) The pathway to a sustainable industrial society – initiative of the
Research Institute for Sustainability Science (RISS) at Osaka University. Journal of Sustainability
Science 1(1):65-82
Morioka T, Saito O, Yamamoto Y, Yabar H, Tanji K (2006b) Designing closed-loop industrial system
towards sustainability: challenges in Japan and Asia. In the 1st international symposium “towards theestablishment of the sustainability science”. February 2-4, University of Tokyo, Japan
Morioka T, Tsunemi K, Yamamoto Y, Yabar H, Yoshida N (2005) Eco-efficiency of advanced
loop-closing systems for vehicles and household appliances in Hyogo eco-town. Journal of Industrial
Ecology 9(4):205-221
Morioka T, Yoshida N, Yamamoto Y (2003) Cycle-closing product chain management with appropriate
production site metabolism toward zero-emission in an industrial machinery corporation. Clean
Technologies and Environmental Policy 6(1):7-17
Obayashi Y (2002) Green strategy of the construction industry - from zero Emissions to Global warming
countermeasures. Tokyo: Kaizosha. In Japanese
Sato M, Ushiro Y, Matsunaga H (2004) Categorization of eco-towns projects in Japan. In international
symposium on green technology for resources and materials recycling. November 24-27, 2004. Seoul,
Korea
Yabar H, Morioka T (2006) Sector-based material flow analysis: the petrochemical industry in Japan.
Proceedings of the Seventh International Conference on Eco-Balance: designing our future society
using systems thinking. November 14-16, 2006. Tsukuba, Japan.

㩷
㩷

2.

Rethinking,

ReformandRenovation:

Switchthe

Eco-complexity of Production-Consumption into Sustainabilityof Efficiency-Harmony
Rusong Wang and Feng Li
Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China

ABSTRACTThe Ecological Industry (EI) has its own theory and methodology for planning, implementation andmanagement. Industrial ecosystems should be managed in an integrative manner, combining
eco-technology or technical innovation (hardware), institutional reform (software) and capacity building(mindware). Eco-technology encourages ecologically sound, economically productive, behaviourally
acceptable and systematically responsible technology characterized by the integration of various single
low and high technologies, of primary, secondary and tertiary industries. In order to promote an
ecological production and consumption society, we need not only to promote 3R Policies (reduce, reuse
and recycle), but more importantly, we need to promote rethinking, reform and renovation policies. In
the planning process, a methodological transition towards ecological integration is performed fromplanning physical being to ecological becoming, from mathematical quantification to functional
optimization; from rigid control to adaptive learning. It is also important to analyze structural andfunctional coupling, metabolism balancing and eco-order cultivating. This paper presents a case study ofDafeng, Jiangsu province, China, where ecopolis development planning began in 1987 andeco-agricultural, eco-industrial and eco-communal systems have been developed.
Keywords:

Sustainability industry, Complexity, Planning, Management㩷

22 Rusong Wang and Feng Li

㩷
HUMAN PRODUCTION-CONSUMPTION SYSTEM:SOCIAL-ECONOMIC-NATURAL COMPLEX ECOSYSTEM (SENCE)
Unlike biological communities, the human production-consumption system is a kind of
artificial ecosystem dominated by human behavior, sustained by natural life support systems,
and vitalized by ecological processes. Ma and Wang (1984) called this system a“Social-Economic-Natural Complex Ecosystem”(SENCE), which is driven by energy, capital,
power and spirit, and maintained by ecological cybernetics of competition, co-evolution,
circulation and self-organization. Its natural subsystem consists of five traditional Chineseelements: metal (minerals), wood (living organisms), water, fire (energy) and soil (nutrientsand land). Its economic subsystem includes the components of production, consumption,
reduction, transportation and regulation and its social subsystem includes technology,
institutions and culture, which is steered by humankind (Fig. 2.1). Ecological sustainability
can only be assured with a human ecological understanding of the complex interactions
among environmental, economic, political, and social/cultural factors and with carefulplanning and management grounded in ecological principles in the context of time, space,process, structure and function.
In dealing with this complexity, people used to focus on the physical "being" rather
than ecological "becoming", and focused on the engineering structure, economic process andsocial function while neglecting its system context.

Fireproduction

circulation
time

Wood
order
regulation

ҎTechnology

Institution

space

CulturepatternSoilconsumption

quantity

reduction
Social s ubs yste m

Natural Subsyste m
Economic Subs yste m

Water

Metal

Scie ntific contexts

Figure 2.1 Closing the loop: social-economic-natural complex
ecosystem㩷

2. Rethinking, Reform and Renovation - Switch the Eco-complexity of Production-Consumption into Sustainability of Efficiency-Harmony 23㩷Through this synergetic function, the economy, society and physical environment
interacts to sustain a harmonized human ecosystem. According to Lao Dan, a famous ancient
Chinese philosopher, this sustaining function “issues forth from nowhere, and yet penetrates
everywhere. It is formless, shapeless, vague, indefinite, imperceptible and indescribable,
always changing, and reverting to the state of nothingness”. To measure this nothingness, it isessential to image the complicated interactions, how to simplify and integrate the diversified
relationship, and how to develop a practical instrument for promoting sustainable development.
The SENCE method checks its internal mechanism of competition, symbiosis andself-reliance; its process, pattern and order; its structural wealth, functional health and people’s
faith; its efficiency, equity and vitality; the balance among the four driving forces of energy,
money, power and spirit and the human interference of technology, institution and culture,from both internal and external, upper and lower scaling, long and short terms, and centralized
and decentralized positions.
In some areas of China, the model of early industrialization is characterized byshort-sighted behavior, “pollution first, treatment followed; construction first, planningfollowed; quantity first, quality followed; disorder first, probity followed”; cultural
fragmentation such as reductionism dominated philosophy; cause-effect linked cognition;
discipline isolated science and nature separated engineering problem-solving oriented
decision-making, short term and local scope planning and management. Institutional
fragmentation separates resources from the environment; products from services; cities fromthe countryside; the economy from social development; industries from regional development;
the environment from development; production from consumption; waste producing fromrecycling; and nature exploitation from restoration.
This is an inappropriate model to use for countries to develop. Instead, an
ecologically sound society uses resources efficiently, develops at a moderate pace andconsumes non-renewable resources at a low level. Building a healthy ecological order means
turning the production from end-of-pipe control of pollutants emissions to ecosystem-based
zero emissions with a self-reliant by-products exchange mechanism.
From a human ecological point of view, the essence of environmental pollution is
the inefficient use and unreasonable exploitation of resources steered by human behavior.
There are two significant ecological deterioration processes in production and consumption.
One is ecosystem exhaustion due to resource exploitation, where the input of producers “I”, ismuch lower than the output “O” from the ecosystem. Since there is insufficient input to be24 Rusong Wang and Feng Li㩷㩷used for restoring the deteriorated function,this results in resource exhaustion such as thedegradation of soil fertility, watershed function, biodiversity and indigenous’ heritage. Herethe ratio of I/O is lower than 1. The other ecological deterioration process occurs when the
input into the system is much greater than the output from it. In this case energy and materials
leak into the environment from the production and consumption process, resulting inecological stagnation such as eutrophication and heat island effects.
There are several kinds of technology involving a relationship between humans andthe environment: environmental technology, cleaner technology, nature conservation
technology and eco-technology. Environmental technology aims at reducing and treating
pollutants released by human activities; cleaner technology aims at establishing a cleaner
production process within any production process so that less or zero pollutants are produced;
while eco-technology aims at systematically directing the whole human steering process fromresource exploitation, production, consumption to recycling in an ecological manner in orderto sustain the optimal function of the whole ecosystem.
The ecological industry (EI), which emerged in the 1990s, combines eco-technology
to encourage ecologically sound, economically productive, behaviorally acceptable andsystematically responsible technology characterized by the integration of single technologies,
both high and low, of primary, secondary and tertiary industries, of factories and surrounding
ecosystems.
According to Lowe (2001), “industrial ecology is an approach for managing humanactivity on a sustainable basis by seeking the essential integration of human systems into
natural systems; minimizing energy and materials usage; minimizing the ecological impact ofhuman activity to levels natural systems can sustain.” This definition may be too general; tomake it more relevant to industry, we refer to industrial ecology as a kind of philosophy inunderstanding and reforming the relationship between economic development andenvironmental enhancement in an industry related ecosystem; a kind of scientific theory andmethodology on system dynamics and the cybernetics of industrial material and energy
metabolism between nature and human society and its physical, economic and humanecological impacts; and a kind of technical and aesthetical instrument for integrative planning,
design and management of the production, consumption, transportation, recycling andregulation processes.
The EI has its own theory and methodology for planning, implementation andmanagement. Although EI may be related to consumption and governance, its scope is only㩷

2. Rethinking, Reform and Renovation - Switch the Eco-complexity of Production-Consumption into Sustainability of Efficiency-Harmony 25

㩷confined within the industry itself including all sectors of primary, secondary and tertiary
production.
CHARACTERS OF THE ECOLOGICAL INDUSTRY IN CHINA: INTEGRATIVEMANAGEMENT OF AN INDUSTRIAL ECOSYSTEM
Industrial ecosystems should be managed in an integrative manner, combining eco-technology
or technical innovation(hardware), institutional reform(software) and capacity building(mindware). Eco-technology encourages ecologically sound, economically productive,
behaviorally acceptable and systematically responsible technology characterized by the
integration of various single low and high technologies, of primary, secondary and tertiaryindustries (Fig. 2.2).

Hardware
GOODS

CE
Software

Mindware

SERVICECULTURE

Figure 2.2 Three goals of circular economy

The main characteristics of the integrative management of industrial ecosystem are
as follows (Wang 2001; Yan 1992):
x

Food web-based horizontal/parallel coupling: connecting the different production
processes to gain benefit from the negative environmental impacts through sharing
unused resources.

xLife cycle-oriented vertical/serial coupling: combining primary, secondary and tertiaryindustries, consumption and recycling sectors into one eco-industrial complex along thelife cycle to allow a more systematically responsible production.

x

Ecosystem-based regional coupling: integrating regional environment, local community,
dominant enterprises and other diversified sectors into one agro-industrial service

26 Rusong Wang and Feng Li㩷㩷
eco-complexity to internalize environmental costs and to allow pollutants to be
assimilated and minimized within the system itself.
x

Flexible and adaptive structure: multiple production function, diversified products andeasy-to-change processes rather than being rigid, unified and imitative in order to adapt toexternal changes.

xFunctional services rather than products output oriented production: switching the
production focus from products to services with three kinds of final outputs: goods,
services and culture; switching the mono-goal of production from profits to thethree-dimensional niches of wealth, health and faith.

xCapacity building: enhancing the capacity of services and training(S&T); research anddevelopment(R&D); incubation and consultation(I&C); adaptive and comprehensive
decision-making, sensitive information feedback, effective networking of knowledge,
experience and experts, and eco-integrated decision-making.

x

Employment enhancement: increasing rather than decreasing working opportunities
through creating more jobs inR&D, services and training within the industrial ecosystem,
although the processing work place might be reduced due to automation.

x

Respecting human dignity: working as a learning and innovation process, a social
interactive and self-enjoyment engagement, rather than being a slave to a machine andoriented mainly to earn one’s living. Human ecological gains based on moral beliefs aremuch more important than a materialistic approach to life.
In order to promote an ecological production and consumption society, we need to

implement 3R Policies (reduce, reuse and recycle), and more importantly, we need to promote
rethinking, reform and renovation policies.
x

Rethinking:recycling means not only material processing but also renewable energy,

information feedback, financial circulation, personal capacity, including comprehensiveplanning and management of resource exploitation, processing, transportation,
consumption and restoration. Rethinking is to induce value change from reductionism toholism; from environmental exploitation to ecological symbiosis; from an open
materialized cycle to a closed ecological cycle; and from external control to self-reliance.
x

Reform: multi-scale, inter-sectoral and multi-stakeholders’ integration is the key forinstitutional reform. Hierarchy and networking, dominance and diversity, openness andindependence, robustness and flexibility are used to measure the eco-sustainability ofstructural coupling. Reform is to encourage institutional reform; from chain link to life㩷

2. Rethinking, Reform and Renovation - Switch the Eco-complexity of Production-Consumption into Sustainability of Efficiency-Harmony 27

㩷cycle-oriented vertical/serial coupling; from fragmentized and isolated to food web based
horizontal/parallel coupling; from systematically disconnected to ecosystem-based
regional coupling; from rigid and non-adaptive to flexible and adaptive production andproducts structure.
x

Renovation: technological innovation is the key to a circular economy. Renovation is toredefine the economic function through enhancing functional planning, design andmanagement of the ecological industry; from output and profits oriented tomulti-functional services and culture-oriented production; from hardware-oriented
investment to knowledge-based and capacity building oriented adaptive economy; fromlabor decreasing to employment enhancement through creating more jobs in R&D, I&C,
S&T; from being slave-like employees to respecting human dignity, working is a learningand innovation process, a social interactive and self-enjoyment engagement, rather thanbeing a slave to machines and money.

APPROACHES OF ECOLOGICAL INDUSTRY PLANNING
In the planning process, a methodological transition towards ecological integration is
performed from planning physical being to ecological becoming, from mathematicalquantification to functional optimization; from rigid control to adaptive learning (Wang et al.
1991), following structural and functional coupling, metabolism balancing and eco-ordercultivating should be analyzed:
Structural couplingx

Hierarchy and networking: having an ecological organization through both vertical andhorizontal connections enables the human eco-complex to form different scales of
eco-unit from individual, community to ecosystem.

x

Dominance and diversity: having dominant and diversified components enables society todrive and maintain its productive and sustainable development.

x

Openness and independence: being open to the outside enables the complex ecosystem tomake full use of external resources, and being independent from outside enables theecosystem to be more self-reliant and avoid outside risks.

x

Robustness and flexibility: a robust structure enables the ecosystem to have fertile
productivity, while a flexible structure enables the ecosystem to adapt to the changing

28 Rusong Wang and Feng Li㩷㩷environment.
Functional couplingx

Exploitation and adaptation: severe environmental stress leads to adaptation throughchanging its eco-niche and suiting itself to alternative resources.

Successful

development maximizes the available eco-niche and optimizes life strategies in order toadapt itself to and make full use of its environment.
xCompetition and symbiosis: all urban sectors survive through competition for resources
and fertile production as well as symbiosis for maintaining sustainability. Competition
stimulates high efficiency of resource use and symbiosis encouraging sustainability of theecosystem.

x

Proliferation and compensation: when the function of an ecosystem is disturbed, some ofits components might take the chance to expand or proliferate unusually so as to dominate
the system while other components might make up the missing function or substituteautomatically for the malfunctioning components so as to maintain the original functionof the system. An ecosystem may benefit or suffer from these proliferation andcompensation mechanisms. To stabilize an ecosystem, a compensation mechanism should
be encouraged, whereas, raising its productivity, proliferation may play a key role.

x

Exhaustion and stagnancy: due to resource exploitation, when the output from anecosystem is much higher than the input into it, which is usually far from the minimum
cost for restoring its depleted function, ecological exhaustion will occur. When the input
into an ecosystem is much higher than the output from it with a large quantity of materials
and energy leaking into the environment, ecological stagnancy will occur. In a totallyfunctioning ecosystem, the I/O ratio is appropriately 1.

Eco-order cultivatingx

Spatial order: balances the geographical, atmospheric, hydrological, eco-systematic andesthetical harmony.

x

Temporal order: balances the continuity and sustainability of past, current and future
development.

x

Quantity order: balances the positive and negative feedback to ensure there is no
stagnancy and exhaustion.

x

Structural order: maintains an institutional harmony coupled from different components,㩷

2. Rethinking, Reform and Renovation - Switch the Eco-complexity of Production-Consumption into Sustainability of Efficiency-Harmony 29

㩷chains, loops and networks of the system.
xFunctional order: vitalizes the ecological order of competition, symbiosis andself-reliance of the complex ecosystem.

COMBINATORY MODELING FOR THE ECOLOGICAL INDUSTRY
The combinatory EI model includes a learning model, a planning model and a regulation
model:
Social learning model of EIxDynamics model for understanding the main driving forces and main metabolism
processes.

x

Cybernetics model for understanding the main positive and negative feedback, and themain risk and opportunities.

x

Contexts model for understanding the temporal evolution, spatial pattern, metabolism
balance, institutional coupling & functional order.

Adaptive planning model of EI
x

Key identification model: key limiting, promoting, buffering and critical factors, key
dominating and compensating components and key negative and positive feedback.

x

Partial simulation model: problem diagnosing, process tracing, and policy testing.

xAdaptive optimization model: pan-objective ecological programming.

Interactive regulation model of EI
xEco-engineering Model: technological innovation for incubating totally functioning
technology.

x

Eco-governance Model: institutional reform for cultivating systematically responsible
institutions.

x

Eco-culture Model: behavioral inducement to encourage an ecologically vivid culture.

㩷

30 Rusong Wang and Feng Li

㩷DAFENG –AN ECO-INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT EXAMPLE OF 20 YEARS’IMPLEMENTATION
Dafeng was a relatively less developed county in Jiangsu province in the 1980s with 2376km2
land and 740,000 people.

An ecopolis was developed and implemented including

eco-agriculture, eco-industry and an eco-community in 1987.
Dafeng ecopolis development’s main achievementsx

Dafeng, a relatively less developed and average level county in the 1980s, ranked in the
100 strongest counties in the economy among 2862 counties in China in 2002.

x

By 2004, the GDP and revenue of the county had increased by 16 and 13 times
respectively compared with those of 1986.

x

The environmental quality improved or maintained the same level as that of 1980 when
there were few industries.

x

The average life expectancy rose from 71.05 in 1986 to 73.47 in 2004.

x

Soil organic content rose from 1.19% in 1986 to 1.45% in 2004.

x

Forest coverage increased from 10.61% in 1986 to 17.6% in 2004.

x

The core area of National Reserve of crowned crane and David's deer doubled and thedeer population has increased by 10 times.

x

Water productivity increased from 1.40 kg/m3 in 1990to 1.71 kg/m3 in 2004.

x

The organic and green food production ratio increased from 0 in 1990 to 12% in 2004.

x

Urban green area per capita increased from 1.86 m2 in 1989 to 4.56 m2 in 2004.

x

The eco-awareness of decision-makers, industries and ordinary people is much higher
than that of neighboringcounties.

x

More

than

30

NationalAwards/Honors

innational

greening,

forestation,agro-environmental protection, energy development, education, culture, science,
sanitation and other social development have been conferred to the county by relevant
ministries in the past 15 years.

㩷

2. Rethinking, Reform and Renovation - Switch the Eco-complexity of Production-Consumption into Sustainability of Efficiency-Harmony 31㩷Main measures of Dafeng ecopolis management
Multi-scale ecological integration and adaptive economic innovationx

Five types of coordination between economic and ecological, agricultural and industrial,urban and regional, territorial and coastal, and between internal and external development
across multi-scales from households, villages, industrial parks, towns, watersheds, regions
to distant areas such as Shanghai.

x

Six kinds of ecological models for coastal wetland conservation and reclamation havebeen developed.

Eco-agriculturex

Crop – livestock – mixed processing;x

Family- integrative farm-factory-enterprises;x

Local-regional-global cooperative; andxmulti-scale and multi-dimensional eco-agro industry.

Web-linked eco-industrial complex
x

Farming-manufacture-trade;x

Cotton planting, ginning, filature, weaving, printing and dyeing-clothing integrative
textile eco-complex.

Regional eco-integrityx

Two ecological industrial parks established to promote eco-complex incubation and allow
heavy pollution and resource intensive industries enter the parks for intensive treatment.

x

Regional cooperation promoted among production-consumption-nature conservation
sectors through eco-town & eco-infrastructure development.

Bottleneck of Dafeng ecopolis management
Dafeng eco-county planning was finalized in 1989 but not completely put into implementation.
Most of the chain industry was not brought into practice or failed to execution. The main
reason for this was inconsistency between the ideal planning with its unsustainable social and32 Rusong Wang and Feng Li㩷㩷economic environment, the pressure of an unreasonable economic structure, theresource-intensive production mode, and the unreasonable spatial layout also resulted inenvironmental pollution due to the static and fragile coastal plane water network.
Lessons and challenges
Institutional barrier; behavioral bottlenecks and technical insufficiencies
Dafeng ecopolis development suffered from many institutional, cultural and technologicalconflicts between ecological integration and fragmentized institutions, ecological theory andeconomic practice, GDP orientation appraisal systems for politician’s achievements and theultimate goal of ecopolis development, internal and external policy environment, long- andshort-term development goals, and local and regional efficiencies. The case of Dafeng showsthat successful ecopolis development requires:x

Innovatory leaders;xAdvanced hard and soft technology;xMulti-scale institutional coordination; andxTechnology incubation systems, information dissemination and capacity building
networks.

Main problemsx

Fragmentized institutions in sectors and times;x

External inconsistencies in policy;x

Weak legislation;x

Insufficiently qualified human resources;x

Weak information feedback;x

Lack of incentives of governance achievements appraisal;x

Lack of ecosystem based resource management;x

Low investment in eco infrastructure; andx

Low input on research & development, services & training.

㩷

2. Rethinking, Reform and Renovation - Switch the Eco-complexity of Production-Consumption into Sustainability of Efficiency-Harmony 33

㩷
REFERENCES
Hu D,

Wang R, Yan J, Xu C, Wang Y (1998) A pilot ecological engineering project for municipal solid

waste reduction, disinfection, regeneration and industrialization in Guanghan City, China. Ecol. Eng.
11: 129-13
Lu B, Yan J, Wang R (1998) Integrated Ecological Engineering of Corn Utilization in Zhaodong County.
Ecol. Eng. 11: 139-146
Ma S, Yan J (1989) Ecological Engineering for Treatment and Utilization of Wastewater. In: Mitsch WJ,
Jorgensen SE (Eds) Ecological Engineering. John Wiley & Sons, New York, pp 185-218
Ma S, Wang R (1984) Social-Economic-Natural Complex Ecosystem. Acta Ecologica Sinica, 4(12):1-9.
(In Chinese)
Ma S, Wang R (1989) Social-Economic-Natural Complex Ecosystem and sustainable development. In:
Wang R (Ed) Human Ecology in China. China Science & Technology Press, Beijing, pp 11-12
Wang R, Yan J (1998) Integrating hardware, software and mindware for sustainable ecosystemdevelopment: Principles and methods of ecological engineering. Ecol. Eng. 11(1-4): 277-290
Wang R (2001) The Theory of Sustainable Social-Economic-Natural Complex Ecosystem. In: Wang R,
Che J, Ouyang Z (Eds) Eco-Integration of Sustainable Development of Middle and Small Size Towns.
Meteorological press, Beijing, pp. 1-57 (In Chinese)
Wang R, Yan J, Xu C, Hu D, Ouyang Z, Tang H, Liu P (1999) Ecological engineering for treatment andutilization of municipal refuse. Rural Eco-Environment 15(3): 1-5
Yan J, Yao HL (1989) Integrated Fish Culture Management in China. In: Mitsch WJ, Jorgensen SE (Eds)
Ecological Engineering. John Wiley & Sons, New York, pp.375-408
Yan J, Zhang Y (1992) Ecological techniques and their application with some case studies in China. 1(3): 261-285

㩷㩷

3. Towards a Closed-loop Economy: Experiences from theZhejiang Region in China
Minjun Shi1, Huan Zheng Du2 and Zhaodong Mao2
1

Research Center of Data Technology and Knowledge Economy, Graduate University ofChinese Academy of Sciences, CAS, China
2

Jiaxing University, Jiaxing, Zhejiang, China

ABSTRACTThis paper introduces the experience of Zhejiang province, China towards a circular economy. The
Zhejiang province is a forerunner of the circular economy in China. Nowadays, the recycling industries
in Zhejiang operate on a large scale. The main recycled materials are copper, stainless steel, aluminum,
plastic and paper. The pathway towards a closed-loop economy is based on two stages in Zhejiang. The
first involves the recycling of waste materials and the second is the efficient use of recovered materials.
The main catalyst for the development of the circular economy in Zhejiang is the industries’ efforts topursue profit, which means that the circular economy should be profitable for the industries. A
significant characteristic of the circular economy in Zhejiang is the geographic concentration ofrecycling industries. The recycling industries of the same materials, such as copper, paper, etc and theindustries of the sectors using these recycled materials as raw materials in their production are gathered
together spatially in a region, where they form many industrial clusters of waste material recycling.
Clustering may facilitate the formation of an industrial chain of resource recycling and may help inpreventing secondary pollution during the process of recycling waste materials.
Keywords: Circular economy, Recycling of waste materials, Geographic concentration, Industrial
cluster㩷

36 Minjun Shi, Huan Zheng Du and Zhaodong Mao

㩷

INTRODUCTION
This paper introduces the experience of Zhejiang province, China towards a circular economy.
Zhejiang is a region with a comparatively high level of economic development in China. The
GDP per capita in 2004 reached 23,942 Yuan, which is more than double the average level ofChina. However Zhejiang is also deeply deficient and dependent in terms of natural resource
consumption. 95% of the energy resources of Zhejiang come from other provinces. Anothercharacteristic of the region is that 99% of the industries are private enterprises. As we know,
due to increasing demand, nowadays it has become very difficult to get cheap natural
resources. With this in mind, enterprises have focused on the recovery and recycling of wastematerials. Industries in Zhejian have been taking these steps since the 1980s and consequently,
Zhejiang has become a forerunner of the circular economy in China.
CIRCULAR ECONOMY IN ZHEJIANG: CURRENT SITUATION
In 2004, the amount of waste materials recycled by industries in Zhejiang reached 18.17
million tons, including 8.21 million tons of waste metals, 6.2 million tons of waste paper and 2
million tons of waste plastic. The most recycled materials in the province are copper, stainlesssteel, aluminum, plastic and paper.
Nowadays the recycling industries in Zhejiang operate on a large scale. The output
of copper processing based on copper recycling was 1.186 million tons in 2003, which
represents 37% of the total in China. 50% of the raw materials used in the processing werereclaimed copper. In 2004, the output of stainless steel based on stainless steel recycling was
1.06 million tons and the output of stainless steel products was 1.46 million tons respectively.
The output of both stainless steel and its products accounts for 40% of the total in China.
Various recycling clusters have been formed in Zhejian province in recent years.
The main recycling clusters include Yongkang cluster, Luqiao-Wenling cluster, Yuyao-Cixi
cluster and Fuyan cluster. The Yongkang cluster mainly focuses on the recycling of waste
metals (copper and aluminum) and the production of hardware products. The Luqiao-Wenlingcluster focuses on the production of motorcars, motorcycles, sewing machines, sanitaryware,and fittings of motorcars and motorcycles. The raw materials for its production come mainly
from the disassembly of waste electrical equipment. The Yuyao-Cixi cluster focuses on the㩷

3. Towards a closed-loop Economy: Experiences from the Zhejiang Region in China 37

㩷production of household appliances and uses recycled metals and plastic as raw materials.
Today, Yuyao has become the largest household appliance production region in China.
The recycling of waste materials and their further use in production dramaticallyreduces energy consumption and air pollution emissions. For example, the hardware
production by using reclaimed aluminum reduces the energy consumption by 5% and cuts air
pollution emissions by 10% compared to the use of virgin raw material (mainly ore bauxite).
However, the dissembly and recycling of waste materials may cause secondary pollution. In
fact, in some regions, the secondary pollution generated by the recycling process of wastematerials has become a serious environmental problem.
DEVELOPMENT OF THE CIRCULAR ECONOMY: DRIVING FORCESThe Zhejian region follows two main stages in the path towards a closed-loop economy. The
first involves the recycling of waste materials and the second, the efficient use of therecovered materials. During the first stage, since a steady supply of raw material is essential
for the industries, they ensure the supply of raw materials by recycling waste materials. By
using low-price recycled materials, industries may reduce production costs, which is an
important advantage when competing with other firms. At this stage, industries collect wastematerials through suppliers, which are usually small firms. They mainly produce primary
products by using simple equipment. At the second stage, in order to increase theircompetitiveness, firms improve the quality of products and add value through technologicalinnovation. They collect waste materials in designated stations or through imports. Many
firms have become modern enterprises and produce manufacturing products on a large scale.
One famous example is Geely Motorcar, which is the only private motorcar firm in China.
The main driver for the development of the circular economy in Zhejiang is theindustries’ efforts to pursue profit. As mentioned before, most firms in Zhejiang are private
enterprises. Due to increasing demand, nowadays it has become very difficult to obtain cheap
natural resources. With this in mind, enterprises have focused on the recovery and recycling ofwaste materials. By recycling waste materials, firms may reduce production costs. For
example, the cost of reclaimed copper is 3000-5000 Yuan/t lower than that of raw copper, andthe price of products using reclaimed copper is 2000 Yuan/t lower than that by those using raw
copper. Technological innovation has two main roles in the pursuit of the circular economy in
Zhejian: it makes it possible to recycle waste materials at the first stage of resource recycling㩷

38 Minjun Shi, Huan Zheng Du and Zhaodong Mao

㩷and increases the quality of products at the second stage through the efficient use of therecycled materials.
GEOGRAPHIC CONCENTRATION OF RECYCLING INDUSTRIES
A significant characteristic of the circular economy in Zhejiang is the geographic
concentration of the recycling industries. The various recycling firms for the same material
and the production firms of the sectors making use of the recycled materials are gathered
together in a specific area. In the case of stainless steel, Ningbo and Wenzhou provinces
concentrate 92% of stainless steel production and 95% of stainless steel products respectively.
In Ningbo, the output of coiled sheets accounts for 49% and that of welding pipes 57%. In
Ningbo, around 200 industries gather together in Yuyao, Fenghua and Yinzou, while in
Wenzhou, 170 industries gather together in the Longwan district. The output of seamlessstainless pipes reaches 207,500 tons, which accounts for 90% of the country production, andthe export of seamless stainless pipe accounts for 50% of the nation’s total. In the case ofwaste copper recycling, over 60% of waste copper recycling in Ningbo comes from the
Cicheng town of Jiangbei and the Jinghan town of Cixi. Waste plastic recycling is mostly donein Dongyang, Cixi and Taizhou. In Dongyang, industries are amassed in Huaxi town. There
are more than 1500 industries, employing around fifty thousand people.
As a result of this geographic concentration, many industrial clusters of wastematerial recycling have been established in Zhejiang. The following are some examples ofrecycling industrial clusters formed in Zhejian.
The industrial cluster of recycling waste metals in Yongkang
There are more than 1000 industries that recycle waste metals and in Yongkang city, they
employ more than 100,000 employees. The Yongkang industrial cluster recycles 250,000 tonsof waste aluminum, 120,000 tons of waste copper and 300,000 tons of waste steel per year.
Today, Yongkang has become the main production and processing base of hardware products
in China, mostly by using reclaimed aluminum and copper. The main hardware products
include electric tools, electric cars, fittings for motorcars and motorcycles, stainless steel
products, and burglarproof doors. The production of electric tools accounts for 25% of thenational total and total exports account for 33% of the same.

㩷

3. Towards a closed-loop Economy: Experiences from the Zhejiang Region in China 39

㩷The industrial cluster of disassembled waste electric equipment in Luqiao
This is an industrial park for the disassembly of waste electric equipment with an area of 106
ha at Fengjiang town of Luqiao. 40 industries are gathered in the park, which has an annual
disassembly capacity of 2 million tons. The disassembled waste materials are then supplied to
manufacturing sectors. In the industrial park, the secondary pollution that comes from thedisassembly process is treated effectively, significantly reducing the overall environmental
impact.
The industrial cluster of recycling waste metals in Yuyao city and industrial cluster ofrecycling waste plastic in Cixi city
In Hemudu town of Yuyao, there are 110 stainless steel industries. The processing capacity is
250,000 tons per year. The production value of stainless steel accounts for 80% of the total
production of the region. In Cixi, there are 30 industries and 20 thousand employees engaged
in the reclamation of terylene fibre. The annual output of reclaimed terylene fibre is 700,000
tons, with annual sales income of 5000 million Yuan. Both values account for 25% of thenational totals. All the raw materials used in production come from waste silk or plastic bottles.
About 30-40% of the raw materials come from domestic sources, and the rest are imported.
The industrial cluster of paper mills in Fuyang
Fuyang is a traditional paper producing area. In 2004, the amount of waste paper recycled bypaper mills in Fuyang reached 4 million tons, which accounts for nearly 10% of the total
quantity paper production in China. The production value of paper making, namely 8500
million Yuan, accounts for 20% of the total industry product in Fuyang.
CONCLUSION
Since Zhejiang is deficient in natural resources, industries have started to focus on therecovery and recycling of waste materials and take strides towards a closed-loop economy
since the 1980s. The development of the circular economy in Zhejiang has two main stages:
the first involving the recycling of waste materials and the second the efficient use of the㩷

40 Minjun Shi, Huan Zheng Du and Zhaodong Mao㩷
recycled materials. During the first stage, since a steady supply of raw materials is essential
for industries, they ensure this supply of raw materials by recycling waste materials. By using
low-price recycled materials, industries may reduce their production costs, which is an
important advantage when competing with other firms. At the second stage, in order toincrease their competitiveness, firms improve the quality of products and add value throughtechnological innovation. Due to increasing demand, nowadays it has become very difficult toobtain cheap natural resources. With this in mind, enterprises have focused on the recovery
and recycling of waste materials. By recycling waste materials, firms may also reduce
production costs.
The development of the circular economy in Zhejiang is characterized by thegeographic concentration of recycling industries. As a result, many industrial clusters of wastematerial recycling have been formed in this province. There are several representatives, suchas an industrial cluster of recovery aluminum by recycling waste aluminum in Yongkang, an
industrial cluster of motors and sewing machines by recycling waste electric equipment in
Luqiao-Wenling, and an industrial cluster of home electronics by recycling waste metals andplastic in Yuyao-Cixi.
The initiatives of firms to pursue profit and technological innovation are vital for aclosed-loop economy, which means that the circular economy should be profitable for thefirms. The geographic concentration of recycling industries contributes largely to theformation of an industrial chain in resource recycling and external economies of scale. The
clustering of industries also helps reduce secondary pollution during the process of recycling
waste materials. In this sense, local governments play an important role in realizing thecircular economy through the promotion of industrial clusters.

㩷㩷

4. Environmental Management in Industrial Development:
Resource Conservation and Material Recycling Strategy in
Vietnam
Phung Thuy PhuongDepartment of Botany and Ecology, University of Natural Sciences, Ho Chi Minh City,
Vietnam

ABSTRACT
After choosing industrialization as a key development strategy, Vietnam is now facing environmental
challenges. Our generation has no right to gain short-term economic benefits, bequeathing long-term
environmental disasters to future generations and measures to compromise economic and environmental
goals should be considered. One of these involves organizing industrial systems based on an industrial
ecology approach. The main idea of Industrial Ecology is that for sustainable development, industrial
systems should mimic natural ecosystems. In other words, the material cycles in industrial systems
should be closed, similar to those in natural ecosystems. The purpose of this paper is to analyze theadvantages and constraints in applying the concept of industrial ecology, and to suggest some ideas topromote industrial ecology in Vietnam.
Keywords: Industrial metabolism, Industrial ecosystem, Industrial ecology, Pollution prevention,
Resources conservation, Material recycling42 Phung Thuy Phuong㩷㩷
INTRODUCTION
Industrial development has recently had to face the major challenges of natural resource
scarcity, and environmental deterioration. Although end-of-pipe technologies can help reduce
the environmental impact of waste, these technologies tend to be costly and provide no help insolving the problem of natural resource scarcity. Recently, environmentalists have sought toapply a preventive approach instead of relying solely on a reactive approach to solve
environmental problems. The Industrial Ecology concept has emerged as a solution to addressthese challenges, providing us with a new perspective to develop industrial systems in an
ecologically sound direction. In this paper, the concept of Industrial Ecology will be
introduced, followed by the illustration of Industrial Ecology in practice, the analysis of theadvantages and constraints in applying this concept in Vietnam, and some conclusions andrecommendations to promote Industrial Ecology in Vietnam.
INDUSTRIAL ECOLOGY: RESOURCE CONSERVATION AND POLLUTION
PREVENTION APPROACH
Industrial Ecology is known as the resource conservation and pollution prevention approach.
The concept of Industrial Ecology is introduced in literature under different terms such as
Industrial Metabolism, Industrial Ecosystems, and Industrial Ecology by different authors.
Some authors use these terms similarly, while others have distinguished them (see for example
Ayres and Simonis 1994; Cote 1995; Graedel and Allenby 1995; Lowe et al 1997; Ayres 1997;
Erkman 1997; Durney 1997). Although a discussion on the terminology is not the purpose ofthis paper, it is necessary to make the distinctions among these terms in order to understandthe concept of Industrial Ecology.
Industrial metabolism
In 1988, the concept of industrial metabolism was officially formulated for the first time
during the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme Conference in Tokyo (Ayres 1995).
The term “industrial metabolism” was defined as follows:“The metabolism of industry is the whole integrated collection of physical processes thatconvert raw materials and energy plus labour, into finished products and waste in a (more or㩷

4. Environmental Management in Industrial Development: Resource Conservation and Material Recycling Strategy in Vietnam 43㩷less) steady-state condition.” (Ayres 1994)
With the introduction of the concept of industrial metabolism, scientists emphasisethat industrial activities are not separated from the metabolism of the biosphere and that it is
the human economic and industrial activities that cause the problem of global change throughtheir interference in the ecological balance and natural cycles (Ayres 1997). Therefore, theindustrial metabolism concept has suggested that:x

Businesses must improve material efficiency, as unbalanced inputs (raw materials) andoutputs (waste and products) have negative impacts on the natural world.

x

Industrial systems must begin to use alternative energy sources and improve theefficiency of current energy sources.

x

The metabolism of industry can be modified to reduce the negative impacts of industrial
activities on the biosphere.
After being introduced, the concept of industrial metabolism continues to gaininternational recognition as a theoretical framework useful for investigating the material andenergy flows, both within industry and between industry and the natural environment.
Industrial ecosystem
As living organisms live in an ecosystem, they have to interact with other living and nonliving
things to survive. Similarly, in order to maintain and carry out industrial activities, industrial
firms must interact with other actors in the industrial system in particular, and in society ingeneral. However, differences exist between an ecosystem and an industrial system in terms ofmaterial cycles. An ecosystem is more efficient than an industrial system, because natural
cycles (water, carbon/oxygen, nitrogen, sulphur, etc.) are closed, whereas industrial cycles are
open. In order to increase the efficiency of industrial systems, Frosch and Gallopoulos (1989)
suggested that industrial systems should mimic ecosystems, and they introduced the conceptof the industrial ecosystem. They proposed the transformation of the traditional model ofindustrial activity, in which individual manufacturing takes in raw materials and generates
products to be sold plus waste to be disposed of, into a more integrated system, in which theconsumption of energy and materials is optimized and the effluents of one process serve as theraw material for another. This concept focuses on the relations between companies in a direct
waste/by-product exchange.
Although the term industrial ecosystem has been present in the writings of many

44 Phung Thuy Phuong㩷㩷
ecologists such as Odum, Margalef, Hall, and geochemists such as Cloud, according toErkman (1997), it is Frosch and Gallopoulos who make a vital contribution to the introduction
and dissemination of this concept.
Industrial Ecology
Cote (1995) compiled many definitions from the early literature on Industrial Ecology, butaccording to Erkman (1997), `there is no standard definition of Industrial Ecology, and anumber of authors make no clear distinction between industrial metabolism, industrial
ecosystem, industrial symbiosis, and industrial ecology. However, whatever the definition, allauthors are more or less in agreement on at least three key elements of the industrial ecology
perspective:x

It is a systemic, comprehensive, integrated view of all the components of the industrial
economy and their relations with the biosphere.

x

It emphasizes the biophysical substratum of human activities, i.e. the complex patterns ofmaterial flows within and outside the industrial system, in contrast with current
approaches that mostly consider the economy in terms of monetary units.

x

It considers technological dynamics as a crucial (but not exclusive) element for thetransition from the presently unsustainable industrial system to a viable industrial
ecosystem.
As current industrial systems are much more open than their ecological counterparts,

relying heavily on energy, materials from the environment and discharging much waste into
the environment, industrial ecology has tried to demonstrate that, based on the principles of
ecological science, industrial systems can be developed on a more sustainable basis.
According to industrial ecology scholars, we must first understand how the industrial system
works, how it is regulated, and how it interacts with the biosphere. Subsequently, based onwhat we know about ecosystems, we can restructure industrial systems towards a moresustainable model, akin to the way natural ecosystems work. At the most basic level, theIndustrial Ecology perspective describes a system in which the waste of one industry (output)
becomes the raw material of another (input). With such an exchange of waste, fewer
materials/energy would be expended and fewer input materials/energy required. At least threegroups of people will benefit from such exchange: the waste generator can save on waste
treatment and disposal costs, and gain revenue from the sale of the waste at the same time;㩷

4. Environmental Management in Industrial Development: Resource Conservation and Material Recycling Strategy in Vietnam 45

㩷while the waste user can reduce the input cost; and the public, in general, can enjoy a better
environment.
In brief, Industrial Ecology acknowledges the existence of a wide range ofindustrial ecosystems with varying degrees and patterns of interactions with the biosphere.
Each industrial ecosystem is characterized by the flows of materials and energy (industrial
metabolism) similar to those going through a natural ecosystem.
INDUSTRIAL ECOLOGY IN PRACTICE
The concept of industrial ecology has become increasingly attractive in recent years. However,many prerequisites exist for the success of its application. Firstly, the main requirement is that
there be a major “export product’ for the system as a whole, and that most of the waste andby-products be utilised locally. Secondly, large scale operation is required, in which there exist
at least three components locally, namely: the waste producers; the waste consumers; andintermediate firms specialised in converting the waste into useful raw materials. Thirdly, areliable mechanism is also required to ensure close and long-term co-operation among
participants (Ayres and Ayres 1996).
The exchange of waste in the industrial ecology concept can take place between
industrial sectors, but the distance from the waste generator to the waste user will be
problematic. Certain waste or by-products cannot be transported over a long distance or doing
so is not worthwhile. Hence, due to the fact that there is a diversity of industrial sectors inindustrial zones (IZ), and the proximity of industrial firms within IZ, it is clear that IZ
represent ideal venues to apply the industrial ecology concept (UNEP 1997; Hamner 1998;
Cote 1998). Moreover, many industrial ecologists have focused upon industrial ecosystems asa key strategy for implementing industrial ecology (Ernes 1997).
In practice, the concept of industrial ecology is applied in the forms of industrial
symbiosis and industrial ecosystems or eco-industrial zones or eco-parks. Industrial symbiosis
is a group of industries that work collaboratively through exchanges of materials, energy,
water, and by-products to reduce natural resource consumption and pollution. Industrial
Ecosystem/Eco-Industrial Zone/Eco-Park is a community or network of companies and otherorganizations in a region or physical zone/park that interact by exchanging and making use of
by-products and/or energy in a way that provides one or multiple benefits over traditional,
non-linked operations. Those benefits include a reduction in the use of natural resources for46 Phung Thuy Phuong㩷㩷
input; a reduction in pollution; a reduction in energy use; a reduction in waste disposal and anincrease in the value of non-product outputs.
Since the late 1980s when the concept of Industrial Ecology was first developed,
many industrial ecosystems have been designed and operated. The following provide someideas of the experiences gained to date.
Denmark
The best-known global example of industrial ecology is Kalundborg - a small Danish
industrial ecosystem - located roughly 75 miles from Copenhagen in Denmark. Participants in
the industrial ecosystem of Kalundborg are Asnaes (an electric power plant), Statoil (an oil
refinery), Gyroc (a plasterboard factory), and Novo Nordisk (a pharmaceutical plant). The
Kalundborg Industrial Ecosystem began when the Asnaes electric power plant modified its
operation to produce process heat in the form of steam that could be sent to the nearby Statoil
refinery. Besides, the power plant could also sell steam to a pharmaceutical plant, and hot
water to greenhouses, local homes, and its own fish farm. Moreover, the Asnaes power plant
can also sell fly ash for road building and cement making; and gypsum (calcium sulphate),
recovered from sulphur dioxide scrubber, is supplied to the Gyroc plasterboard factory. In
contrast, it receives surplus gas, cooling water, and cleaned wastewater from the Statoil. The
Statoil refinery produces ethane and methane for Gyro’s drying ovens and for the power
station’s boilers; while the residue from Statoil‘s sulphur scrubbers is used in the production ofsulphuric acid. Nutrient-rich sludge from the Novo Nordisk pharmaceutical plant is piped tosurrounding farm to be used as fertiliser, for Novo Nordisk, this is the cheapest way to comply
with regulations prohibiting dumping of such sludge at sea. The waste exchange network
between participants in the Kalundborg Industrial Ecosystem is presented in Figure 4.1.

Figure 4.1 Kalundborg industrial ecosystem㩷

4. Environmental Management in Industrial Development: Resource Conservation and Material Recycling Strategy in Vietnam 47

㩷Obviously most of the components of an industrial ecosystem are present in
Kalundborg, from the primary producers to the equivalent of the decay organism. This modelof the industrial ecosystem in Kalundborg has helped reduce air, water, soil pollution as well
as resource consumption at the same time. Based on an investment of 60 Million USD, theparticipating companies have generated 129 Million USD in revenues from by-productexchanges and additional cost saving from business efficiency improvements (UNEP 1997). In
terms of environmental quality, with such an exchange of waste, the Kalundborg industrial
ecosystem can reduce SO2 emissions by 3,700 T/year and wastewater by 600,000 m3/year(Gertler 1995). Large savings have also been achieved in the consumption of raw materials,
with annual oil consumption reduced by 45,000 T and coal consumption by 15,000 T(Karamanos 1995).
The USAIn the USA, with an interest in applying the ecological concept to industrial activities, thePresident’s Council on Sustainable Development chose four communities as demonstrationsites for Eco Parks (1994): Baltimore, Maryland; Cape Charles, Virginia; Brownsville, Texas;
and Chattanooga, Tennessee. The principles of the design are based on an industrial ecology
framework, seeing the possibilities of creating waste exchange and seeking greaterinterconnection between suppliers, producers, and customers for high quality performance.
Fairfield Industrial Park in Baltimore is one template for the design of Eco Parks in
the USA. It consists primarily of producers with processes based on petroleum and organic
chemicals (e.g. asphalt manufacturing and distribution, oil and chemical companies) andsmaller companies, which aid the larger producers (e.g. trucking, tire retreating, and box
manufacturing). Fairfield has been described as a ”carbon based economy”. This creates agreat opportunity for the further recycling of organic compounds. The Fairfield Eco Park will
retrofit industrial ecology principles to existing companies, and recruit companies that fit into
the carbon-based economy. The strategy is to welcome the following types of enterprises:
manufacturing that fits with the current ecology (e.g. chemical companies, film/photocompanies); environmental technologies; recyclers and waste exchanges (Rosenthal 1996).

48 Phung Thuy Phuong㩷㩷CanadaA group at Dalhousie University, Nova Scotia, Canada has been studying the application of
ecological concepts to the design and operation of industrial zones. Burnside Industrial Park in
Dartmouth was chosen for the purpose of converting an existing, traditional park into anindustrial ecosystem. Largely because of its diversity, the park was selected as a working
laboratory for the Eco Park. In an initial study, a research team identified a number ofstrategies, guidelines, potential symbiotic relationships and support systems, which would
facilitate the transformation of Burnside. In order to convert Burnside into an Eco Park, thecollaboration and networking required have occurred at different levels: 1) the university andmunicipality in the study and the application of industrial ecology to an industrial park; 2) the
university, the private electric utility company and governments in the creation of the
Eco-Efficiency Centre; 3) material exchanges between two or more companies; 4) theestablishment of new companies to take advantage of opportunities in the reuse, rental, repair,remanufacturing and recycling. Based on the Burnside project experience we can conclude
that that while an interest in eco-industrial development and a willingness to participate areimportant for launching projects, the main success factor is a continuing commitment by agroup of partners from government, industry, academia, and community organisations.
Eco-industrial developments are not short-term initiatives, and without this commitment,
projects cannot be sustained (Cote 2001).
The Netherlands
In the Netherlands, the industrial area in Rotterdam (the largest port in the world) covers about
700 km2 with 69 companies, consisting of mixed industries: refineries (7 companies),
petrochemistry (13 companies), industrial services (10 companies), inorganic chemistry (11companies), mass goods (13 companies), and storage and transport (15 companies). In thisindustrial area, an industrial ecosystem project (INES) has started in order to look at thepotential for companies to reuse waste streams, by-products and energy from each other (Baas
1997).
Many cities/provinces in the Netherlands, such as Arnhem, Den Bosch, Apeldoorn,and Utrecht have developed industrial estates towards the concept of an industrial ecosystem
by seeking the opportunities to exchange energy, raw materials, and water; to facilitate the㩷

4. Environmental Management in Industrial Development: Resource Conservation and Material Recycling Strategy in Vietnam 49

㩷common use of utilities, combining the transport of goods and people, and the collective
gathering and treatment of waste flows (Ministry of Economic Affairs 1998).
ThailandThailand has recently had a project on the Implementation of the Eco Park Concept at Map Ta
Phut Industrial Estate. Map Ta Phut Industrial Estate is located in the western area of Rayong
City, in the Rayong Province, which is on the eastern shore of the Gulf of Thailand. It is alarge gas-related and heavy industrial complex. Most of the industries invested in this area arepetrochemical plants (42%), and chemical and fertiliser plants (30%), with the remainder steel
plants (14%), electricity, steam, gas plants (10%), and oil refinery plants (4%). The Eco park
project in this area develops a close loop between industries to promote the clean and green
industrial development concept, to maximise the benefits from the utilisation of natural
resources and minimise pollution problems, and to generate co-operation among industrial
operators, local communities and regulators (IEAT 2001).
INDUSTRIAL TRANSFORMATION IN VIETNAM: RESOURCE CONSERVATION
AND MATERIAL RECYCLING
Vietnam, with its specific conditions, has its own opportunities and barriers to adopt theconcept of industrial ecology. Based on literature, surveys and interviews carried out withfactories/enterprises in seven industrial zones (IZ) in the Southern Key Economic Region ofVietnam1 we can summarise some advantages and constraints to apply to the industrial
ecology concept in Vietnam.
Advantagesx

The Environmental Law (1994), Chapter II, Article 11 states that ‘the government
encourages individuals and organizations to use and exploit natural resources reasonably,
to apply advanced technologies, clean technologies, reuse waste, save materials, use
renewable energy, ... in scientific research, production and consumption’. This forms thelegal basis for the application of industrial ecology.

x

In Vietnam, the establishment of dozens of IZs under the management of Industrial Zone

50 Phung Thuy Phuong㩷㩷Infrastructure Development Companies (IZIDC)2 with the diversity of industrial sectors
is one of the advantages of introducing industrial ecology. Many half-empty IZs that canbe filled according to industrial ecology criteria are also an advantage. Because industrial
ecology can be introduced to both existing and planned IZs, Kallundborg (Denmark),
Burnside (Canada), Rotterdam (The Netherlands), etc are among examples involving theconversion of existing IZ into an industrial ecosystem by investigating the possibilities ofcreating waste exchange and seeking greater interconnection between existing industries
within IZs. Chattanooga (The USA) and the eco projects in many cities/provinces in the
Netherlands are among the examples of designs for an industrial ecosystem. Half-filled
IZs also present an advantage for the design of industrial ecosystems, since newindustries will be recruited to complement existing businesses and enhance waste
exchange.
x

The relocation of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to newly established IZs may
offer an advantage to promote waste exchange on the one hand, and on the other, theindustrial ecosystem might make it attractive for SMEs to relocate. Because SMEs
usually lack capital, when they participate in the closed loop program in the industrial
ecosystem, these enterprises could have considerable opportunities to save their capitalon the sale or purchase of by-products. They also benefit from economies-of-scaleadvantages in the waste treatment facilities in Izs, which may increase the appeal of theindustrial ecosystem. On the other hand, since many SMEs are waste recycling
enterprises themselves, the relocation of these enterprises to Izs, which mostly lack themost important components of the ideal industrial ecosystem – the recycler - could help
to enhance waste exchange.

xAd-hoc waste exchange experiences must be institutionalized. This can, in a number ofcases, be done in an IZ, where IZIDC takes the role of intermediate stimulator andco-ordinator.

x

The recent establishment of the Vietnam National Cleaner Production Centre is thestarting point for introducing a cleaner production and pollution prevention approach.
Industrial ecology can be integrated in the activities of this organization3x

Vietnam can benefit from the available reuse technologies (e.g. Rosenthal 1996; UNEP
1997; Ayres 1996). A variety of waste, such as paper, rubber, glass, food waste; and cloth
waste, etc. have been reused in many ways in Vietnam (Tran Kim Qui 1979).
Considerable research on waste reuse can also be found in Vietnam (Vo Thoi Trung 1990;

㩷

4. Environmental Management in Industrial Development: Resource Conservation and Material Recycling Strategy in Vietnam 51

㩷Pham Thi Tran Chau et al. 1981; Lam Thi Kim Chau et al. 2000; Hoang and Nguyen
2000; and Tran and Nguyen 2000).
x

In Vietnam, many factories/enterprises are using waste materials for their input into the
production processes, while other factories/enterprises sell their waste. This proves thatwaste exchange by factories/enterprises operating in Vietnam is not unknown.

xSome studies that focus on waste reuse can be found in Vietnam: black liquor from pulp
mills can be used as a supplementary raw material for the concrete industry (Vo Thoi
Trung 1990); enzyme bromeline extracted from pineapple can be used in the productionof fish sauce (Pham Thi Tran Chau et al. 1981); enzyme protease extracted from foodprocessing waste can be used for the treatment of worm silk to replace imported
chemicals (Lam Thi Kim Chau et al. 2000). Recently Hoang and Nguyen (2000)
successfully recovered zinc from solid waste disposed by a zinc-covered Sheet Iron
Factory; and Tran and Nguyen (2000) produced coloured powder from the sludge of achemical factory, etc.

Constraints
In general, the application of industrial ecology has some practical constraints. In order for awaste material to become a useful resource, it must be separable and available in a valuable
form, which requires appropriate reuse/recycle techniques. Although a number of studies exist
on the reuse/recycling of waste, the practical application of these studies remains limited.
Resource inflexibility is another potential problem, since the waste user will come to rely on
the waste producer for the quantity and quality of the exchanged waste (Karamanos 1995). In
an industrial ecosystem, some producers must accept unfamiliar inputs (converted waste)rather than traditional raw materials. In some cases, they have to invest a large sum of money
to create new processing facilities; while on the other hand; consumers have to change their
behaviour to accept new kind of products produced from “waste” (Ayres 1996). As such, legal,
information, technical, organisational and cultural constraints may impede industrial ecology.
Specifically, Vietnam has some typical constraints:xVietnam has not yet implemented a concrete policy to encourage the reuse and recyclingof waste.

x

The existing price system does not reflect the real value of raw materials, because it does
not internalise the externalities or costs of environmental damage. Consequently, the52 Phung Thuy Phuong㩷㩷
price of raw materials is, in general, lower than the real price and industrialists have no
incentive to reuse/recycle waste.
x

In Vietnam, the price and the quality of the products are the most important for
consumers. Little attention is paid to ecological criteria. A cautious attitude towards
products made from waste is also popular among consumers, making it difficult for theseproducts to find their way to the domestic market.

x

A lack of information between the waste producer and buyer. In particular, the waste
producer does not want to reveal the type and amount of the waste concerned to the
public for fear of being accused as a polluter.

x

Most recycling activities are carried out in the informal sector and there is no systematic
recycling sector well developed enough to close the loop of the material cycle (Rekha etal. 1994).

x

The quality of products made from waste is usually lower than that of those made fromraw materials (e.g. paper, plastic, metal).

x

The reuse/recycling are usually related to pollution problem (Rekha et al. 1994; Pham
Ngoc Anh 2000). The use of waste as supplementary raw materials in some caseproduces more pollutants. The use of rubber waste as fuel will produce a lot of toxic
pollutants.

x

Local recyclers or customers of waste are not always available.

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Although there are a number of constraints to apply the concept of industrial ecology in
Vietnam, there remain some advantages to introducing industrial ecology to industrial zones.
The following are some suggestions to promote the application of industrial ecology so that
Vietnam might overcome the environmental challenges of economic development.
xFirstly, the industrial ecology concept should be disseminated and familiarised among
policy-makers, decision-makers, industrialists, etc. This can be done through workshops
and seminars.

x

Secondly, increasing the environmental awareness of consumers is necessary to support
the introduction of ecological criteria into consumption behaviour. The dissemination of
ecological criteria to consumers can be done through academic curricula and the mass
media.

㩷

4. Environmental Management in Industrial Development: Resource Conservation and Material Recycling Strategy in Vietnam 53

㩷xThirdly, it is clear that materials, energy and exchange among firms require a clear
understanding of the inputs and outputs of each participant. The first step for putting
industrial ecology into practice is to study the material and energy flow and waste
auditing is well suited for providing that information. As Erkman and Ramaswamy (2001)
stated, waste audit is one of the critical elements in the planning process for industrial
ecology. The Dong Nai Department of Science, Technology and Environment (DOSTE),
Binh Duong DOSTE and Ho Chi Minh City DOSTE have, to a certain extent, carried out
a waste audit in some factories with the help of UNIDO. This can be extended tofactories in IZs as a starting point for a waste exchange program and the design forindustrial ecosystem(s).

xFourthly, presently, the available technologies remain limited in Vietnam. Moreover, therecycling processes are usually related to pollution, the quality of products produced
from waste have been, in most cases, lower. It is necessary to invest more in R&D to
improve the quality of the products, production process, and to identify the best available
technologies to facilitate waste exchange practice. A research fund for the study onreuse/recycle technologies is indispensable. Researchers at universities/institutes can playa vital role in this respect if they are motivated.

x

Fifthly, it is also necessary to promote collaboration between universities/institutes andfactories/enterprises in research and application of the reuse/recycling of waste to fill thegap between research and practice. The provincial DOSTE can play a role as a bridge toconnect researchers and industrialists and enhance the collaboration.

x

Sixthly, in order to encourage industrialists to participate in waste exchange, on the one
hand, the government should have some economic incentive mechanisms, such as a
reduction in tax or soft loans for factories/enterprises applying the reuse/recycle of waste.
On the other hand, the government should adjust the price distortion (internalisation of
the environmental damage cost into the price of raw materials).

x

Seventhly, the establishment of waste exchange programs 4 is recommended, throughwhich the lists of waste and by-products will be published, and the waste buyers andwaste sellers would have the chance to meet each other. Implementing the waste
exchange program requires an organization that collects and disseminates information on
the potential for waste exchange, and an intermediate body to connect the waste sellers
and buyers. In this respect, the VNCPC can play a significant role in reviewing theavailable reuse/recycle techniques/technologies both indigenously and globally, and54 Phung Thuy Phuong㩷㩷setting up a data bank to collect and provide information on the possibility of waste
exchange. The VNCPC can collaborate with universities/institutes on R&D intoreuse/recycle technologies. At a provincial level, DOSTE can coordinate with theIndustrial Zone Infrastructure Development Company to carry out a waste exchange
program in IZs. DOSTE is responsible for the technical aspects while the Industrial Zone
Infrastructure Development Company is responsible for the organisational aspects.
x

Eighthly, the relocation program can be integrated into a waste exchange program:recruit the required waste recycling enterprises and waste consuming enterprises to IZ toenhance waste exchange within the IZ. In this respect, DOSTE and Industrial Zone
Infrastructure Development Company can coordinate.

x

Last but not least, carrying out a demonstration project on industrial ecology at one
industrial zone means the results of the project will be multiplied for others.

NOTES
1

Le Minh Xuan IZ, Binh Chieu IZ, (Ho Chi Minh City); Bien Hoa I IZ, Bien Hoa II IZ, Nhon

Trach IZ (Dong Nai Province); VSIP, Viet Huong IZ (Binh Duong Province).
2

Industrial Zone Infrastructure Development Company is responsible for the development of

infrastructure and the environmental quality within the boundary of its IZ.
3Experience of Canada: being established in 1995, Burnside Cleaner Production Centre(Canada) plays a significant role in providing information on waste reduction and prevention,cleaner production; and studying the possibilities to apply industrial ecology concept into
existing industrial zones (Smolenaars 1996).
4

Experience of the Philippines (See Favilla 1994).

REFERENCES
Ayres RU (1994) Industrial metabolism - theory and policy. In Ayres RU, Simonis UE (eds) Industrial
metabolism: restructuring for sustainable development. United Nations University, Tokyo, New York
Ayres RU, Simonis UE (eds) (1994) Industrial metabolism: restructuring for sustainable development.
United Nations University, Tokyo, New York
Ayres RU (1996) Creating industrial ecosystem: a viable management strategy? International Journal ofTechnology Management 12 (5/6) special issue㩷

4. Environmental Management in Industrial Development: Resource Conservation and Material Recycling Strategy in Vietnam 55㩷
Ayres RU, Ayres LW (1996) Industrial ecology: towards closing the materials cycle. Edwar Elgar,
Cheltenham
Ayres RU (1995) Industrial metabolism: the materials cycle and global change. UNU/IAS Working Paper,
10. United Nations University, Institute of Advanced Studies, Tokyo
Baas L (1997) Cleaner production and industrial ecosystems, a Dutch experience. Paper for the 4th
European Round Table on Cleaner Production, Oslo
Cote RP (1995) The industrial ecology seminar, introduction, topics for discussion and dictionary. School
for Resource and Environmental Studies, Faculty of Management, Dalhousie University, Halifax,
Nova Scotia
Cote RP (1998) Thinking like an ecosystem. Journal of Industrial Ecology 2(2): 9-11
Cote RP (2001) The evolution of an industrial park: the case of Burnside. Paper presented at theinternational conference and workshop on new strategies for industrial development: learning frompioneer experiences in eco-industrial networking in Asia, April 3-6, Manila, The Philippines
Durney A (1997) Industrial metabolism; extended definition, possible Instruments and an Australian casestudy. Report FS II 97-404, Science Center Berlin
Erkman S (1997) Industrial ecology: an historical view. Journal of Cleaner Production 5 (1-2): 1-10
Erkman S, Ramaswamy R (2001) Cleaner production at the system level: industrial ecology as a tool fordevelopment planning (case studies in India). Paper presented at the international conference andworkshop on new strategies for industrial development: learning from pioneer experiences in
eco-industrial Networking in Asia, April 3-6, Manila, The Philippines
Ernes AL (1997) Creating by-product resource exchanges: strategies for eco-industrial parks. Journal of
Cleaner Production Vol. (1-2): 57-65
Favilla G. (1994) A new industrial waste exchange program in the Philippines. UNEP IE April-June, pp
17
Frosch RA, Gallopoulos NE (1989) Strategies for manufacturing. Scientific American 261 (3):94-102
Gertler (1995) Industrial ecosystem: developing sustainable industrial structures. MIT, Boston
Graedel TE, Allenby BR (1995) Industrial ecology. Prentice Hall, New Jersey
Hamner B (1998) Industrial ecology in East Asia. Journal of Industrial Ecology 2(3):6-8
Hoang Dong Nam, Nguyen Van Phuoc (2000) Recovering Zn from solid waste of Zn-covered sheet ironfactory. The proceedings of the workshop on environment 2000 – environmental science andtechnology, HCMC, pp 300-307
IEAT (2001) Development of eco-industrial estates in Thailand. Paper presented at the international
conference and workshop on new strategies for industrial development: Learning from pioneer
experiences in eco-industrial networking in Asia, April 3-6, Manila, The Philippines
Karamanos P (1995) Industrial ecology: new opportunities for the private sector. UNEP IE Oct-Dec, pp
38-40
Lam Thi Kim Chau, Nguyen Thuong Lenh, Van Duc Chin (2000) Study on the application of some

56 Phung Thuy Phuong㩷㩷protease in Vietnam for the treatment of worm silk. Scientific reports – Department of Biology,
University of Natural Science, pp. 127-129
Lowe EA, Warren JL, Moran SR (1997) Discovering industrial ecology - an executive briefing andsourcebook. Battelle Press, Columbus, Richland
Ministry of Economic Affairs (1998) Sustainable industrial zone. A Manual for the Management ofCompany and Government. The Hague, The Netherlands. In Dutch
Pham Ngoc Anh (2000) Gain-lose from a waste paper- reuse village. Environmental Protection
Magazine 11: 40-43
Pham Thi Tran Chau et al. (1981) Bromelin of pineapple – characteristics and application. Biology
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Anh Tuan, Pham Gia Tran, Nguyen Thi Nhan (1994) Women in waste recycling in Ho Chi Minh City:a case study. International Centre for Research on Women (Washington D.C), Women Studies
Department (Open University of HCMC), Geography Department (HCMC University)
Rosenthal EC (1996) Designing eco-industrial parks: the US experience. UNEP IE, Oct-Dec, pp. 14-18.
Smolenaars T (1996) Industrial ecology and the role of the cleaner production centre. UNEP IE, Oct-Dec,
pp. 19-21
Tran Kim Qui (1979) Waste and strategies for reuse. HCMC Publishing
Tran Ngoc Anh Tuan, Nguyen Van Phuoc (2000), Study on the production of colored powder fromsludge of Tan Binh chemical factory. The proceedings of the workshop on environment 2000.
Environmental science and technology, HCMC June, pp. 308-314
UNEP (1997) The environmental management of industrial estates. Technical Report Series No. 39.
United Nations Environment Programme. Industry and Environmental Parks
Vo Thoi Trung (1990) Reusing of industrial waste for production of construction materials. Selected
papers on water/wastewater and environment. CEFINEA, HCMC, pp. 160-165㩷㩷

5. What does Sustainability Mean to Yuhan-Kimberly?
Joong Woo Ahn, Ki Wook Song, Kyung Shin Kim and Ji Yeon Ahn
Yuhan-Kimberly, Sustainable Management, Seoul, South Korea

ABSTRACTAs one of the leading health and hygiene companies in Korea, Yuhan-Kimberly enjoys the leading
position in its field thanks over three decades of continuously introducing many innovative products andsocial programs into the market. This success can be attributed to the leadership efforts in such fields as
Environmental Management, Ethical Management and now Sustainable Management. What does
Sustainability mean to Yuhan-Kimberly? It is the Company’s belief that a sustainable company should besustainable together with 4 external customers, namely: the Earth, the Market, the Communities and theSupply Chains. To meet this belief, Yuhan-Kimberly has applied sustainability tools to those 4 customers
such as Cleaner Production, Environmental Management System, Eco-Labeling, Eco-Design, Life Cycle
Assessment, Environmental Reporting, and Supply Chain Environmental Management. This also shows
how Yuhan-Kimberly can crystallize sustainability into feasible and harmonized action steps while
retaining consistency throughout company operations.
Keywords:

Sustainability,

Environmental

performance,

Environmental

management,

Eco-efficiency, Supply chain environmental management, Corporate social responsibility, DfELCA,

58 Joong Woo Ahn, Ki Wook Song, Kyung Shin Kim and Ji Yeon Ahn

INTRODUCTION
Yuhan-Kimberly was established in 1970 as a joint venture by Yuhan Corporation in Korea
and Kimberly-Clark, a consumer product company in the USA. Its main business areas are
Personal Care Products, Household Products, Industrial Products, Health Care Products andDigital Textile Printing Solutions. As a leading personal care product company in Korea,
Yuhan-Kimberly has introduced the most innovative products in the industry achieving a 50%
market share in all the product categories in which our company is involved. The company isalso the clear leader in Korea in terms of corporate social responsibility activities, including
environmental protection activities and ethical management. As a result, Yuhan-Kimberly has
earned a good reputation in various aspects. For example, the company was awarded the “bestemployer and environmental management company” in 2003. It was also the most admiredcompany in 2005. This article introduces the Company’s approaches towards sustainable
management (SM) and the main outcomes. We will explain how Yuhan-Kimberly defines
corporate sustainability and its impact on the environment, products and society. We will
particularly focus on the effort and methods with our four external customers (earth, market,
suppliers, community).
SUSTAINABILITY IN YUHAN-KIMBERLY
In order to implement Sustainability, Yuhan-Kimberly has a multi-dimensional organization.
As can be seen in Figure 5.1, the CEO in the Company may have quadruple meanings; Chief
Executive Officer, Chief Environment Officer, Chief Ethics Officer and Chief Education
Officer. This implies how important environment, ethics and other aspects are in thecompany’s management. In line with this mindset, a professional team for sustainability has
also been established. SM consists of 4 departments. The Supplier Relations Development(SRD) department provides consultation, training and management tools to suppliers and also
conducts annual supplier assessment. The Environmental Research Center (ERC) department
plays an important role in research for environmental improvement, environmental
management and regulations. The Regulatory Affairs (RA) was newly developed to ensure
product safety and to enforce the regulatory compliance of Yuhan-Kimberly. Meanwhile, theSafety, health, Environment, Ethics, Education and Quality (ShEQ) department collectively
approaches the Company’s safety, health, quality and environment. Those 4 teams are strongly
integrated and operated systematically for sustainability.

5. What does Sustainability Mean to Yuhan-Kimberly? 59

Figure 5.1 Yuhan-Kimberly organization chart forsustainability

What does sustainability mean to Yuhan-Kimberly? Yuhan-Kimberly believes that asustainable company should be sustainable together with four external customers: the Earth,the Market, the Communities and the Supply Chains. The concept can be illustrated in Figure
5.2.
The four external customers will be described in more detail in terms of (1) how
they affect the sustainability policy, (2) which programs are conducted and (3) what theoutcomes are to meet with sustainability.

Figure 5.2

A new sustainability paradigm

60 Joong Woo Ahn, Ki Wook Song, Kyung Shin Kim and Ji Yeon Ahn

Earth
Industries intentionally or accidentally affect the earth through their activities. Natural
resources and energy are essential to firms and waste and pollutants are inevitably generated.
To prevent the abuse of valuable resources and reduce waste, the Company adapts several
theories and tools which are embedded in policy.
Yuhan-Kimberly’s Environmental policy for sustainability can be defined asfollows:x

Compliance with environmental laws and company regulations.

x

No. 1 priority involving reducing contaminants at source.

x

Continuous improvement through Life Cycle Assessmentsx

Accident prevention through risk assessment
The Company also promotes the practice of Environmental Policy for sustainable

development. For instance, water emissions have been gradually decreased since 1997 and arecycling system for both process and waste water in the factories has been introduced. Thiswater recycling system has helped dramatically reduce the total quantity of water use (Fig.
5.3). The applied recycling system also contributed to a significant decline in total waterpollutants. Air Emissions were reduced by means of optimizing the operation temperature in
the incinerator and by upgrading prevention utilities for air pollution. In order to promotecleaner energy, Bunker C oil was changed to bunker A oil and again changed to Liquefied
Natural Gas (LNG) through a Cleaner Production program since 2001. As can be seen in
Figure 5.4, dust, NOx and SOx have all been dramatically reduced while SOx is now not evendetectable. Not only do we comply with environmental regulations under our environmental
policy but we also strive to restrict pollutants to within 20% of national permitted levels.
Furthermore, Yuhan-Kimberly sets lower targets for air emissions every year and attempts togradually reduce emissions with innovative and the best available technologies.
Water Emission
0.5
0.4

2.0

0.43

1.59

0.33

1.5

0.3
0.2
0.1

Air Emission(kg/ ton)(kg/ ton)

1.44
0.17
0.07

0.17
0.09

0.05

0.03

0.0
1997

1999
Tss

2001
COD

0.85

1.0

0.18
0.12

0.09

0.01
0.01

0.01 0.01

2003

2005

0.5

BOD

Figure 5.3 Water emissions

0.51

0.58
0.19

0.17

0.0
1997

1999
NOx

0.15
0.08

0.51
0.07

0.04

2001

2003

SOx

Dust

Figure 5.4 Air emissions

0.42
0.07

0.02

2005

5. What does Sustainability Mean to Yuhan-Kimberly? 61

MarketProducts at Yuhan-Kimberly are designed to reflect environment principles. To manage theholistic life cycle of products, Yuhan-Kimberly conducted various forms of research, such as
life cycle assessment of products such as bathroom tissue (2001), a comparative study indigital textile printing vs. conventional printing (2003), incineration (2004) and contract
manufactured non-woven (2004). Among them, the bathroom tissue “Popee Plus” acquired
ISO 14020, Environmental Labeling, in 2002. As a result of the Life Cycle Assessment ofbathroom tissue, we discovered that the manufacturing stage in the Life Cycle is the major
contributor to the environmental burden, comprising 71% of the total impact assessment value.
Packaging and energy, including electricity and fuel, were confirmed as the major contributors.
To reduce the environmental burden of transportation, imported waste paper was switched to
local sourcing, which helped save 4,000 tons of CO2 emissions as compared to importation. At
the same time, the domestic recycling market was enlarged and the extent of local sourcing
has exceeded 50% since 2001. Since 75% of the local waste paper is used (in 2005), thischange can save about U$1,000,000. In addition, the printing method was changed fromgravure printing to flexography, which enabled the environmental burden during the
packaging process to be reduced by 23% (Fig. 5.5).
Unit: U$/ ton

100%

90

80%

100

80

49

Env.
B u rd e n

60%

60

30

40%

40

[YL
YWL

20%

C o s t S a v in g

]^L

20

0
0%

0

1995

2000(35%)

2001(58%)

Env. Impact

2005(75%)

Cost Saving

Figure 5.5 Effect of sourcing change inrecycled paper

One of the most innovative business areas in cleaner production is the Digital
Textile Printing (DTP) Solution. The conventional printing process incurs a massive
environmental burden such as mass output, high consumption of material, energy and water,
land/building and waste water and solid waste discharge. The main reason is its manytreatment steps. An innovative way to reduce this environmental burden is DTP since it needs
only 4 steps and involves less chemical / water / energy use in the process (Fig. 5.6). A
comparative LCA of DTP proves its superiority in all categories (Fig. 5.7).

62 Joong Woo Ahn, Ki Wook Song, Kyung Shin Kim and Ji Yeon Ahn

Figure 5.6 Printing process of conventionalvs. digital

Figure 5.7 LCA result of digital vs. conventional
printing

SuppliersEnterprises cannot fulfill the total demand of their customers alone. We need otherindependent suppliers who can provide and support specific needs. Since Yuhan-Kimberly is
no exception, supply chain management remains one of the key corporate issues. Supply
Chain Environmental Management (SCEM) programs were operated with 14 participants outof 40 Yuhan-Kimberly contract manufacturers. Its main programs included cleaner production,
EMS, and network systems. A thorough examination of each company’s specific backgroundthrough analysis of their environmental management made it possible for customized training
program to be developed for each supplier. The tools for supporting environmental
management include LCA, DfE, environmental performance evaluation, environmental
accounting and sustainability report (Fig. 5.8). To accomplish sustainable environmental
management, the company will set up a supporting system for suppliers to apply effectively
via procedural simplification. Figure 5.9 shows the result of the SCEM program inenvironmental management, waste and energy from 2003 to 2006. Furthermore, a program isplaned for expansion to all vendors, including raw material suppliers, solid wastes handlers
and distribution channel.

Figure 5.8 Yuhan-Kimberly supply chain
environmental management (SCEM)

Figure 5.9 Achievement of SCEM in 2006

5. What does Sustainability Mean to Yuhan-Kimberly? 63

Community
The corporate philosophy of Yuhan-Kimberly is to give back to the community.
Yuhan-Kimberly realizes its gains come from the community and is thus devoted to the same.
Yuhan-Kimberly has conducted various community activities aiming to enhance the social
health and welfare of the country since 1970. By concentrating on forestation and environment
conservation efforts, Yuhan-Kimberly’s community contribution activities have been further
solidified.
The “Keep Korea Green” campaign has been faithfully implemented throughout thelast 20 years. The first step involved entrusting the necessary funds to foster forest resources
while engaged in mass media based awareness promotions, programs such as newlyweds’ tree
planting, green camp, school forest and so on (Fig. 5.10).
As one of the main campaigns for society, Yuhan-Kimberly has operated a web site
‘Woorisoop’ for information sharing purposes since 2001. It contains information about trees
native to Korea, fundamental forest knowledge, forest recreation programs and others (seeFigure 5.11).
Yuhan-Kimberly also helps some social programs such as support for ‘Seoul
Literature House’, ‘Research and Survey Support and Social Proliferation of Senior Citizen
Issues’ and other initiatives for the next generation. It also actively encourages all members to
get involved in community activities.

Figure 5.10 Campaign
logo

Figure 5.11 Planting trees by newly-wed couples
since 1985

64 Joong Woo Ahn, Ki Wook Song, Kyung Shin Kim and Ji Yeon Ahn

CONCLUSION
Yuhan-Kimberly believes that a sustainable company should be sustainable together with its
main external customers: the earth, the market, the communities and the supply chains.
Collaboration with these customers is essential to achieve company sustainability. We believethat promoting sustainable production and sustainable consumption patterns will lead us to asustainable country. Yuhan-Kimberly is proud of playing a key role in making Korea asustainable country.
REFERENCESYK (2001) Life cycle assessment in bathroom Tissue. Yuhan-Kimberly
YK (2003) Comparative LCA in digital textile printing vs. conventional printing. Yuhan-Kimberly
YK(2004) Life Cycle Assessment in incineration. Yuhan-Kimberly
YK (2004) Life Cycle Assessment in contract manufactured non-woven. Yuhan-Kimberly
Anderson RC (2004) Mid-course correction. INTERFACE, Ecolivre
YK (2006) Performance report of YK SCEM. Yuhan-Kimberly Sustainability Report

6. Toward the Sustainable Circulation of Products among
Asian Countries
Yasushi Umeda1, Yusuke Kishita2
1

Research Institute for Sustainability Science, Osaka University, Osaka, Japan
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering, Osaka University,
Osaka, Japan
2

ABSTRACT
A considerable amount of waste is exported from Japan to Asian countries. Let us call it “global
circulation” among countries. This paper discusses the issues and possibilities of the global circulation.
Global circulation is driven by economic rationality rather than environmental awareness and therefore
causes various problems, such as the dumping of contaminated waste and pollution of air and water,
because of inappropriate recycling processes. The main catalyst of the global circulation is the economic
and legal disparity between developed and developing countries. Therefore, it is impossible to stop suchcirculation and we believe that appropriate global circulation can both reduce global environmental loads
and increase living standards at the same time. In other words, prerequisites of sustainable global
circulation include full care of the environmental loads, traceability, and equity. This paper also describes
a simulation-based case study of global circulation of a personal computer. The simulation results
indicate that reuse circulation is hopeful, while there is a need for improvement in recycling circulation.
We should strive to change the existing global circulations into environmentally aware and, therefore,
sustainable forms by ensuring the prerequisites. As a minimum, the accumulation of practical data isvital for scientific discussions on global circulation.

Keywords: Global circulation, Sustainability, Traceability, Life cycle simulation, Risk management,
Personal computer

66 Yasushi Umeda, Yusuke Kishita

INTRODUCTION
A considerable amount of waste is exported from Japan to Asian countries, including China,
the Philippines, and Vietnam. Let us call it “global circulation” among Asian countries. Whilesome of this is appropriately reutilized, most causes various problems, such as the dumping ofcontaminated waste and the pollution of air and water because of inappropriate recycling
processes. Typically, these problems are called “e-Waste problem” (MOE, 2006). Suchcirculation is driven by economic rationality rather than environmental awareness and the
majority goes underground, making it impossible to prevent. However, we believe thatappropriate global circulation can reduce environmental loads and also increase living
standards at the same time.
In this paper, we discuss the issues and possibilities of global circulation and clarify
the prerequisites of sustainable global circulation. Then, as an example, this paper describes asimulation-based case study of the global circulation of a personal computer.
CURRENT STATUS OF GLOBAL CIRCULATIONThis section summarizes the status of global circulation; in other words, we discuss the types,
driving forces, problems, and potential advantages of global circulation and subsequently
clarify the prerequisites of sustainable global circulation.
Types of global circulation
We can classify the current global circulation according to the reutilization level (viz. reuse,recycling, or waste dumping) as follows:x

Reuse circulation: Products and their parts are sold in secondhand markets. Examples
include cars, construction machinery, and PCs. For instance, Figure 6.1 shows asecondhand market of car parts in Bangkok. In this market, there are several tens ofsecondhand shops dealing with various kinds of car parts in a district and they supply
spare parts indispensable for continuing to use old cars popular in Thailand.

x

Recycling circulation: Materials are recycled, such as steel, cupper, precious metals, andplastics. This type is the largest amount in global circulation as a result of a recent
shortage of resources in rapidly developing countries. For example, the recent rapid
increase in scrap prices makes Japanese recyclers very active.

6. Toward the Sustainable Circulation of Products among Asian Countries 67

Figure 6.1 Secondhand market of car parts in
Bangkokx

Waste exportation: In some cases, waste is exported just for dumping by pretending it isrecyclable. Obviously, this case contravenes the Basel Convention.
Here, note that although not all circulations are illegal, many seem to include

undetectable gray paths. There are various reasons; namely, the fact that the operational
criteria of the Basel Convention differ from country to country, related legislation changes (e.g.
the import of secondhand PCs is now prohibited in China), and the validity of laws differsfrom country to country. In order to establish sustainable global circulation, we should
transform these underground or undetectable paths to explicit and traceable ones.
Driving force
Currently, artifacts are circulating for purely economic reasons and environmental awarenessis a weak catalyst for global circulation. In other words, the main driving force includes
economic disparity between exporting countries (mainly developed countries) and importing
countries (mainly developing countries), weaker environmental legislation in importing
countries, and a shortage of products and natural resources in rapidly developing countries.
Problems
Such global circulation driven by economic disparity causes various problems. On the one
hand, in importing countries, contaminated waste, e.g. PCB and material recycling residues
containing lead, are thrown away into uncontrolled dumping sites. Moreover, inappropriate
recycling processes may pollute water, air, and sites. For instance, in a recycling site, electricmotors are burned in a field in order to extract copper. In such sites, lead from solder

68 Yasushi Umeda, Yusuke Kishita

infiltrates both air and water. Such dumping and processing are not always illegal, based on
local weaker environmental legislation. However, if such operations were inappropriate basedon the environmental legislation of the exporting country; that circulation should not besustainable. Such disparity in environmental regulations is a typical issue, inherent on global
circulation.
On the other hand, global circulation also causes problems in exporting countries.
Many developing countries criticize the fact that global circulation results in waste being
pushed onto developing countries in order to keep developed countries clean. Some green
NGOs claim similar discussions (Greenpeace homepage). Therefore, Japanese manufacturers
or recyclers may receive such criticisms, even if they unintentionally export waste in thecourse of the reverse supply chain of the same. Moreover, their products, once disposed of,may be resold in underground markets and global circulation may cause recycling industries indeveloped countries to decline. For example, due to a recent shortage of plastics, more than
50% of collected PET bottles are said to be exported and mainly go to Hong Kong (based on
the Council for PET bottle recycling). Consequently, one of the most technologicallyadvanced PET recyclers, which implies a higher cost of recycling, was unable to collect waste
PET bottles in 2005. Such unpredicted global circulation also occurs in the statutory recycling
systems of electric home appliances and PCs in Japan.
Potential advantages of global circulation
Despite these serious problems, we believe that global circulation is unstoppable and we canestablish sustainable global circulation with the following potential advantages. Here,sustainable global circulation means global circulation where the environmental loads areequal to or smaller than those of domestic circulation and which is economically feasible.
Obviously, we are opposed to any illegal or environmentally threatening global circulations,but we should at least clarify acceptable and rational prerequisites for the latter. Note that, as
discussed above, since global circulation is driven by cultural, social, and economic disparity,
it is very difficult to evaluate it from the moral perspectives of developed countries. For
example, when we discussed this issue with a Chinese expert and he showed photos of arecycling factory where plastics and electric wires are manually recycled, he said that although
Japanese may feel this factory is dirty, unhealthy, and environmentally inferior, he perceives
this factory as legal and advantageous in supplying resources and providing job opportunities.
If we can establish sustainable global circulation, we can point out two potential

6. Toward the Sustainable Circulation of Products among Asian Countries 69

advantages. Firstly, the disparity increases the value of the used products and their parts. In
other words, used products with no value in developed countries have sufficient saleable value
when exported to developing countries. This extends the lifetimes of products and parts andconsequently increases living standards in developing countries. While this applies to thereuse type circulation, both the reuse and recycling types have the advantage of increasing
resources efficiently from an environmental perspective. Note that the usage of very old
products sometimes causes a negative side effect in terms of energy and material consumption(e.g. the lower fuel efficiency of old cars). Theoretically, this problem can be reduced byapplying an “upgrade design,” which designs products such that the performance will be
upgraded during its usage (Umeda et al. 2005). As shown in this side effect, “life cycle
thinking” is very important in establishing sustainable circulation.
The second potential advantage is the reduced cost of reutilizing used products
because of the economic disparity. In particular, the cheaper labor cost enables manual
operations, such as the cleaning of reusable products and sorting of plastics. For example,
when sorting plastic fragments according to the type of material, such manual operation issuperior to any automatic facilities in the developed countries. Therefore, the lower labor cost
may lead to higher reuse and recycling rates, which help guarantee resources in the developing
countries.
Moreover, we can say that, since many factories of, e.g. white goods and PCs, arelocated in Asian countries, it is natural to send disposed products back to their birthplace toestablish closed-loop circulation systems.
As discussed in this section, because the driving force and potential advantages ofglobal circulation come from cultural, social, and economic disparity, it is not sustainable in atrue sense; i.e. for centuries. As the disparity shrinks (as we hope), global circulation may
disappear, but it will take a long time.
Examples of well-managed global circulation
Let us illustrate two practical examples of the global circulation we consider sustainable. One
is closed-loop plastics recycling in Canon (Canon 2006). In this system, paper trays inphotocopiers, which are made of HIPS, a kind of plastic, are collected and shredded in Japanand shipped to Thailand. Subsequently, in Thailand, the material is recycled into m-PPE, akind of engineering plastic, at a plastics manufacturer. This recycled m-PPE is used to makethe power supply casings in inkjet printers manufactured in Thailand. A feature of this

70 Yasushi Umeda, Yusuke Kishita

recycling system is how they produce higher value engineering plastics from general purpose
plastics. However, the economic feasibility is questionable, because the main purpose of thissystem is to obtain an environmental label for this printer.
Another example is the global recycling network of photocopiers in Fuji Xerox asshown in Figure 6.2 (Fuji Xerox 2006). In this network, they collect end-of-life photocopiersfrom nine countries and regions in the Asia-Pacific region and transport them to Fuji Xerox
Eco-Manufacturing Co., Ltd. (FXEM) in Thailand for disassembly and sorting. Their
recycling partners then participate in transforming those products back into resources under
the supervision of Fuji Xerox. Features of this network include a higher recycling rate than in
traditional local recycling plants; viz. a recycling rate of over 99%, a figure almost equal tothat in Japan, and strong emphasis on a “tracking system.” We agree that traceability is the key
for the sustainable global circulation. In establishing this network, they clarified four
principles; namely, 1) prevent illegal disposal, 2) do not impact on the environment of theimporting country, 3) do not import waste, and 4) create benefits for the importing country.
The expert who established the network highlights two future issues; namely, the fact thatunified international regulations on material transfer should be established, for example, theapplicability of the Basel Convention differs from country to country, and an organization isneeded which authorizes company’s global circulation like this.

Figure 6.2 Fuji Xerox eco-manufacturing (Fuji Xerox 2006)

6. Toward the Sustainable Circulation of Products among Asian Countries 71

Prerequisites for Sustainable Global Circulation
By summarizing the discussion in this section, we can illustrate the following prerequisites forsustainable global circulation, in addition to economic feasibility:x

Full care of the environmental loads: A circulation, directly or indirectly, exerts various
kinds of environmental loads. These loads should be monitored or evaluated and, as aminimum, the total loads should be smaller than those of the corresponding domestic
circulation.

x

Traceability: Traceability is the most important element for establishing sustainable global
circulation. Without this, we cannot prevent illegal dumping, inappropriate recycling
processes, and underground secondhand markets, and monitor the total environmentalloads. Ensuring traceability includes visualization of the flow of circulation andappropriate management of the same.

x

Equity: Equity among related countries and related stakeholders should be ensured. Thisissue includes respect for the cultural and social differences in different countries.

MODELING AND EVALUATION OF THE GLOBAL CIRCULATION
Although we discussed prerequisites for sustainable global circulation and its potential
advantages, it remains unclear whether such circulation can exist or not. In order to clarify theconditions for sustainable global circulation and propose some successful patterns, we executea case study. In this case study, we took a desktop personal computer as an example andcollected as much practical data throughout its global circulation as possible. Subsequently,
we construct various scenarios of global circulation and evaluate them from both economicand environmental viewpoints, based on the idea of the life cycle simulation (Umeda et al.
2000). The life cycle simulation is a simulation system we have been developing for
supporting designers to plan, evaluate, and optimize the total balance of whole product life
cycles. The system simulates the flow of artifacts throughout a product life cycle, based on
discrete event simulation technique and consequently evaluates the balance of a product life
cycle from both economic and environmental perspectives. While we use LCA data toevaluate the environmental aspects, it has certain advantages, such as simulating the dynamics
of circulation, such as reuse, the failure of parts, and recycling and it also evaluates the
economic aspects of a product life cycle.

72 Yasushi Umeda, Yusuke Kishita
Table 6.1 Scenarios of the global circulation

A. Domestic recycling (Japan)
B. Product reuse (coastal area in China)
C. Part reuse and material recycling (coastal
area in China)
D. Material recycling (coastal area in China)
E. Material recycling (inland area in China)
F. Material recycling (Japan + coastal area in
China)

Material recycling other than plastics.
Products are sold as secondhand.
Reusable parts: HDD, FDD, CD-ROM, and
PCB. Others, incl. plastics, are recycled.
All materials are recycled.
All materials are recycled.
Shredded metals are recycled in Japan, and thenplastics are exported and recycled in the coastal
area.

Scenarios of the global circulation
In this case study, we compare various scenarios of the global circulation of a desktop
personal computer (PC) thrown away in Japan. While detailed data and simulation conditions
are described in the reference (Kishita 2006), Table 6.1 summarizes the scenarios. As shown in
Figure 6.3, we take Japan and coastal and inland areas in China respectively as target regionsthat have different labor costs, electricity charges, and unit CO2 emissions of electricity. Notethat we model these regions in a simplified manner; in other words, omitting certain legal andcultural circumstances to pursue the future possibility of global circulation. We consider
product reuse, part reuse, the material recycling of metals, and that of plastics in each region.
Here we assume that plastics are not recycled in Japan, while they are recycled in China.
Metals, however, are recycled in the same kind of facilities with equivalent recycling rates inboth Japan and China.

Coast area
Inland area

Figure 6.3 Global circulation in the case studyJapan6. Toward the Sustainable Circulation of Products among Asian Countries 73

The advantages of reuse and recycling are modeled as follows in this simulation. In
material recycling, the difference in CO2 emissions between the production processes of avirgin material and the recycling processes of the recycled material is subtracted from total
CO2 emissions as an environmental advantage. Moreover, the market price of the extracted
material is added to the sales amount as an economic advantage. Likewise, in reuse circulation,
the difference in CO2 emissions between the production processes of a new product (inproduct reuse) or a new part (in part reuse) and their reuse processes is subtracted from overall
CO2 emissions. In addition, the market price of the secondhand product or part is added to thesales amount.
The simulation starts when a PC is discarded in Japan, and while it has nosecondhand value in Japan, it can still be sold in the secondhand market in China.
Modeling uncertainty
The largest obstacle for conducting the simulation is the uncertainty of the model;
namely, actual international flows of disposed PCs remain clear and we are unable to obtainsufficient practical data. Therefore, we represent such uncertainty in the simulation model via
two methods. One involves representing unexpected events as risks; examples include theft,
PCs going to illegal channels, failure in customs clearance, and unexpected environmental
pollution. A risk is defined as the mathematical product of the probability of an event and theimpact of the same (ASME 2003). We represent the impact as a monetary loss when the event
occurs. The other involves representing uncertainty in data as a data width; e.g. the labor costin a region is 10-20 (yen/day).
Simulation results
The objective of this simulation is to determine conditions for successful global
circulation. Here, we assume that “successful” means the circulation has economic andenvironmental merits; in other words, profit should be greater than zero and CO2 emissions,as representative of environmental loads, should be less than those of domestic material
recycling in Japan.

74 Yasushi Umeda, Yusuke Kishita
2' / CVGTKCN4 GE[ENKPI +PNCPF

CO2 Emission[kgCO2]

1.6

1.2

(/ CVGTKCN4 GE[ENKPI ,CRCP % QCUV$ 2 TQFWEV4 GWUG % QCUV& / CVGTKCN4 GE[ENKPI % QCUV

0.8

# & QO GUVKE

0.4 4 GE[ENKPI ,CRCP% 2 CTVU4 GWUG 4 GE[ENKPI % QCUV

0
-2000

0

2000

4000
6000
Benefit[㪳]

8000

10000

12000

Figure 6.4 Simulation results

Figure 6.4 summarizes the simulation results. The results include the risks discussed
in the previous section and the uncertainty in data, which is represented as the width of theresult, as shown in this figure. In Figure 6.4, scenario A (domestic recycling) is the reference,
hence the rectangular area in the bottom right (hatched area) is that indicating successful
circulation, as discussed above. Unfortunately, there are no fully successful circulations in thissimulation, but the reuse scenarios B and C are promising.
CO2 emissions of all global circulation scenarios B-F are higher than the domestic
recycling equivalents (scenario A), because of additional CO2 emissions during overseas shiptransportation. For example, in scenario D, the CO2 emission of overseas transportationaccounts for 70 % of its total CO2 emission and is 16 times the CO2 emission oftransportation in Scenario A. Because the reduction of CO2 emissions in reuse is larger thanthat in recycling, total CO2 emissions in scenarios B and C are smaller than those in recycling
scenarios D-F. However, reuse scenarios are still larger than or on the border of the successful
area. Among the recycling scenarios D-F, CO2 emissions in scenario E are largest, because of
the additional transportation from coast to inland. Scenario F is slightly better than scenario D,
however, since preprocessing in Japan in this scenario reduces CO2 emissions during overseas
transportation.
Economically, reuse scenarios B and C are more profitable than the recycling
scenarios, because of the higher market price of the secondhand products and parts. However,the uncertainty in profit (viz. the data width) is larger than that of the material recycling
because it seems that the fluctuation of their market price is larger than that of the extracted
material to be recycled.
We can summarize the simulation results as follows. The environmental bottleneck

6. Toward the Sustainable Circulation of Products among Asian Countries 75

of global circulation is the overseas ship transportation, although this is obvious. The reusescenarios are hopeful candidates for sustainable global circulation. By executing sensitivity
analyses of the reuse scenarios, the “yield rate” turned out to be a critical factor. The yield rate
here means the rate of correctly working products and parts to be sold in the secondhand
market relative to the total number of products shipped to China. On the other hand, therecycling scenarios are not hopeful, either environmentally or economically. However, it
seems there global recycling circulations of PCs do exist in the real world, for economic rather
than environmental reasons. We can cite two reasons for this inconsistency. Firstly, costs
exceeding actual levels come from the assumption that all processes, including those in China,
are well managed so as to be compliant with Japanese legislation. Secondly, although theglobal circulation has higher risks than domestic recycling in general, the actual balance sheet
does not take such risks into consideration.
The simulation results imply that better global circulation requires the assurance oftraceability especially in reuse circulation and risk management throughout the circulation.
Moreover, a positive combination with domestic recycling may improve the global recycling
circulation.
At the end of this section, let us highlight two issues for modeling and simulating
global circulation. First, as mentioned several times, the largest obstacle to the simulation is alack of information; viz. lack of practical data and invisible flows. Therefore, the accumulationof practical data is vital for discussing global circulation. Secondly, the current model isinsufficient to evaluate the effects of ensuring a traceability system and life cycle management.
This is one of our future works.
CONCLUSION
This paper discussed the issues and possibilities of global circulation. The main driving forceof global circulation is the economic and legal disparity between developed and developing
countries and prerequisites for sustainable global circulation include full care of theenvironmental loads, traceability, and equity. Under current Asian circumstances, it seems the
only possibility is a global circulation system owned and managed by a reliable global
company.
This paper also described the simulation of a global circulation of a personal
computer. The simulation results indicated that reuse circulation is a hopeful candidate forsustainable global circulation, while recycling circulation requires improvement.

76 Yasushi Umeda, Yusuke Kishita

The global circulation of disposed products should not be ignored and seems
indispensable, both for developed as well as developing countries. We should strive totransform it into an environmentally aware and, therefore, sustainable form by ensuring theprerequisites mentioned above. At the least, the accumulation of practical data is indispensable
for scientifically discussing global circulation.
This research was partially supported by the Ministry of Education, Science, Sports
and Culture, Japan, Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (A), 16201007, 2006.
REFERENCES
ASME (2003) Risk-based methods for equipment life management: an application handbook. American
Society of Mechanical Engineers. ASME, New York
Canon (2006) Canon Sustainability Report 2006. Canon, pp. 42
Council for PET Bottle Recycling (2005) Status of PET bottle recycling in 2004. Council for PET bottle
recyling homepage. Available online at http://www.petbottle-rec.gr.jp/nenji/2005/p06.html#p02.
Website accessed on January 12 2007. (In Japanese)
Fuji Xerox (2006) International Resource Recycling System, Annual Report 2006. Fuji Xerox (inJapanese)
Fuji Xerox (2006) Sustainability Report 2006. Fuji Xerox, pp. 28-29
Greenpeace (2005) The pollution generated by EOL computers in Asia: the responsibility of theconsumerelectronics

maker.

Greenpeace

homepage.

http://www.greenpeace.or.jp/campaign/toxics/zerowaste/1/ewaste1_html.

Available

onlineat

Websiteaccessedon

January 15 2007. (In Japanese)
Kishita Y (2006) Modeling of resource circulation in Asia using risks. Graduate Thesis, Dept. of
Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Osaka University, 2006, (in Japanese).
MOE (2006) Sweeping Policy Reform towards a "Sound Material-Cycle Society" Starting From Japanand Spreading Over The Entire Globe -The "3R" Loop Connecting Japan with Other Countries.
Ministry of Environment, Japan
Umeda Y, Kondoh S, Shimomura Y, Tomiyama T (2005) Development of design methodology for
upgradable products based on function-behavior-state modeling. AIEDAM 19(3):161-182
Umeda Y, Nonomura A, Tomiyama T (2000) Study on life-cycle design for the post mass production
paradigm. AIEDAM, Cambridge University Press 14 (2): 149-161

Sustainable Management of Food, Biomass and Water Resources

7. Key obstacles to Sustainable Agriculture in Hokkaido
Yutaka Saito1 and Nobuyuki Tsuji2
1

Research Institute of Agriculture, Hokkaido University, Japan

2

Sustainability Governance Project (SGP), Creative Research Initiative, Hokkaido University,

Japan

ABSTRACT
Presently, agriculture in Japan faces many difficulties: the ever-rising price of petroleum has led toincreased farming costs in the form of costlier agricultural machinery, pesticides and fertilizers. The
movement towards international free trade via the World Trade Organization (WTO) and Free Trade
Agreement (FTA) has also rendered the cost-benefit balance so deleterious for Japanese farmers that manymustnow rely on farm subsidies from the Japanese Government to survive. A more serious problem is thatof aging farming communities. Although many retired urban dwellers continue to move to rural areas towork on farms as a lifestyle change, this trend has basically been disrupted by private management allodial
tenure systems. Under such circumstances, we anticipate several additional agricultural difficulties being
triggered by global warming: changes in pest fauna may cause sudden pest outbreaks, due to the expected
time delays until natural enemies can adapt. There is no need to pretend that we can survive without foodproduced from agriculture, since it is very apparent that we cannot continue indefinitely importing the
majority of our food from overseas. In this paper we presented an idea to establish a new type of
agriculture in Hokkaido, one able to overcome present as well as expected future difficulties.

Keywords: Agro-sphere, Biological control, Self-sufficient society, Simulation, Rural city

80 Yutaka Saito and Nobuyuki Tsuji

INTRODUCTION
Agriculture in Japan was maintained in a sustainable form up until approximately 140 years
ago, namely the end of the Edo Period (King 1911; Diamond 2005). The re-utilization of thewaste excreted by big cities in the form of agricultural fertilizers in adjacent farming areas
provided many occupations involved in maintaining such cycles. The self-seclusion policy of
the Tokugawa shogunate was perhaps the most important factor during the Edo period causing
people to maintain a basically self-sufficient society mostly dependent upon sustainable(recycling and reutilizing) agriculture. Whether people’s lives during this era werecomfortable, healthy or happy is another matter, but at least 30 million people could besustained for 250 years (1603-1867).
A considerable time has elapsed since Japanese agriculture was transformed into a
monocultural system requiring considerable inputs of artificial fertilizers, pesticides andmachinery. Hokkaido in particular, was a pilot region where North American-style agriculture
could be introduced, as it was almost completely undeveloped at the time. Soon after the Meiji
Restoration, our foregoers at Sapporo Agricultural College, later to become Hokkaido
University, promulgated a somewhat unsustainable form of agriculture in order to achieve
higher food productivity, because politicians strove for the short-term affluence of the people(or mostly for national wealth). Furthermore, the development of synthetic chemicalcompounds for agricultural use soon after World War II, enabled large-scale monocultural
crop production, and saw productivity improve tremendously in Hokkaido. Moreover, in orderto pursue the rational agricultural systems of the time, the government actively encouraged theformation of large-scale farming enterprises in Hokkaido.
However, constant supplies of cheap chemical compounds and sufficient energy,both of which originate from imported fossil oil, are needed to sustain such activities.It isclear that if we are unable to drastically reduce our dependence on imported fossil fuels,
Japanese people's lives will no longer be sustainable.
So, should we try to return to the Edo era? This is quite evidently impossible. The
Japanese population is now 4 times larger than it was during that period, and the magnitude of
the present economy is incomparably larger. Instead, we have to learn from the agriculture of
the Edo era to overcome the problems – namely the depletion of agricultural activities, and of
petroleum, etc - that we now face. We believe that many, but not all of the features of that era
may be applicable to future Japanese and Asian agriculture, if we choose to re-evaluate such"low-technologies" based on contemporary advanced scientific knowledge.

7. Key obstacles to Sustainable Agriculture in Hokkaido 81

Insufficient use of post harvest
resources for other agriculturalindustries, because of hightransportation cost.

Ricegrowingarea

Far distantDairy
farmingarea

Far distant
Far distant

Crop andvegetable
farming area

Far distantFisheriesarea

Far distantOutsideHokkaido

12

Figure 7.1 Spatial separation of farming areas of
Hokkaido agriculture

In this article, we would like to precisely address the nature of the problems andhow we can solve them in our program, the "Hokkaido University Sustainable Governance
Project (SGP)" so as to establish sustainable agriculture in Hokkaido.
WHAT ARE THE DIFFICULTIES IN JAPANESE AGRICULTURE?
Japanese agriculture presently faces several serious problems: the relative escalation offarming costs, because of rising petroleum prices; and long-term pollution by pesticides andfungicides, etc. Because of the movement for international free trade (e.g. the WTO and FTA),
the cost and benefit balance has now become so deleterious to many Japanese farmers thatthey now depend heavily on Government subsidies. Perhaps an even more serious problem isthe aging of rural farming communities. This is partly due to three reasons, symbolized bythree Ks in Japanese, namely Kitanai (dirty), Kibishii (hard work) and Kakkowarui (notfashionable). On the other hand, there is the absurdity that aged (retired) people living in big
cities intend to work on farms in order to change their lifestyles. However, this trend isbasically disturbed by private management systems with allodial tenure. Furthermore,
over-investment in chemical fertilizers and pesticides is also a serious problem, as it has
resulted in polluted environments, soils and foodstuffs themselves.
If we restrict the scope to agriculture in Hokkaido, there are several other specificproblems hampering the establishment of sustainable agriculture. Hokkaido Prefecture now
contains approx. 25% of Japan’s (utilized) agricultural land and its food self-sufficiency rating(calorie-based) is 201% (MAFF 2004). The separation of Hokkaido into several large areas
where only a few specific bio-products are produced (Fig. 7.1), is a serious problem. If

82 Yutaka Saito and Nobuyuki Tsujisufficient supplies of cheap petroleum are available, the costs of transporting agricultural
products to markets are negligible. However, rising petroleum costs are expected to rapidly
render cheap transportation a thing of the past. In fact, it is already impossible to transport
unused bio-products (including industrial waste from dairy farming and fishing, which can beconverted to excellent organic fertilizers) to distant farming areas where demand is high,because the transportation costs outweigh any agricultural benefits.
Another underlying problem is the seasonality of agriculture activities. Other thandairy farming, there is little work for farmers during the winter in Hokkaido. In the growing
and harvesting seasons, however, Hokkaido farmers face serious labor shortage problems.
Thus we must solve the temporal labor uncertainties of northern agriculture, in order toestablish economically viable and sustainable agriculture in the region.
From a global perspective, food is in chronic short supply. We cannot survive
without the food produced by agriculture, and we cannot continue indefinitely to import large
amounts of it from other countries. Therefore, we must now begin to (re)create a new systemof agriculture, one which can overcome the present and anticipated difficulties.
WHAT WE HAVE TO DO
Under these circumstances, Hokkaido University began its Sustainability Governance Project(SGP) this year in order to propose a new future for the agricultural industry, as well as a newurban lifestyle that promote environmental conservation. This project is part of the Integrated
Research System for Sustainability Science (IR3S) alliance. For these purposes, we integrated
many scientific activities, which to date were conducted in fragmented scientific fields. In thisproject, we have established 5 themes that need to be addressed (Fig. 7.2). Hereafter, we will
introduce the activities of the first theme and address what we intend to do during the 3-year
research period.
NORTHERN AGRO-SPHERE SIMULATORIn recent times, both agriculture and society have undergone rapid development. Humanactivities to obtain food and living space were the first requirements, and the rationalization
was the second. Therefore, if we, as scientists, attempt to address the rationality of such
systems, we need to know exactly what the systems are. In other words, our present
knowledge and understanding of such systems is quite insufficient.

7. Key obstacles to Sustainable Agriculture in Hokkaido 83

ThemesNorthernagro-sphere simulator

Hokaido University
President

Northern marine
zone model

Advisory
Board

Proposal of sustainability
governance
SGP Management
Committee

Professo r, Special term
academic members, academic
support sta ff, PD Õs & R AÕs

Sustainability Governance Project
Strategic Priority Project

Establishment of aninternational education system forsustainability science
Proposal/implementationof la rge-scale research
projects

Establishment of GL P Sapporo Nodal O ffice;development of international network forresearch and education

Creative Research Initiative ƻSouseiÓ

Hokkaido

Uni v ersity

Hokkaido University Initiative
for Sustainable Development

Figure 7.2 Implementing agencies for the Sustainability Governance
Project (SGP) in Hokkaido University and its main themes

If we intend to propose a plan for a sustainable rural city in Hokkaido, it is essential
to investigate the real state of the present aspects and activities (functions) of that model city.
Under such circumstances, we have begun to investigate Furano, a rural city in Hokkaido as acase study for a sustainable rural city model.
Furano is a rural city with about 26,000 residents, located in the Furano basin incentral Hokkaido. Within the Furano basin, three local governments, Furano City,
Kami-furano Town and Naka-furano Town, have developed, alongside the Sorachi River.
Furano is about 130 km from Sapporo (pop. 1,800,000) and 53 km from Asahikawa (pop.
360,000), the 2 largest cities in Hokkaido. Tourism (sightseeing in summer and snow sports inwinter) and agriculture are the two main industries and a resource recycling rate of over 90%
has been attained. This attempt is now underway, and the first step of the systems simulation isshown below in Figure 7.3.
In order to compose the systems model for Furano city and the Furano basin, wemust first have a detailed understanding of the energy, material and money flows of the mainindustries. Secondly, we need the same such information for hotels, stores and private homes.
Using this information, we will then develop a computer model simulating a rural city. Basedon the systems model, we will then be able to discuss how Furano and its neighboring towns
can be maintained as rural cities in Hokkaido.

84 Yutaka Saito and Nobuyuki Tsuji

chemical(pesticides)
fertilizer

agriculture854
material

foodprocessing
plant

store

shipping

commodity
316

15
feed

dairy
farming
37

energyelectricity, petroleum etc.
water

fertilizer (37%)

touristÅi2.3million)

plant fuelsolid fuel(27%)

recyclingplant

resouce(29%)

garbageresourcel
garbagerecycl ing
plant5

shipping

garbage6%
incinerator
refuse1%
landfill

waste water

1

1

waste
water

resourcel
garbagesewagetreatment
plant
2

garbageprocessed water

waste watercommodity
hotel

home

67

10000
FURANO
Population 26,000

Figure 7.3 Brief sketch of the systems flow in Furano city

Continuing on this theme, we also plan to establish a new, small-scale integrated
agricultural industry. Initially, we settled a “virtual” area (10~20 ha) near the Sorachi River, as
the site for such an industry. We are presently attempting to integrate several agriculturalactivities in Hokkaido into this area by simulation. Through trial and error processes, we
intend to propose some rational and sustainable combinations, and are hopeful that the
integration of agriculture should lead to environmental and socio-economic sustainability.
RELATED RESEARCH FOR SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE
The sustainability of human society, agriculture and environment is our target. However, theprimary reason why such a concept has now become necessary is mostly in response to theanticipated deterioration of the Earth by human industrial activity. The alert to global warming(Lischak 2006) is mostly sensationalist. In relation to this problem, however, there are two
opposing views within Hokkaido agriculture. Rice farming in Hokkaido has long faced thethreat of damage from long periods of cold weather. Actually, in 1993 the rice harvest wasdevastated, because of an extraordinarily cool summer in Hokkaido. Therefore, the recent

7. Key obstacles to Sustainable Agriculture in Hokkaido 85

trend of warmer weather is considered to be a welcome phenomenon. Is this true?
Several differing opinions exist on this trend. Some entomologists and pathologists
warn of an ecological disaster through such warming. Hokkaido is the northernmost region in
Japan, meaning that the amounts of pesticide, herbicide and fungicide applied are relatively
low in comparison to the other more southerly regions. This is one of the importantcommercial traits of Hokkaido produce, namely the fact that it is safe and clean. If averagetemperatures in the growing season continue to rise, we must expect invasions and/or
outbreaks of pests and diseases to occur in Hokkaido. If the costs of chemical compounds
continue to rise, we may face great difficulties in maintaining safe food production. Under
such circumstances, we must focus on the forecasted environmental conditions under which
we will conduct sustainable agriculture.
The idea of augmenting bio-diversity for pest management in agriculture is not a
new one (Huffaker 1971). In European and Chinese agriculture, the polyculturing of several
crops simultaneously and the preservation of natural vegetation in fields and orchards haveboth been stressed as important elements of agriculture (Brookfield 2001). As mentioned
previously, Japanese agriculture has pursued high productivity with reduced labor, such thatlittle diversity remains in the fields of Hokkaido. Monoculture enables farmers to introduce
big machinery to reduce labor costs, and this prompted the introduction of North American
style agriculture into Hokkaido. As addressed previously, large-scale, monocultural agriculture
will inevitably become increasingly difficult in future due to energy shortages, and is
extremely vulnerable to pest outbreaks. Thus, we should consider other means of pest
management, such as the introduction of polyculture and the preservation of biodiversity.
Hereafter, we will present a recent success in biological pest management using
biodiversity in order to show a potential means to establish sustainable and safe foodproduction.
BIODIVERSITY AS A KEY OF SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE
Outbreaks of pest mites on Moso bamboo (Phyllostachys pubesense) have occurred since thelate 1980’s, and many bamboo forests have withered in Fujian province, China. We havelaunched a Japan-China joint research project to restore the Moso bamboo forests and haverevealed that the pest outbreaks on bamboo were triggered by a change from polycultural tomonocultural bamboo cultivation, which inevitably decreased arthropod (pests and theirnatural enemies) diversity (Zhang et al. 2004a). Furthermore, we discovered that a phytoseiid

86 Yutaka Saito and Nobuyuki Tsujimite, Typhlodromus bambusae, common to the Hokkaido dwarf bamboo forests, is the mostimportant predator species of the pest mites of Moso bamboo (Zhang et al. 2004b). However,monocultured Moso bamboo forests have no nursery plants (banker plants) to sustain predator
populations during the winter defoliation periods (which occur at 2-year intervals). Therefore,
we could recommend that farmers plant a banker plant, Miscanthus spp., on which anotherprey species for the predators occurs year-round (Fig. 7.4). In addition, we determined that an
introduced predator species, Amblyseius cucumeris, also provides effective control of pest
mites and several small insect pests (Zhang et al. 2003) and were thus able to prove thatbio-diversity can provide effective pest regulation. This is the story in a nutshell story, but
finally, we will add an epilogue to this success. Moso bamboo has largely destroyed traditional
Japanese forests, or Sato-yama, because poorly maintained bamboo forests often trigger
landslides. Cheaper imported bamboo shoots from Fujian province, China also discourage
efforts to maintain Japanese bamboo forests. Thus there is a conflict between Chinese andJapanese bamboo plantations. We have learned that the establishment of sustainableagriculture in one country can sometimes cause unexpected problems for sustainability inanother. This is only a small example, but we must pay attention and be prepared for suchpossibilities.

Figure 7.4 An example of restoring damaged Fujian
bamboo forests through biodiversity

7. Key obstacles to Sustainable Agriculture in Hokkaido 87

CONCLUSION
We must now remember that a sustainable nation could be established during the Edo era
when there was no means of obtaining any food or energy from overseas. If transportation
costs increase, we have to realize that we will be unable to survive by depending upon
imported food. Car exports presently play a great role in supporting Japan’s economy, but for
how much longer we will be able to get money from such industries, if there is no powersource to drive cars? Of course, technological developments may resolve such problems infuture, as optimistically pointed out by Choen (1995), but another question that willcontinually arise is whether these technological developments THEMSELVES will besustainable from the Earth’s perspective.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We would like to thank Drs. T. Morioka and H. Yabar who invited us to the international
symposium of RISS and edited this article. We also thank M. Osaki, N. Tanaka and A. R.
Chittenden in Hokkaido University SGP. This work was supported by MEXT through Special
Coordination Funds for Promoting Science and Technology, Japan.
REFERENCES
Brookfield H (2001) Exploring agrodiversity. Columbia University Press, New York
Cohen JE (1995) How many people can the earth support? W. W. Norton & Company, New York
Daimond J (2005) Collapse- How societies choose to fall or succeed. Viking, New YorkKing FH (1911) Farmers of forty centuries or permanent agriculture in China, Korea and Japan. Rodale
Pr. Reprint edition March 1990
Lischak GN (2006) Global warming: reason for alarm? Real Truth Jul.-Aug. Issue
Zhang Y, LinJ, JiJ, Zhang Z, SaitoY (2003) Evaluation of Amblyseius cucumeris as a control agent ofpest mites occurring on moso bamboo. Natural Enemies of Insects 25: 1-7 (in Chinese)
Zhang Y, ZhangZ, SaitoY, LiuQ, JiJ (2004a) On the causes of mite pest outbreaks in mono- andpoly-cultured moso bamboo forests. J. Appl. Ecol. 15:1161-1165 (in Chinese with English abstract).
Zhang Y, SaitoY, Ji J, Lin Z (2004b) The cause of the decrease of population dynamic of Typhlodromus
bambusae Ehara in moso bamboo forests. Entomological Journal of East China 13: 55-61

8. Integrated Water Resources Management Strategies towards
Sustainable Development in Vietnam
Kenichi Nakagami1, Dung Nguyen Vo Huyen2 and Van Huy Nguyen2
1College of Asia Pacific Studies, Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University, Oita, Japan

2

Graduate School of International Cooperation Policy, Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University,

Oita, Japan

ABSTRACT
Vietnam has experienced both qualitative and quantitative deterioration of its water resources in recent
years mainly due to rapid economic development. All efforts to manage these valuable resources in asustainable fashion have failed. To attain sustainable development, it is necessary to shift from thetraditional end-of-pipe approach to an integrated approach of water resources management. One of themain barriers towards this goal is that currently the value of water is not reflected in its price. This article
outlines the management of water resources based on financial mechanisms and the application of
economic instruments in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC). Being the largest city in Vietnam, HCMC provides
an important case for studying the pricing system.
Keywords: Water resources management strategies, Ho Chi Minh City, Water pricing, Sustainable
development, Vietnam

90 Kenichi Nakagami, Dung Nguyen Vo Huyen and Van Huy Nguyen

INTRODUCTION
The growing population and pressure on natural resources impair the natural processes of thewater cycle resulting in shortages and declining quality of water resources. Finding a practical
approach to address this important issue is among the most pressing that the world faces in theearly 21st century.
The Asia Pacific Region accounts for 36% of global run-off water. Even thoughwater scarcity and pollution are key issues, the region has the lowest per capita availability offreshwater: renewable water resources amounted to 3,690 m3 per capita/year in mid-1999 forthe 30 largest countries in the region for which records are available (UNDP, UNEP, WorldBank and WRI 2000 and United Nations Population Division 2001).
Water scarcity, lowered quality and inadequate wastewater systems are serious
threats to the development of the Asia Pacific Region. Water is an essential resource for theregion’s growth, but current water and wastewater related problems are increasing and will
limit the region’s development options for the future. Traditionally, government policies andstrategies on water management have aimed at expanding the supply services in order to meetthe increasing water demand from domestic, agricultural and industrial sectors. The largely
fragmented approach that has traditionally been applied has allowed conflicts and competition,and has led to over-exploitation of water resources.
The current challenge for many countries in the region is to overcome fragmented
sub-sector approaches and to design and implement integrated water resources management
strategies, particularly for the implementation of projects that transcend sub-sectors.
ENVIRONMENTAL RESOURCES AND INTEGRATED WATER RESOURCES
MANAGEMENT
The concept of an integrated environmental-economic system is an approach for integratingwater management, which in turn may serve as a point of departure for promoting the processof sustainable development. According to Dasgupta, environmental resources are renewable aslong as the environment in which they are nurtured is maintained appropriately, but they may
be depleted when they are misused. Environmental resources have the following features: (i)uses of environmental resources often conflict; (ii) environmental resources are limited; and(iii) environmental resources not only in the form of flow but also the actual stock affectpeople’s welfare.

8. Integrated Water Resources Management Strategies towards Sustainable Development in Vietnam 91

In the environmental-economic system, environmental resources are inputs derived
from the environmental system and used in the economic system. The framework ofenvironmental resources set out by the Environmental Agency of Japan from this perspective
identifies the following three categories of environmental resources:x

Pollutants: seven major pollutants defined by law;x

Physical and ecological resources: lithosphere, atmosphere, aquasphere, biosphere,
natural landscape, local energy, etc; andx

Amenity environmental resources: neighborhood pollutants, space and aesthetic resources,
historical and cultural resources, services, disasters, etc.
Environmental resources may also be classified in accordance with the uses towhich they are put, namely: (i) natural/ecological environmental resources; (ii) productive
activity-oriented environmental resources; (iii) urban activity-oriented environmental
resources; and (iv) social-cultural-environmental resources. Figure 8.1 shows a model ofintegrated water resources management.
INTEGRATED WATER RESOURCES MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES IN VIETNAM
Features of Vietnam water resources
Due to the humidity and tropical monsoon climate, Vietnam has abundant rainfall, which
greatly supports the river network. There is a river mouth for each 20 km of coastline, andaround 2,360 rivers that are more than 10 km long. Eight of these rivers are large basins with acatchments area of 10,000 km2 or more. Many of the rivers flowing through Vietnam crossinternational boundaries. The total catchment area in Vietnam and internationally is close to
1.2 million km2 which is approximately 3 times the size of Vietnam itself. The total annual
runoff is 835 billion m3 but the shortage of water is aggravated in the 6-7 month dry season,
when the runoff is only 15 to 30% of this total (World Bank 2002).
Vietnam’s water resources are not sustainable. According to the National Water
Resources Strategy report, the surface water that flows into the country's territory accounts for
63% of the total volume and over 70% of the river basin. This makes Vietnam vulnerable towater resource decisions made by countries upstream.

92 Kenichi Nakagami, Dung Nguyen Vo Huyen and Van Huy Nguyen

Figure 8.1 Integrated water resources management

Changes in the global climate are causing a considerable decline in water resources.
It is forecasted that in the next 20, 50, 100 years from now (2006) the total volume of surface
water will be around 96%, 91% and 86% of today's quantity respectively.
The current average per capita surface water availability from the total volume ofwater in rivers within Vietnam is about 3.840 m3 per year. If water inflows from outside thecountry are included, the average per capita river water availability is 10.240 m3 per year.
Taking the population growth into consideration, by 2025 the average per capita surface water
availability will be 2.830 m3 per year, and this figure would be 7.660 m3 per year if waterflows from outside the country were taken into account. According to the standards of theInternational Water Resources Association, nations with average per capita water availability
lower than 4000 m3 per year are considered to have inadequate water supply. Thus, if we only
count the volume of surface water generated within the territory, Vietnam is already a water
deficient nation and will face many challenges with water resources in the near future.
Furthermore, in Vietnam, water resources are not evenly distributed over different regions
over different times of the year or over different years. The rapid speed of urbanization anddevelopment has led to pollution of the water resources, which will make the matter worse(Vietnam National Water Resources Strategy towards the year 2020).

8. Integrated Water Resources Management Strategies towards Sustainable Development in Vietnam 93

Balance between protection and development of water resources: ensuring an adequate
supply of water and water security for socioeconomic development
Vietnam will face many significant challenges regarding water resources in the near future
unless public awareness is raised. Major challenges include:x

Shortage of water in the dry seasons is occurring with higher frequency and with severer
impact, especially in the Centre and Central Highlands;x

Obsolete infrastructure and wasteful, inefficient use of water has not been improved;x

Degradation and exhaustion of groundwater is occurring in some areas and has not been
controlled;x

Lack of an integrated and multi-purpose approach in water exploitation and use;x

Population growth, economic development and poverty will directly affect the water
resources; andx

The accession of Vietnam to the WTO will on the one hand bring opportunities for thenational economy but on the other hand affect domestic business. Whether they cancompete internationally, depends on their ability to improve their management practices.

Major water resources strategies and policies
In the 1992 UN conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Brazil, Vietnam
reported that its environmental management had been limited because of its largely piecemeal.
Vietnam also reported that it faced various constraints including the fact that the government
had higher priorities in national economic development. Also there was a general lack ofawareness regarding environmental issues, the legislative framework and the information basewere weak and incomplete and the resource base was severely limited.
In the 1982 Directives of the Council of Ministers, environmental protection wasrecognized as a major issue to be given top priority in all governmental branches and localities
in Vietnam. In 1985, with the promulgation of Resolution 246 of the Council of Ministers on
the survey and rational use of natural resources and environmental protection, environmental
protection was established as a concern of the entire population. In June 1991, the National
Plan on Environmental and Sustainable Development 1991 - 2000 was approved by theCouncil of Ministers. Considering these and other initiatives, Vietnam has had major policies
on environmental protection from the early 1980s.

94 Kenichi Nakagami, Dung Nguyen Vo Huyen and Van Huy Nguyen

The broadest level of national policy and strategy development is provided in the"Socioeconomic Development Strategy for 2001-2010". In regard to water resource
management policies, a number of objectives have been formulated: The Water Resources
Development Plan to the Year 2000 and the Tentative Development Plan to the Year 2010
(MARD 1998), the Direction and Duties of Water Resources Development to the Year 2010
(MARD 1999), Strengthening Environmental Protection in the Period of National
Industrialization and Modernization (Communist Party of Vietnam, Directive No. 36/CT-TW,
1998), the Strategy for Rural Agriculture Development in the Industrialization andModernization Period to the Year 2010, the Agriculture and Rural Development Plan
(2001-2005) (MARD 2000), the National Strategy for Rural Water Supply and Sanitation(NRWSS), the Second National Strategy and the Action Plan for Disaster Mitigation andManagement in Vietnam 2001 to 2020 (MARD and the Central Committee for Flood andStorm Control 2001). In 1998, the Law on Water Resources was passed and came into effectin January 1999. The Law on Water Resources is a flexible legal framework to which a
number of decrees have been added subsequently. These decrees define the responsibilities
and duties of the institutional bodies for implementing the Law on Water Resources.
Although the Vietnamese government has formulated many strategies and policies
regarding water resources, water resources are being used unsustainably and the needs of thepeople are not being effectively satisfied. Management of water resources based on a financial
mechanism and application of an economic instrument is the most important task for
integrated water management. This means that water should be treated as an economic good,the subsidized mechanism should be eliminated; and the costs for utilizing water should befully reflected in the price of water. The water pricing issue in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) is
considered in the case study below.
PRICING URBAN WATER IN HO CHI MINH CITY
Since July 2004, the water price has increased in HCMC. However, the average price is still
lower than the cost of production, resulting in financial loss for the water supply company.
Since the price continues to be subsidized, the current water price has not encouraged efficientuse of water. The use of water is still wasteful and large quantities of water are still being
discharged.

The water resource has been over-exploited to meet the increasing water

demand. In order to protect and encourage efficient use of the water resource as well as toensure a healthy financial system for the water supply company, we must reconsider the8. Integrated Water Resources Management Strategies towards Sustainable Development in Vietnam 95

current water pricing structure.
Water demand and supply in Ho Chi Minh City
Water supply
Currently, a state-owned company called The Saigon Water Supply Company (SAWACO) is
responsible for providing water to the city. Private companies are not allowed to do businessin this sector. SAWACO is presently using water from Thu Duc, Binh An and Tan Hiep Water
Utility and from Tan Binh Groundwater Utility and other groundwater supply sources.
Table 8.1 Water volume supplied in Ho Chi Minh in recent years (Saigon Water Supply Company)

Year

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

Supplied Water

940

965

1058

1028

1121

volume(1000m3/day)Table 8.1 shows the water volume produced per day in each utility since 2002. In
June 2006, the water supply capacity of the city reached 1,121,570 m3/day (Table 8.2).
Although the water volume supplied has been increasing significantly; it is still insufficient tomeet the water use demand in Ho Chi Minh City.
Water demand
In recent years, the demand for water use has increased significantly, as a result of expansionof the city and the appearance of newly established districts and industrial zones. The watersupply system in the city cannot meet this increasing demand. The demand growth rate isincreasing faster than the supply growth rate. According to Saigon Water Supply Company
data, in 2003, water demand was 1.4 billion m3 and the capacity of water companies only met
70% of use demand. Compared with the first six months of 2005, water consumption in thesame period of 2006 increased to approximately 2,819,000 m3 (or equal to 18,700 m3/day on
average). Thus, although there was a significant increase in water volume supplied, just 75.5%of the population had access to clean water through the water supply company’s network. By
2010, water demand will be 2,374,094 m3/day while water supply will be approximately
413,093,000 m3/year (or 1,147,480 m3/day) (Saigon Water Supply Company 2004). Thismeans that there will be a water demand shortage of 1,226,614 m3 per day (see Table 8.3).

96 Kenichi Nakagami, Dung Nguyen Vo Huyen and Van Huy Nguyen
Table 8.2 Water volume supplied in June 2006 (Saigon Water Supply Company, 2006)

Designed capacity (m3/day)

Water utilities

Water

volumesupplied3(m /day)
1. Surface water resource

1.150.000

1.045.566

Thu Duc Water Utility

750.000

698.463

Binh An Water Utility

100.000

100.572

Tan Hiep Water Utility

300.000

246.531

2. Groundwater resource

86.00076.004

Tan Binh Groundwater Utility

60.00053.568Other groundwater utilities

26.00022.436

Total

1.236.000

1.121.570

Table 8.3 Water Demand and Supply in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon Water Supply Company, 2006)

Year

Population

Water
3

demandWater Supply(m /day)(m3/day)

2000

5.576.000

1.250.000

850.000

2005

6.325.000

1.960.032

1.028.000

2010

7.320.000

2.374.094

1.147.480

Water pricing reform
Legal basis for setting the current urban water priceThe State issued guidelines on the principles and methods for defining the clean water tariff in
1997. On June 6, 1999 the government assigned the Ministry of Construction and theGovernment Pricing Board to issue circular 3/1999/TTLT/BXD-BVGCP stipulating acommon water tariff framework for the whole country. This circular superseded Circular 2
issued in 1997. After four years of its implementation, limitations and problems were found.
Consequently, on August 11, 2004, the Ministry of Construction in coordination with the
Ministry of Finance jointly issued Circular 104/2004/TTLT/BTC-BXD on the guidelines,
principles and methods for defining the water tariff framework replacing that of Circular 3 forthe whole country. Similar to Circular 3, Circular 104 provided only the guidelines fordefining the water tariff and it was not a command with which the provincial committee mustfully comply.

8. Integrated Water Resources Management Strategies towards Sustainable Development in Vietnam 97

Analysis of the existing problems with the current water price
HCMC, like other cities in Vietnam, uses average cost pricing for water services. Table 8.4
shows the current water price in HCMC and the percentage of water use for each group ofresidents in 2005. According to the water supply company, the average cost per 1m3 was 4500
VND in 2005. With the proportion of water use as shown in Table 8.4, the average price is4090VND/m3, which means the company will suffer from a financial deficit: 4500 – 4090 =410 VND/m3. Since the Water Supply Company is still state owned, the government has tosubsidize this deficit.
Table 8.4 The percentage of water usage of each user’s group at different block rates (Water Supply
Company, 2005)

Category

Price (VND)

 Percentage

Below 4 m3/capita/month

2.700

 55%

Above 4 m3/capita/month

Domestic (DU)
5.400

 9.48%3

Above 6m /capita/month

8.000

 5%

Industry (Production)

4.500

 17%

Business and commercial units

8000

 6%

Public Administrative organizations

6000

 7%
Total :100%

This is a burden on the government’s budget. At the same time, as the water price isstill subsidized, it creates a habit of using water at a low price, and thus it does not send theright message about the value of water to users and does not promote water efficient use andconservation.
The government plans to shift the water supply company to the private sector. In
order to do so, the water price should be re-considered carefully and calculated accurately andadequately to ensure that the water supply company can operate stably based on self-financeand it must also have sufficient financial accumulation to upgrade and expand the system.
Although setting different prices for different water usage groups withcorresponding coefficients is reasonable for the current situation in Vietnam, the pricing
system has other problems. In the water pricing structure in HCMC in particular and in
Circular 3 issued in 1999 in general, it is stated that when the water price is set, the㩷98 Kenichi Nakagami, Dung Nguyen Vo Huyen and Van Huy Nguyen㩷affordability of residents should be taken into consideration. However, there have been no
guidelines for “affordability”. So far, in Vietnam there has been no standard to regulate thepercentage monthly cost of using water to take account of the total monthly average income ofresidents. In fact, in Vietnam the monthly domestic water expense varies greatly among cities.
For example in 2002, the cost of monthly water use in the total average income per capita was
3.5% in Ha Giang, 3.2% in Cao Bang, 0.8% in Da Nang, 0.6% in HCMC and 0.8% in Ha Noi(World Bank 2006).
In HCMC and other cities as well, the decision to set the price according toaffordability has resulted in either inaccurate or insufficient calculation of production costs
especially in the asset depreciation calculation. According to the recommendation of the AsianDevelopment Bank (ADB), the affordability of consumers for clean domestic water indeveloping countries is about 3% of GDP per capita.

In 2005, the average income in HCMC

was more than 1.8 million VND/month. Meanwhile, the monthly expenses for water use only
accounted for about 1% of this income. Consequently, there is no reason to impose a low
water price that does not reflect its real value.
CONCLUSION
Integrated water management is important for achieving sustainable development in a
multi-component-market economy with a rapidly growing demand for water. Reform in thecurrent pricing system is necessary and these changes will not only improve the financial
situation of the water supply companies and the quality of services but will also support theefficiency of integrated water management, aiming at its sustainability.
REFERENCES
Dasgupta P (1982) The control of resources. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA
McIntosh A, Yniguez C (2004) Data of water supply utilities in Asia- Pacific Region. AsianDevelopment Bank
Ministry of Construction and MARD (2006) National rural clean water supply and sanitation strategy up
to year of 2020. Vietnam, Culture- Information Publishing House, Hanoi
Nakagami K (1990) Sustainable Development and river/lake basin management. Paper presented at theThird Expert Group Workshop on River/lake Basin Approaches to Environmentally Sound
Management of Water Resources, 12 – 17 Feb 1990, Otsu, Japan㩷

8. Integrated Water Resources Management Strategies towards Sustainable Development in Vietnam 99

㩷Nguyen Van Huy (2005) Pricing urban water: case study of Ho Chi Minh City
Nguyen Vo Huyen Dung (2005) Integrated Water Resource Management towards Sustainable
Development In Vietnam
Water Supply Company, Annual Report of the year of 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 Water Supply
Company (In Vietnamese)
World Bank (1996) A guide to the formulation of water strategy. World BankWorld Bank (1996) Vietnam’s water resources sector review (Main report). World BankWorld Bank (2002) Vietnam environmental monitoring: water resources. World BankWorld Bank (2006) Water supply and sanitation strategy: building on a solid foundation. World Bank㩷㩷

9. Biomass Asia Partnership
Shinya Yokoyama and Yutaka Kaizu
Department of Biological and Environmental Engineering, Graduate School of Agriculturaland Life Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan

ABSTRACT
Biomass is unique in terms of its renewability and carbon neutrality. When biomass is combusted forenergy conversion, carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere. However, the net concentration ofcarbon dioxide in the atmosphere remains constant provided the same amount of carbon dioxide is fixedby photosynthesis. If biomass is efficiently and wisely utilized through sustainable management, it canreplace fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and natural gas. Energy conversion technologies are divided into
two major categories, namely, thermo-chemical conversion, including power generation, gasification,
pyrolysis, liquefaction, and trans-esterification as well as biological conversion, including ethanol
fermentation and anaerobic digestion. Among these technologies, the importance of technology to
produce liquid transportation fuel from biomass wastes will be emphasized in this article. In Asia, fossil
fuel consumption, especially petroleum, is increasing due to rapid economic growth and remarkablemotorization. As a matter of course, carbon dioxide emissions will also increase. R&D for theenvironmentally-friendly production of liquid transportation fuels from biomass is thus highly
anticipated. Biomass is gasified to produce synthesis gas and can then be converted to alternativetransportation fuels such as methanol, di-methyl ether, and F-T diesel. The energy situation in Asia will
also be analyzed in this article.
Keywords: Biomass, Energy, Conversion, Liquid fuel, Carbon dioxide

102 Shinya Yokoyama and Yutaka Kaizu㩷㩷
INTRODUCTION
The characteristics of biomass
In general, biomass refers to a substantial number of bioorigin resources that can be utilized asa source of energy and raw materials. Wood, grass, marine algae, agricultural waste, forestry
waste, and municipal waste all fall into this category. Energy crops form one part of promisingbiomass that may enable large scale energy plantation, though this has not yet beencommercialized at present. Biomass forms its own body by photosynthesis utilizing solar
energy. If biomass is burnt and carbon dioxide is emitted into the atmosphere, the net
concentration of carbon dioxide remains unchanged provided carbon dioxide can be
photochemically fixed into biomass as demonstrated in Figure 9.1. This is called the carbon
neutrality of biomass. Energy sources capable of replacing fossil fuels are derived from thiscycle, namely, energy utilization by combustion, and carbon dioxide emissions, and carbon
dioxide fixation by photosynthesis, for example, by reforestation. We can thus safely say thatcarbon dioxide emissions can be reduced by substituting fossil fuels for biomass.
Biomass is the only organic source among other forms of renewable energy. In otherwords, ethanol, methanol, dimethyl ether, and hydrocarbons can be produced only frombiomass among renewable energy sources. This means that biomass can be transported, stored,
and transformed in the form of material. It should be emphasized that wind, photovoltaic, tidal,
wave, and geothermal energy can produce heat and power but not chemicals and fuels.
However, carbon dioxide emitted from the utilization of biomass will accumulate irreversibly
into the atmosphere in a manner similar to that discharged by fossil fuel utilization unless the
fixation of carbon dioxide is conducted. Sustainable biomass management is essential for the
long-term stable supply of bioenergy.
Biomass has disadvantages compared with oil, coal, and natural gas, in the sensethat although it is widely abundant, its energy density is low. If a good supply of biomass isrequired at one site, the cost of collection may be excessive due to the long distance oftransportation. In general, biomass has high moisture content and its heating value is lower
than those of fossil fuels.

㩷

9. Biomass Asia Partnership 103

㩷Figure 9.1 Characteristics of biomass

Biomass energy potential
With regard to domestic biomass energy potential, according to the report made by the Japan
Institute of Energy in 2002, the amount is estimated to be 1,757PJ/y (41 million TOE)
including woody biomass, forestry waste, agricultural waste, food waste, animal waste, andsewage sludge, etc. and the available energy potential is 1,327PJ/y (31 million TOE). This isalmost equivalent to 5.7% of the primary energy supply of Japan in 2000 (JIE 2002).
From a global perspective, biomass energy accounts for nearly 15% total global
energy consumption. Particularly in developing countries, biomass is the dominant source ofenergy (38% of total energy consumption). In most rural areas of the world, biomass is
non-commercial and held in low esteem as an energy source. The role of biomass in the global
energy economy remains unclear. Official data on biomass consumption collected by the Foodand Agricultural Organization (FAO) of the United Nations indicate that biomass is burnt at a
global rate of about 20EJ/y, which represents less than 6% of total primary energy
consumption. However, detailed surveys in many countries indicate a much larger role. Bestestimates suggest that biomass is consumed globally at a rate of 55EJ/y, which represents
some 15% of the total primary energy consumption (Johansson et al. 1993). Biomass is a majorenergy source which is consumed globally at nearly the same rate as natural gas. Biomass
could play an even larger role in future if we can find eco-efficient technologies to convert it
into liquid, gas or electricity.

104 Shinya Yokoyama and Yutaka Kaizu㩷㩷
CONVERSION TECHNOLOGIESTechnologies for biomass conversion have a much wider range than those for wind,photovoltaic, and geothermal energy. This is because biomass is quite different in its chemicaland physical properties. Figure 9.2 shows biomass energy conversion technologies.
Combustion, gasification, and liquefaction through gasification are suitable for dry biomass
such as wood. Animal waste and sewage sludge, meanwhile, with their high moisture content
are suitable for anaerobic digestion to produce methane. In the case of starch and sugar, thebest technology is fermentation to produce ethanol. In the case of waste food oil, crude palmoil, and rape seed oil, biodiesel production is the best choice through trans-esterification using
methanol. In many countries, considerable biomass is already being used for power generation.
Cogeneration is in use in Scandinavian countries and huge quantities of ethanol are being
produced in the United States and Brazil. Biodiesel fuel produced from rape seed oil is also
being used in some European countries, while methane produced by anaerobic digestion has
been used for power generation or as an alternative to natural gas for vehicles. In developing
countries, charcoal is in broad use for cooking and wood pellets are gradually penetrating
society.
Regarding power generation from biomass, the biggest capacity on a single unit in
the world is about 50MW. The Hokkaido and Tohoku regions represent good candidates tointroduce a cogeneration system on such a scale, as heating is indispensable in winter. In orderto operate a plant on a scale of 10MW, nearly 80,000 tons of wood may be needed per year,
although this depends on the efficiency of power generation, and operational rates, etc. This
scale is, however, not always economical. In recent years, there has been remarkabledevelopment in power generation technology through gasification on a small scale.

Figure 9.2 Biomass energy conversion technologies㩷

9. Biomass Asia Partnership 105

㩷
According to a recent news report (Asahi newspaper 2005), the Chugai Ro
Company has been developing power generation technology at a test facility to exploit gases
generated from wood waste by using a rotary kiln type gasifier. It uses methane and otherflammable gases obtained by burning biomass fuel to propel turbines to generate power. This
company succeeded in generating electricity from wood waste for 500 consecutive hours.
In order to make biomass fired power generation economically feasible, a cheap
supply of biomass and a reasonable price for the sale of electricity are two important factors.
In Japan, the RPS (Renewable Energy Portfolio Standard) was enforced from April in 2003,
which activates the business of the biomass fired power generation. To ensure the further
penetration of biomass into our society, it seems that preferential policy and measures may benecessary.
Methanol, dimethyl ether (DME), and diesel alternatives can be chemicallysynthesized from synthesis gas (a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide) which is
produced by the gasification of biomass such as lignocellulosic materials (wood and grass).
However it currently remains in the phases of development and demonstration. Mitsubishi
Heavy Industry Co. is conducting research for the production of methanol through biomass
gasification with the financial support of NEDO. If methanol is synthesized, DME can also beeasily produced by the dehydration of methanol. Since both methanol and DME are promisingfuels for fuel cells, an economical process is strongly anticipated. The importance ofFisher-Tropsch diesel (FTD) production from synthesis gas from biomass will be describedlater.
Biodiesel fuel (BDF), resembling diesel oil, can be used to drive diesel engine motor
vehicles. As vegetable oils such as crude palm oil, crude rape seed oil are usually viscous, they
are trans-esterified to reduce viscosity. Glycerin co-produced as a by-product oftrans-esterification should be properly treated in a large scale plant. In Japan, BDF is mainly
produced using waste food oil and rape seed oil in Kyoto, Shiga, and Hiroshima, etc. The
quantity of BDF produced is limited (less than 10,000 kl/y) and a substantial amount ofvegetable oil may be necessary if larger scale production is expected. Since the consumptionof diesel oil is about 40 million kl in Japan, 2 million kl of BDF is needed, if 5% of BDF isblended. In order to supply such a large quantity of vegetable oil, Japan must rely on other
Asian countries. In this case, a mutually beneficial strategy is essential for both sides.
Ethanol can be used as gasoline alternative. In Brazil, motor vehicles fueled withnearly 100% ethanol are in common use, and in the United States as well as Brazil E-10 (10%106 Shinya Yokoyama and Yutaka Kaizu㩷㩷ethanol blended with gasoline fuel) is used as motor vehicle fuel. In Japan, E-3 (up to 3% of
ethanol blended with gasoline fuel) is permitted for use in motor vehicles which are notspecially modified for E-3.
The research and development of ethanol production from lignocellulosic feedstock,
including woody and herbaceous biomass, is in progress and has reached the production stage.
Private industry in the United States, in cooperation with the US Department of Energy (DOE),
has developed a process in which lignocellulose is saccharized using sulfuric acid and ethanol
fermentation is carried out using genetically modified enzymes. Based on the basic technology
supplied by the United States, private industries in Japan are now undergoing further
development in readiness for commercialization.
PRODUCTION OF TRANSPORTATION FUELIn Asia, energy consumption is rocketing due to economic growth and the pursuit of higher
amenities in social life. Particularly in China and India, such trends are outstanding andenvironmental impacts are becoming obvious due to the vast populations of the two countries.
First of all, in Asia the weight of the industrial sector is larger compared withtransportation and domestic sectors because energy-consuming industries, such as the heavy
chemical industry, have been driving the economy, meaning energy consumption has been
augmenting alongside economic growth. Secondly, in the transportation and domestic sectors,
electrical appliances, including those for lighting, cooking, and air conditioning, have beenprevailing and automobiles have been also increasing.
It is important to consider that traditional or non-commercial fuels, such as fuelwood, charcoal and animal dung, are shifting to fossil fuels including kerosene, light oil, LNG,
natural gas, and electricity due to rising incomes, even in developing countries.
In 2003, the primary energy consumption was 2,774 MTOE (million ton oil
equivalent) and primary energy production was 1,953 MTOE in the Asian region. The
deficiency was compensated for by net imports amounting to 822 MTOE, which represented
twice the figure of 1993. As for coal and natural gas, their import dependencies were 10.2%
and 13.5% in 2003, respectively. On the other hand, oil consumption was 1,004 MTOE andproduction was 349 MTOE. About 65% of oil is imported as shown in Figure 9.3 (Koyama
2004). Although China, Indonesia, Malaysia, and India are oil producing countries,
consumption exceeds production and oil is constantly deficient in these countries as well.

㩷

9. Biomass Asia Partnership 107

㩷(MTOE)

production

1,200

consumption
1,000

net import

800
600

400

200

0

90
19

91
19

92
19

93
19

94
19

95
19

96
19

97
19

98
19

99
19

00
20

01
20

02
20

03
20

Figure 9.3 Oil supply and demand in Asia

It is interesting to focus on biomass utilization for the production of oil alternatives.
Electricity and heat can be produced from coal, natural gas, and renewable resources.
However, liquid fuels can only be produced from biomass. This is because biomass is organicor carbonaceous as described in the introduction.
One example is given in Figure 9.4. The production of crude palm oil is about 20
MTOE both in Malaysia and Indonesia. Usually crude palm oil is trans-esterified using
methanol for the production of BDF (bio-diesel fuel). However, crude palm oil is utilized forfood, chemicals, and other industrial applications. Basically, biomass for energy use should
avoid competition with food or other valuable use. Waste palm trunks, which are cut down
every 20 or 25 years when the palm trees are replanted for better production, will be goodcandidates for the use of energy or fuel. According to the statistics, the amount of waste trunks
will be 8 million tons on a dry basis per year in Malaysia, most of which will be left unused.

Figure 9.4 Example of whole biomass utilization system

108 Shinya Yokoyama and Yutaka Kaizu㩷㩷As shown in Figure 9.4, waste trunks are gasified to produce synthesis gas (amixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide), from which liquid fuels can be produced.
Depending on the reaction conditions and catalyst, methanol, DME, Fishcer-Tropsch diesel etc.
can also be synthesized (Tsubaki 2002). Waste trunks contain starch of about 15% which can,if efficiently extracted, be fermented to produce ethanol. Ethanol is used for thetarns-estrification of crude palm oil instead of methanol. The process for the production ofliquid fuel applies not only to waste trunks but also to many other woody biomass andagricultural waste. To meet the future demand for oil, particularly for transportation fuels, it isvital to develop these technologies.
BIOMASS ASIA STRATEGYThe Japanese government proposed the “Biomass Japan Strategy” in cooperation with six
governmental organizations and this was approved in cabinet in 2002. In addition, Japan mustbuild a master plan that includes Asian countries. These countries have a vast amount of
unutilized biomass resources as well as human resources and technologies. If our country andAsian neighbours collaborate and integrate their efforts, there will be great benefits for bothsides.
Figure 9.5 depicts the Biomass Asia Strategy. Fossil fuel consumption will be
reduced if the products are imported, energy security will be achieved, greenhouse gas
emissions will be reduced, greenhouse gas emission trading will be possible, and international
cooperation through technology transfer will be enabled for our side. Furthermore, primaryindustries will be fostered, employment will be secured, new energy and chemical businesswill be introduced, fossil fuel consumption will be reduced, a CDM (clean development
mechanism) will be applied, and capacity building will be made for Asian countries.

Figure 9.5 Image of Biomass Asia Strategy

㩷

9. Biomass Asia Partnership 109

㩷
For this purpose, a three year project starting in 2004 was organized by the research
institutes of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries and AIST (Agency ofIndustrial Science and Technology), together with the University of Tokyo, RITE, andMitsubishi Corporation. The main objectives of this project are to investigate biomass
resources in great detail, to establish a network of researchers and policy makers, and to
propose a master plan or grand design of international collaboration for the efficient utilizationof biomass in accordance with environmental protection. It is strongly expected to establish asubstantial collaboration that will bring mutual benefits.
CONCLUSIONx

In Japan, the biomass energy potential accounts for several percent of primary energy
consumption.

x

Appropriate conversion technology should be chosen for respective biomass.

x

Biomass is the only carbonaceous material among renewable resources. Fuels andchemicals are preferential products.

x

Taking the energy situation in Asia into account, oil is deficient and 65% of oil is
import-dependent. The production of motor fuel alternatives from biomass is strongly
anticipated.

x

R&D is important for the production of methanol, ethanol, DME, and FTD from waste
biomass instead of food or valuable materials.

x

The establishment of a Biomass Asia Strategy, which is mutually beneficial for both sides,
is needed to drive this scenario.

REFERENCES
Asahi Newspaper (2005) February 5 edition
Japan Institute of Energy (2002) Report on fundamental investigation for promoting introduction of newenergy – investigation on biomass energy utilization and propagation policy. Report submitted to the
Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, Tokyo, Japan
Johansson TB, Kelly H, Reddy AKN, Williams RH (1993) Renewable energy: sources for fuels andelectricity. Island Press, Washington
Koyama K (2004) Asia Energy Partnership. Edited by Tanabe Y. Energy Forum, pp16-19

110 Shinya Yokoyama and Yutaka Kaizu㩷㩷
Tsubaki N (2002) Simultaneous introduction of chemical effect and spatial effect via a new bimodal
catalyst support preparation method. Chemical Communication, pp1216-1217

.

㩷
㩷

10. Conservation of Biological Productivity Supporting
Sustainable Biomass Utility
Takashi Machimura
Graduate School of Engineering, Osaka University, Osaka, Japan

ABSTRACT
In order to promote sustainable biomass production and utility, it is important to understand in what way
the biomass product yield is obtained and what risks to biomass production exist. Net primary
productivity (NPP) is the foundation of biomass production and climatically defined NPP can be used as
the potential productivity in product yield estimation and systematic production planning. Common risks
to the sustainable biomass production in South East Asia are summarized in this article. The potential of
GIS (Geographic Information Systems) to assist in the management of biomass production as well as
environmental conservation is also shown. The article also outlines the results of a case study, in which aforest ecosystem model was combined with GIS and where the wood yield and soil organic matter were
calculated as an indicator of land failure protection and the potential habitat of an endangered animal
based on different regional forest management strategies respectively.
Keywords: Net primary productivity, Biomass production, Product yield, GIS

112 Takashi Machimura㩷㩷
INTRODUCTION
The rapid economic growth of emerging countries in South Eastern Asia is leading to acorrespondingly rapid increase in energy demand. In this context, the introduction andpromotion of a stable and clean energy supply has become vital. Developing biomass utility
for energy supply is one possible solution. However, biomass produced in rural agriculture
and forestry regions has already been highly utilized for various purposes, including heat andcooking fuel, fertilizer, livestock litter etc. in traditional ways, meaning the additional demandfor biomass may affect the balances of production and utility. This article summarizes a few
aspects to conserve biological productivity that supports sustainable biomass utility. The
potential of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to assist in the management of biomass
production as well as environmental conservation is also shown with results of a case study.
BIOLOGICAL PRODUCTIVITY AND BIOMASS PRODUCT YIELD
Biological productivity is defined as annual biomass growth within a unit area of an
ecosystem. NPP (net primary productivity) is the common indicator of production in naturalvegetations, and is adaptive to forestry and agriculture production, which is defined as theannual net biomass growth of autotrophic organisms (i.e. green plants) in a unit area, having
the unit of tdw ha–1 y–1 or tC ha–1 y–1. Figure 10.1 shows the global NPP map illustrated by
Efimova (1977). NPP is strongly dependent on climatic conditions, especially temperature,radiation and precipitation. Certain NPP models were proposed based on the relationships
between NPP and the climatic factors. For example, the Miami model (Lieth 1975) estimates
NPP by means of its dependence on air temperature and precipitation by the following
equations:

NPPT
NPPP

30 />1  exp(1.315  0.119T )@30>1  exp(0.000664 P)@(1),

where NPPT and NPPP are the temperature and precipitation controlled annual NPP (tdw ha–1y–1), respectively, T is the annual mean temperature (°C) and P is the annual precipitation(mm). The NPP of a site is the smaller of NPPT or NPPP. Uchijima and Seino (1985)
developed their Chikugo model, which estimates NPP as a function of net radiation andradiative dryness index as follows;㩷

10. Conservation of Biological Productivity Supporting Sustainable Biomass Utility 113

㩷

–1

–1

Figure 10.1 Global NPP map (Efimova 1977). Unit is tdw ha y

NPP

>

@

0.0069 exp(0.216 RDI 2 ) R(2),where, NPP is in tdw ha–1 y–1, R is the annual net radiation (MJ m–2 y–1) and RDI is the annual
radiative dryness index, defined as the ratio of net radiation to the equivalent evaporationenergy of annual precipitation,

RDI

R / lP(3),

where, l is the latent heat of evaporation (MJ kg–1). These two models only modeled theclimatic control of NPP and did not consider actual vegetation and other environmental factors.
Recent studies have proposed more detailed models. For example, Melillo et al. (1993)
modeled the effects of leaf area, carbon dioxide and water vapor concentrations, and soil
nutrient availability on NPP, and SimCYCLE by Ito and Oikawa (2002) estimated NPP basedon the production structure of vegetation and the environmental control to NPP. Satellite
images also provide useful information on vegetation and environmental factors and are usedin routine NPP monitoring (NASA 2003).

㩷

114 Takashi Machimura㩷potential
productivity-1-1

NPP (tC ha y )15
10
5
Yield class
1

0
0

20

2

40
60
Stand age (y)380Figure 10.2 Actual NPP of Japanese cedar (Cryptomeria japonica) plantation of different yield classes in
Hyogo prefecture, central JapanThe NPP, determined by its relationship to climate, can be considered as natural
average productivity and has the meaning of potential productivity. On the other hand, actual
productivity also depends on various site factors, including soil, topography, and water
availability etc. Anthropogenic treatment factors, such as plantation and thinning in forestry,
and crop selection, irrigation, fertilization and multiple cropping in agriculture also affectactual productivity. Figure 10.2 shows the actual productivity of the Japanese cedar(Cryptomeria japonica) plantation of Hyogo prefecture, located in central Japan. The curves
were calculated from a standard yield table for this region, and the horizontal line, denoted as
potential productivity, represents the climatically defined NPP by means of the Miami model.
This figure indicates that actual productivity largely varies depending on the stand age, and theyield class, which is a total site quality reflecting environmental factors, including soil,
nutrients, water, slope, altitude etc. Actual productivity also changes based on tree species, andthat of Japanese cedar in the highest yield class exceeded the climatically defined potential
productivity (namely, that thought to be of a species typical for the climate zone) during theages of high growth rate. The ratio of actual productivity to the potential value is the totalfactor of the site and treatment, and can be estimated statistically if datasets of a variety of sitequality, treatment and observed yield are available.
The biomass product yield can be calculated by the product of potential productivity,
site and treatment factors described above, and conversion efficiency, which represents thefraction of product yield to total biomass, for example the ratio of timber volume to total woodbiomass. This calculation can easily be applied to the yields of byproducts (e.g. straw and㩷

10. Conservation of Biological Productivity Supporting Sustainable Biomass Utility 115

㩷wood chips) and secondary products (e.g. livestock), and furthermore, it is applicable to thebiomass yield model for the selection of crop species, which is used to assist in the regional
planning of biomass production and utility (Fig. 10.3). The use of a simple climaticallymodeled NPP is suitable to estimate biomass product yield in such applications, because it canbe treated as the potential value of biological productivity.
CONSERVATION OF BIOLOGICAL PRODUCTIVITY IN SOUTH EAST ASIA

South East Asia is one of the world highest biological productivity regions, with hightemperatures and considerable precipitation (see Figure 10.1). However it also belongs to themonsoon climate zone, which is characterized by clear wet and dry seasons, and its
productivity is variable depending on the inter-annual change in climate.
This region faces common risks on biomass production and environmental issues
for natural and anthropogenic reasons: the surface soil organic layer of tropical andsub-tropical forest is generally very shallow and easily lost by erosion after deforestation,
especially on steep slopes. In irrigated croplands, meanwhile, special care is needed to avoid
soil salinization caused by high potential evaporation. A monocultural wood plantation
provides a high yield and easier management, however is also associated with increased risksof pest and insect damage than natural or mixed forests. Forest fires frequently occur during
dry seasons in this region, especially during El Nino years. Meanwhile, the loss of biodiversity
caused by changing land-use and water pollution by the improper use of fertilizers andchemicals should be prevented. Maintaining a proper intensity of biomass utility balancedwith productivity is indispensable for a high yield. For example, in the case study of acropland in Khon Kaen Province, Thailand (Fig. 10.4), about half of the nitrogen loss by
harvest is compensated with chemical fertilizer and the remaining half with crop residuals andlivestock manure (Matsumoto and Paisancharoen, 2005). This suggests that the highutilization of “unused” biomass, such as crop straw and cattle manure for energy production,
may lead to soil nutrient shortages and reduced productivity.

㩷

116 Takashi Machimura㩷Potential productivity

Site/treatment
factors

Crop A

Conversion
efficiency
Conversion
efficiency
Grain
yield

Residualyield

Residualyield

Site/treatment
factors

Comparison&
selection

Crop B

Conversion
efficiency

Grain
yield

Residual
yield

Figure 10.3 Concept of systematic biomass products selection based on potential productivity andproduct pathways. Potential productivity is defined climatically and is common to all crop species;
however, the grain yields of crops A and B differ because they have different site and treatment factors,
conversion efficiencies, and process pathways. They also provide different by-products. Comparisonof total product yield among candidate crop species can assist decisions concerning regional biomass
production strategies.

Figure 10.4 Nitrogen cycle related to agriculture activity in 1990–92 and 2000–02 in Khon Kaen
–1 –1
Province, Thailand (kgN ha y ). Values outside parentheses indicate the nitrogen flow in 2000–02,
and values inside parentheses indicate the nitrogen flow in 1990–92. Values in italics are calculated bysubtracting output from input (Matsumoto and Paisancharoen 2005).

㩷

10. Conservation of Biological Productivity Supporting Sustainable Biomass Utility 117

㩷
POTENTIAL OF GIS FOR THE MANAGEMENT OF SUSTAINABLE BIOMASSPRODUCTION

GIS are useful tools for the regional management of biomass production and utility. They can
combine regional information related to consumption (e.g. population, industry, transportationetc.) and biomass production as well as the models described above. A case study by Ooba etal. (2006) shown below effectively indicates their potential.
A forest ecosystem model was used to estimate biomass growth under different
conditions of site yield class, wood species and stand age on a GIS for the evaluation andfuture estimation of forest ecosystem services in the Yodo River basin. The Yodo River basin
is located in central Japan and has an area of 8,240 km2 mainly comprising a highly developed
urban area, cropland, and mountainous forest that occupies 63% of the basin area. Two forest
management strategies by means of different re-plantation treatments were compared throughthe simulations lasting 30 years; one aimed to promote wood production and planted Japanesecedar, which is the most rapidly growing tree species among those common in this region after
deforestation, and the other aimed to protect land failure and biodiversity loss by reforesting
mixed broad leaf species, which supplied considerable organic matter to the underlying soil.
The common treatments for both strategies involved clearcutting the oldest remnants of any
species and replanting selected species, in which the annual treatment area was 1% of the total
forest area, and natural preserves and special purpose stands were not managed. Soil carbon
storage was used as the indicator of land failure protection. In order to evaluate the effect offorest management on biodiversity conservation, the potential habitat of a few endangered
animal species was estimated by linear discriminant analysis based on distribution survey data
and the environmental factors stored and calculated in the GIS.
Figure 10.5 shows the calculated forest productivity distribution in the Yodo river
basin 30 years after beginning management, which is indicated in terms of the wood volume
yield in order to display the long-term accumulated production. The productive (productivity
promotion) management used to develop Japanese cedar monocultural plantations saw theactive promotion of tree biomass production and wood yield far larger than the protective(land failure protection and biodiversity conservation) management, especially in the southern
part. The average wood yields were 322 m3 ha-1 and 241 m3 ha-1 for the productive andprotective management, respectively, while the latter promoted soil organic matteraccumulation in 30 years (Fig. 10.6).

118 Takashi Machimura㩷㩷Figure 10.5 Wood volume yield distribution in the Yodo River basin, 30 years after beginning forest
3–1
management in units of m ha . The left and right panels indicate the productive and protective
management strategies in which Japanese cedar and broad leaf species were replanted, respectively.

–1

Figure 10.6 Soil carbon storage distribution in the Yodo River basin in units of tC ha . The left and rightpanels indicate the state during and 30 years after the beginning of the protective forest management,
respectively.

㩷

10. Conservation of Biological Productivity Supporting Sustainable Biomass Utility 119

㩷Figure 10.7 shows the potential habitat distribution of the Japanese black bear
(Ursus thibetanus japonicus) during and 30 years after the beginning of the protective
management program, as estimated by linear discriminant analysis. The potential habitat of
the Japanese black bear was expanded by 30% over 30 years by planting broad leaf species.
The above case study has not introduced any zoning plan to classify stands
according to their functions (wood production, land failure protection, water reservour,
biodiversity conservation, recreation, sightseeing etc.) yet. The application of this zoning
strategie is indispensable in the practice of regional forest management to achieve a high andsustainable biomass production, well balanced with environmental conservation, and GISs arecapable of assisting in the planning of the same.

Figure 10.7 Estimated potential habitat of the Japanese black bear (Ursus thibetanus japonicus) in the
Yodo River basin by means of linear discriminant analysis. The left and right panels indicate the period atand 30 years after the beginning of the protective forest management, respectively.

CONCLUSION

This report summarized a few aspects to conserve biological productivity in terms of theutility of potential biological productivity and common environmental issues in South East
Asia. It also illustrated the potential of GISs to assist in the management of biomass
production and environmental conservation. It is important to understand in what way thebiomass product yield is obtained and what risks exist on biomass production to plan

120 Takashi Machimura㩷㩷sustainable biomass production. Practical studies of the planning, management and evaluationof environmentally sound and sustainable biomass production and utility are now expected,
based on the concepts discussed in this report.
REFERENCES
Efimova NA (1977) Radiation factors of plant cover productivity. Gidrometeoizdat, Leningrad
Ito A, Oikawa T (2002) A simulation model of the carbon cycle in land ecosystems (Sim-CYCLE): a
description based on dry-matter production theory and plot-scale validation. Ecol. Model 151:
143–176
Lieth H (1975) Modeling the primary productivity of the world. In: Lieth, H., Whittaker R.H. (eds)
Primary productivity of the biosphere. Springer, Berlin, pp. 237–263
Matsumoto N, Paisancharoen K (2005) Change in nitrogen cycle related to agricultural activity from1990 to 2000 in Khon Kaen Province, Thailand. JIRCAS Research Highlights, 13, JIRCAS, Tsukuba
Melillo JM, McGuire AD, Kicklighter DW, Moore B, Vorosmarty CJ, Schloss AL (1993) Global climatechange and terrestrial net primary production. Nature, 363: 234–240
NASA (2003) NASA satellite measures Earth’s carbon metabolism. NASA News Archive. Availbale
online at http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NPP/npp.html. (Accessed on December 26
2006)
Ooba M, Machimura T, Oda T, Fuji T, Matsumoto A, Inoue Y, Kondo A, Kaga A (2006) Multi-criterion
evaluation and future projection of forest ecosystem service in the Yodo River basin using a standbased biomass model. 1st European Congress of Conservation Biology, August, 2006, Eger, Hungary
Uchijima Z, Seino H (1985) Agroclimatic evaluation of net primary productivity of natural vegetation. (1)Chikugo model for evaluating net primary productivity. J. Agr. Met. 40: 343–352.

㩷㩷

Policy Measures towards Sustainability at Different Scales㩷㩷

11. Multiple Approaches to Asian Sustainability
Kazuyoshi Okazawa
University of Tokyo, Integrated Research System for Sustainable Science, Tokyo, Japan

ABSTRACT
It is crucial to achieve sustainability in the Asian region, where 60% of the world population lives andconsecutive industrialization and rapid economic growth are expected. Several approaches to achieve asustainable society have been proposed and implemented. These initiatives aim at ensuring resource
protection, environmental protection and change in consumption and production patterns. These
approaches also include those for creating a sound material cycle society, focusing on the sustainable useof natural resources, a de-carbonized society focusing on sustainable energy use, and sustainable cities toharmonize urban development and the environment. There is no single optimal way to achieve asustainable society and various approaches should be taken simultaneously. From the implementation
perspective, the 3Rs approach represents an effective tool to achieve sound material cycles based on aclosed loop economy. The sound material cycles may be created at different levels and scales, though thebasic unit should be considered at national level. However, some end-of-life products that cannot berecycled or disposed of in environmentally sound and economical feasible manners in discarding
countries may require regional consideration for appropriate recycling. On the contrary, biomass waste
could be used for energy recovery at the level of cities and neighboring villages, which involves
realizing sustainable agriculture in suburban areas of large cities as well as conservation of naturalenvironment in the area, and a renewable energy supply to cities, which can be applied to countries in the
Asian monsoon region.
Keywords: Sound material cycle society; 3Rs; Regional approach; Urban-rural cycle

124 Kazuyoshi Okazawa

㩷㩷
INTRODUCTION

Asia, home to around 60% of the world’s population, occupies about a quarter of the global
area. As of the year 2000, Asia had 48% of the world urban population, which makes it lessurbanized than other regions. Energy consumption in Asia accounts for 32% of the global total(2000), while per capita energy consumption is less then 1/3 the average of other regions. The
GDP in Asia accounted for 28% of the world total in 2000, with per capita GDP about 25%
that of other regions. The geographical features and cultural characteristics of this region
considerably differ between the eastern sub-region (Northeast, Southeast and South Asia) andwestern sub-region (Middle East and Central Asia). Eastern Asia is where the majority of the
population and economic activities are concentrated. Currently 90% of Asian people live inEastern Asia, from where 87% of Asian GDP comes. Eastern Asia, including several big andpopulous countries, such as China, India, and Indonesia, is rapidly industrializing andexpanding its economy, resulting in the large consumption of natural resources and increasing
imports of such resources and scraps into this region.
This paper introduces some approaches for achieving a sustainable Asia, based on
the Japanese experience, and proposes some basic ideas that could be applied to countries in
the Asian region where policies and measures for enhancing sustainability are necessary.
CHANGING ASIA AND THE RESOURCE ISSUES

Though Asia is currently less urbanized and less developed than the global average, thecontinuous economic growth in this region is altering its global status. According to estimatesby international organizations, due to economic growth and improving quality of life in theregion, the percentages of population of the whole Asia in 2030 will decrease to 54% of theworld from the current figure of 60%, whereas Asia will come to share 54% of the world
urban population, 45% of the world GDP and 43% of the world energy consumption), as
shown in Table 11.1 (UNPD 2005; UNS 2005; EC 2005).
Consequently, in the future, Asia will become a region where the economic
performance will be balanced with the population size. At that time, the Asian countries will
come to consume more than half the global energy and natural resources and also discharge
proportionate volumes of air and water pollutants and solid waste. It is thus clear that Asiansustainability is vital in order to achieve global sustainability.

㩷

11. Multiple Approaches to Asian Sustainability 125㩷Table 11.1 Asia among the world
Parameter
Y2000

Y2030

Population

60%

54%

Urban Population

48%

54%

GDP

28%

45%

Energy Consumption

32%

43%

-

46%

CO2 Emissions

Despite the very rapid industrialization, Asia lacks sufficient natural resources tocover even domestic use in the region, and some rapidly industrializing countries are facing ashortage of both natural and energy resources for expanding their industrial production. At thesame time, this economic growth and the consequent changes in consumption patterns mean
Asia will generate a large amount of solid waste, including end-of-life products in the near
future. Some Asian countries are trying to conserve scrap metals, waste plastics and waste
papers as materials for industrial production from foreign countries, including non-Asian
countries. Under these circumstances, some countries are suffering from illegal imports ofwaste materials, particularly E-waste and other hazardous waste, which pose a threat to humanhealth and the environment. At the same time, most developing countries in the region are
urged to implement the environmentally sound disposal of municipal waste, including
household waste, hospital waste and E-waste, which are generated in their own territories.
APPROACHES TO A SUSTAINABLE SOCIETY

The concept of a sustainable society has been discussed repeatedly since the Rio Summit andcould generally be defined as a society where the following objectives are achieved:(a) Poverty eradication,(b) Sustainable consumption and production,(c) Protection of natural resources,(d) Protection of the environment,(e) Economic and social development, and(f) Protection and promotion of human health.
Among these, the second, third and fourth objectives are considered particularly
important from the viewpoint of material sustainability for this region where industrialization,
urbanization and economic growth will continue. The concept of a closed loop economy (CLE)126 Kazuyoshi Okazawa㩷㩷is recognized as a basis to support the achievement of these objectives, mainly through thecreation of sound material cycles (SMC).
Several approaches have been proposed to achieve a sustainable society. One ofthem proposes the design of sustainable cities, which has been implemented under the
initiative by the International Council for Local Governmental Initiatives (ICLEI). ICLEI
introduced the Local Agenda 21 campaign which promotes a participatory, long-term,
strategic planning process that helps municipalities identify local sustainability priorities andimplement long-term action plans (ICLEI homepage). This initiative was endorsed in the Rio
Summit, which called upon efforts for sustainable development by all relevant sectors at alllevels, including local governments and municipalities.
Sustainable cities are sometimes interpreted as environmentally sustainable cities.
The Urban 21 Conference held in Berlin in July, 2000, defined the concept of sustainable
cities as such cities to improve the quality of urban life, including ecological, cultural, political,
institutional, social and economic components, without burdening future generations (World
Commission Urban 21 2000). Efforts to limit waste generation, prevent pollution, maximize
the conservation of a healthy ecosystem and promote the efficiency of resource utilization areneeded to reach sustainable cities, the latter of which also require economic and financial
considerations, and the development of infrastructures and social systems to support these
activities. Today many cities are participating in a movement to make cities sustainable
worldwide, but the considerable variation in the scale, development stage, and socioeconomic
circumstances of cities mean the major concerns of the respective cities should be considered
individually. Actually some cities are interested in sustainable traffic systems but others arefocusing on environmentally sound waste management. This approach aims at achieving
sustainability in a city scale with very flexible targets, according to the situation of each city.
In addition to this movement for sustainable cities, Japan has tried certain otherapproaches towards a sustainable society. One of these involves creating a sound material
cycle society (SMCS) or recycling-based society, where 3Rs (reduction, reuse and recycle)
and the environmentally sound disposal of solid waste are expected to drastically reduce theexcessive use of natural resources and also minimize the environmental impacts.
Another approach is to create a de-carbonized society, where people are notsuffering from the adverse effects of global warming, such as extreme temperature rises,
drought and flooding, and ecological destruction, etc., by tackling climate change including
the mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions and adaptation measures against global warming.

㩷

11. Multiple Approaches to Asian Sustainability 127㩷The approach to achieve a de-carbonized society focuses on energy sustainability, such as
improving energy efficiency and conversion to renewable energy sources, whereas an
approach to SMCS focuses on sustainable material cycles.
In addition to these, a zero-emission approach is also proposed in order to ensure
environmental protection and the conservation of natural resources, which is a similar concept
towards SMCS.
These approaches have the common aim of achieving a sustainable society and their
methodologies partly or mostly overlap. For example, waste recycling, which is a key
component in achieving SMCS, is also meaningful in achieving a de-carbonized society by
improving energy efficiency, and the energy recovery from solid waste, which is also
considered a new energy source. However, the focal points vary slightly from the others asshown in Figure 11.1. The de-carbonized society approach mainly targets energy conservationand environmental protection, particularly against climate change, whereas SMCS mainly
targets resource conservation and sustainable consumption and production. The sustainable
city initiative, on the other hand, targets environmental protection and sustainableconsumption and production.

Figure 11.1 Several approaches towards a sustainable
society128 Kazuyoshi Okazawa㩷㩷It is useless to discuss which approach is better or worse because all theseapproaches try to achieve a sustainable society by taking different paths, and a variety of
approaches to sustainable society should be taken simultaneously. Considering the criticalsituation we are facing in Asia concerning natural resources and waste management, we areparticularly urged to create an SMC in this region that is supported by the concept of CLE.
3Rs FOR RESOURCE CONSERVATION

After the industrial revolution, societies have dramatically increased their consumption ofnatural resources via the exploitation of metals and energy sources among others. For example,
iron and steel production increased 15fold over the twentieth century. Copper has also been auseful metal for human society since ancient times and has become more important in modern
industrialized societies because it is essential for producing present-day electrical andelectronic appliances. Through industrialization, its consumption has been increasing rapidly
worldwide and its production increased 25 times over the twentieth century (U.S. Geological
Survey 2006). Copper consumption has particularly rocketed in the Asian region due to recent
rapid industrialization.
Copper ore, which is extracted from the lithosphere, is transformed to a copper
cathode, which is fabricated and manufactured to copper containing products such as electric
wires, electrical and electric appliances, or used for construction materials. Copper is not
literally consumed by human society but is stored in anthropogenic sites in the form of
construction materials of buildings and other infrastructures, parts of various machines infactories, and electrical appliances or other copper containing products in households. At theend of their lives, these copper containing products are discarded, some of which are collected
as copper scraps and the recovered copper is used again in production. Today about 60% of
obsolete copper is estimated to be recovered from waste and demolition scraps and theremaining 40% is land-filled (Graedel et al. 2004).

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11. Multiple Approaches to Asian Sustainability 129

㩷Figure 11.2 Copper material flow in Japan (2003)

Figure 11.2 shows the copper material flow in Japan (JCBA 2003). Because Japan
has no big copper mines, most of the copper ore is imported from foreign countries, such as
the Philippines and Chile. Copper scraps from end-of-life products recovery accounts forabout 70% in Japan. This figure has risen to around 75%, the highest level in the world, after
the enforcement of the Home Appliances Recycling Act in 2001, which provides for
mandatory recycling of refrigerators, TV-sets, washing machines and air-conditioners under
the responsibility of manufacturers.
In order to protect natural resources while minimizing the environmental impact,
there are many technical measures, including improved efficiency from exploitation toutilization processes, reduction of material use and increased recycling.
The Government of Japan is taking the leadership on 3R initiatives amongdeveloped nations to realize SMC. The “3Rs” originally meant (a) the reduction of waste andby-products generation during the production and manufacturing stages, (b) the repeated reuseof materials in the consumption stage, and (c) the recycling of materials in the waste
management stage. Now the reduction means not only reducing waste generation but also
reducing the raw materials and natural resources used for production. Under the concept of
3Rs, Japan is implementing a variety of policies to encourage the creation of SMCS in JapanFor example, during the product manufacturing stage, designs for easily recyclable products
and less material use, as well as efficient resource use are encouraged. In the marketing stage
meanwhile, simple packaging, the use of returnable containers, eco-labeling, and thecollection of packaging materials are encouraged, and during the consumption stage, green
purchasing and source separation of household waste are promoted.

130 Kazuyoshi Okazawa

㩷㩷
SCALE OF MATERIAL CYCLESNational and regional scale

Though metals and other natural resources are generally traded in world markets and arecontinuously on the move worldwide, the material cycles should be primarily examined at anational level because the nation is a definite and basic unit of economic activity andmanagement of natural resources. Therefore each nation is encouraged to implement thenecessary policy and measures for creating SMC or CLE in the territory, with its own
economic and social circumstances in mind.
However, there are some waste materials that require regional consideration forachieving a better SMC or CLE. Today, it is common for waste generating countries to differ
from product manufacturing countries under the globalization of the economy. Consequently,
an increasing number of industrial products which cannot be recycled or disposed of in anenvironmentally appropriate and economically feasible manner are increasing (Fig. 11.3).
Mobile phones, which are rapidly expanding worldwide, pose a major threat to theenvironment, since they are disposed without appropriate controls. Although mobile phones
contain valuable metals, such as copper and aluminum, their recycling is neither easy nor
profitable without the appropriate facilities and technology in some developing countries.
However, there is an advanced form of technology developed by one Japanese recycling
company (Dowa Ecosystem Corporation) which can recover traces of gold contained in
mobile phones in an economically profitable and environmentally sound manner (Naka 2006).

Figure 11.3 National and regional cycles (MOE 2005)

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11. Multiple Approaches to Asian Sustainability 131

㩷
Eco-efficient recycling technologies like that mentioned before should be
introduced to increase recycling levels while protecting the environment. However, sometimes
such technologies cannot be applied in developing countries. If sufficient scraps cannot becollected due to market limitations, the recycling business would not be profitable, and it may
be difficult to hire qualified engineers for operating these technologies. In some cases, aregional collection and recycling system should be considered to promote the maximization of
resource efficiency and minimization of environmental impacts. In particular, as several
countries in the Asian region are now suffering from environmental pollution and healthhazards caused by inappropriate E-waste recycling and disposal methods, material cycles at aregional level should be considered as a supplementary scheme to national recycling systems.
Regional material cycles would be also effective when an EPR-based recycling
scheme for some specific end-of-life products is introduced under regional cooperation. Fuji
Xerox Corporation, based in Japan, built its own recycling facility for photocopying machines
in Thailand, where end-of-life machines used in 9 countries of the Asia-Pacific region arecollected and recycled. Recovered materials from the process are then used as alternative
resources by the Thai industry. Before this facility commenced operation, end-of-life
photocopy machines were recycled and disposed in each country and between 5 to 50 % ofmaterials were land-filled. Now, nearly 90% of materials are recovered and only 0.4% island-filled (Watanabe, 2006). This is a good example that shows that a regional recycling
scheme made it possible to reduce the environmental impact and also recover more valuable
materials for industrial use. This experience suggests that a future model of regional material
cycles for specific products could help achieve regional sustainability.
City scale

There are several material cycles at different levels and scales. Some material cycles areformed at a city level, but others at an inter-city or area level and some on a nationwide scale.
The scale of material cycles generally depends on their nature, value, marketability, thelocation of waste generation sites and consumption sites of recovered materials, cost andmobility of raw materials, and availability of technology, etc. However it is desirable to create
smaller material cycle systems near to waste-generating sites, even if natural resources moveworld-wide, based on the viewpoint of reducing environmental loads by transporting wastematerials and on the availability of recovered materials.

㩷

132 Kazuyoshi Okazawa

㩷Figure 11.4 Urban-rural material cycle

Some material could be cycled at the level of cities and neighboring villages and one
example is organic waste. Cities generate vast amounts of organic waste from households,
restaurants and food processing industries, while neighboring villages also generate
agricultural waste. These organic wastes could be efficiently collected and recycled at a local
level, covering cities and neighboring villages.
Traditionally organic waste has been recycled as compost or animal food and such
efforts are still underway in some areas in this region. However, an alternative concept for thematerial cycle on this scale is to recover bio-energy, such as in the form of methane, ethane or
alcohols from this organic waste. Due to the need to expand renewable energies as well as
diversify energy sources, under the likely scenario of energy shortages and price hikes, as wellas the forthcoming threat of climate change, energy recovery from organic waste could be auseful option for waste recycling, particularly in this region, where many countries are likely
to face energy limitations and environmental deterioration (Fig. 11.4).
The University of Tokyo is now conducting a research program under an IR3S
flagship project on CLE, towards creating a closed loop system over the area between theurbanized city and its neighboring villages, where bio-mass is collected to produce energy.
This research seeks a new sound relationship between cities and villages, maintaining
sustainable agriculture while conserving the traditional landscape of farmlands. Cities havebeen closely connected to surrounding rural areas through trade in agricultural products, andreceiving labor and recreation services, but bio-mass recycling systems in combination withthe energy supply could establish a new relationship between cities and their surrounding㩷

11. Multiple Approaches to Asian Sustainability 133

㩷areas. In Asia, it is said that cities have been developed in a mixed form of urban land use andfarmland use, which is considered a unique but common factor of Asian cities. In addition, thisregion is characterized by the Asian monsoon climate where agriculture depends on rice crops.
These characteristics may make it easy to collect bio-mass from cities and neighboring
farmland to supply recovered energy for consumption in the area.
CONCLUSION

CLE-based SMC is an essential key to achieve a sustainable society. There are several ways to
do so and it is both necessary and effective to use multiple approaches to reach the goal
because sustainability is a comprehensive concept, with many aspects that must be
implemented. Regarding material cycles, there must be different SMC at different scales andlevels. With careful consideration of material flows and the other factors concerned, SMC
should be built at an appropriate level.
CLE is an economic concept to realize SMC through efficient material use andmaximum recycling. However, it is impossible to build CLE and SMC without
environmental-friendly lifestyles and cultures. CLE, linked with an environmental-friendly
lifestyle, is supported by several factors, such as technology, legal systems, education, andpolicy, etc. Technology is particularly important for encouraging CLE, and technologicalinnovations will make it possible to launch new recycling systems and more efficient
operation. Policy and education are also crucial for creating an environmental-friendly culture,
which encourages the purchase of environmentally-friendly or green products and contributetoward improving resource efficiency and encouraging recycling activities.
REFERENCES
European Commission (2003) World Energy: Technology and Climate Policy Outlook 2030. European
Commission, Luxemburg
Graedel TE et al. (2004) Multilevel cycle of anthropogenic copper Environmental Science andTechnology 38 (4):1242-1282
JCBA (2003) Copper database. Japan Copper and Brass Association
Naka M. (2006) International recycling network for mobile phones in Asia region. Asia 3R Conference,Oct 30-Nov 1, Tokyo, Japan
U.S. Geological Survey (2006) Copper statistics. In Kelly TD, Matos GR Historical statistics for mineral134 Kazuyoshi Okazawa

㩷㩷and material commodities in the United States: U.S. Geological Survey Data Series 140. Available
online at website http://minerals.usgs.gov/ds/2005/140/copper.pdf. Accessed on December 26 2006
United Nations Population Division (2005) World Population Prospects 2005
Watanabe T (2006) Fuji Xerox International Resource Recycling System in Asia-Pacific Region, Asia
3Rs Conference, Oct 30-Nov 1, Tokyo, Japan
World Commission Urban 21 (2000) Urban 21. Global Conference on the Urban Future. Berlin,
Germany, 4-6 July. Available online at website
http://architettura.supereva.com/eventi/19991102.htm. Accessed on 20 December 2006

㩷
㩷

12. Current Environmental Issues in South Korea and Policies
toward a Sustainable Society
Jung Wk Kim
Graduate School of Environmental Studies, Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea

ABSTRACT
For decades, South Korea has indulged in developing a growth- and supply-oriented economy while
paying little attention to the environment. Although such development worked for a time, it has not been
as economically efficient as was hoped and indeed instead poses a dangerous threat to the land andpeople. The ultimate goal of the nation’s policies should target environmental sustainability, rather thaneconomic indices. Our economic activities should not be allowed to exceed the land’s carrying capacity
and land use should be planned from an ecological perspective, in order to preserve its productivity andstability. In that sense, there should be a clear goal concerning where and to what extent to preserve thethree important ecological bases in the Korean Peninsula, namely, forests, coastal wetlands andagricultural farms. The forest is the base for terrestrial ecosystems like flood control, water resources,
climate and others; the coastal wetland for the marine ecosystem and farmland for producing food.
Within that goal, limits should be set on the extent to which the land can be utilized for activities likeurban development, manufacturing, recreation and others. Moreover, the limits imposed on pollution
generated by such activities should be set so as not to irreversibly damage the environment. Economic
development should be planned to minimize the use of energy and resources only after satisfying these
constraints. Energy efficiency should be upgraded and an efficient recycling system should beestablished to save energy and resources and reduce waste volume. The industrial structure should bereformed to make it environmentally friendly and pollution should be cleaned up. Korea’s environmental
problems cannot be fundamentally solved without first solving those of the wider Northeast Asian region,such as trans-boundary air pollution, marine pollution, and the conservation of endangered species, all ofwhich need to be solved through international cooperation.
Keywords: Traditional environmental policy, Environmental degradation, Land-use planning,
Management policies

136 Kim Jung Wk㩷㩷
TRADITIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY

Traditionally, Korean people, as pantheists, used to revere nature and had very strict
environmental ethics. They did not regard nature as a resource for human use but regarded
human beings as members of nature, and sought to live in harmony with it. They regarded acts
like destroying or polluting nature or the wasteful use of resources as crimes which would
incur divine wrath. During the Chosǂn Dynasty (1392-1897), environmental crimes were
punished under the constitution. For example, illegal logging, destruction of forests, dumpingof wastes such as ash and manure and the pollution of rivers used to be severely punished.
According to the constitution, for example, the penalty for illegal logging in the Forbidden
Mountains, designated to protect green areas and equivalent to the present Green Belt system
in England, was 90 lashes plus restoration of the damaged trees. However, the actual penalty
enforced under ordinance was harsher: the penalty for illegal logging of a pine tree used to be
one hundred lashes, that for two trees or more one hundred lashes plus lifetime military
service and that for ten trees or more one hundred lashes plus deportation to Manchuria(Ministry of Interior 1978). Dumping of ash or manure was punished with thirty to eighty
lashes and damaging forest by loosening cattle with a hundred lashes (Ministry of theEnvironment 1990).
Houses and towns were built so as to minimize environmental damage and the useof energy and resources. Houses were usually built south-facing with mountains to the northto fence off the cold wind and maximize the use of sunlight. The Korean ondol is a good
example of the thrifty use of energy: it is a heating system which warms up the house using
exhaust-gas channels built under the earthen floor, connected to the cooking fireplace in the
kitchen. Simply cooking twice a day was enough to warm up the house all day long. It isconsidered one of the most efficient heating systems in the world. Villages and cities were
carefully located to minimize the environmental impact, especially the water pollution, within
the watershed. Villages were usually built on the foothills of mountains below thick forest,
such as bamboo forest, with fenced off soil erosion and avalanches. Down from the villages
were agricultural fields, facilitating the use of human waste as fertilizer. Rice paddies, efficientwetland to treat wastewater, were also located down from such places. Since the runoff waters
were further filtered by vegetation strips before entering the water channels, the majority ofsurface waters were drinkable. The Han River water, which flows through Seoul, used to be
drinkable throughout the Dynasty, even until 1960.

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12. Current Environmental Issues in South Korea and Policies toward a Sustainable Society 137

㩷Cities were formerly not built on fertile plains, since these were saved for farming.
The population of Seoul was also controlled: it reached 200 thousand people in 1660 andremained at that level until the end of the 19th century (Seoul Metropolitan Government 1988).
This was probably regarded as the maximum number which could sustain the forest of Seoul,utilize waste as fertilizer in nearby farms and conserve the water quality. This is now widely
regarded as the ideal population for an ecological city worldwide.
People were frugal in their use of resources and did their utmost to avoid pollution.
All resources were recycled and there was no waste to be disposed of. Vegetable gardens anddomestic animals were used to recycle food waste. Night soil and ashes were used for compost.
Dishwashing water was used to boil straw for cattle fodder. Even pouring hot water on soil
was regarded as sinful because people thought it would kill the soil. Villagers used to establish
financing clubs to plant trees in the mountains.
The number one priority policy for government throughout history used to be the“management of mountains and waters.” This may explain why Korea was long known as “theland without flood and famine with rich forests,” “the land with clean water and fertile soil,”or “the land embroidered with silk”. However, this policy became ineffective when the
Dynasty weakened at the end of the 19th century.
ENVIRONMENTAL DEGRADATION IN KOREA
Japanese environmental exploitation

The Korean environmental ethic was deeply shaken after the Japanese invasion. Japan, which
gained power over Korea in the late nineteenth century, began to exploit Korea`s forest
resources. Japan murdered Queen Min, who opposed its intervention in Korea in 1895, andeventually won the Russo-Japanese War in 1904. The Japanese Government never released
data concerning the exploitation during this period. However, in 1910, when Korea wasformally annexed to Japan, it began to openly survey forest resources on the Korean peninsulaand ship timber to Japan. According to the Japanese survey, by 1910 our forests had alreadybeen reduced to 700 million m3, which is equivalent to 46 m3/ha in density. This was further
reduced to 200 million m3, 13 m3/ha in density in 1945: a fall of almost 70% in 35 years (KimǍn-sǂn 1988). Elderly people recall that the Yalu river (Amnokkang) and the Busan Harborused to be full of log rafts to be shipped to Japan.

138 Kim Jung Wk㩷㩷The deforestation activity became extremely severe during the final stages of the
Pacific War. Koreans were forced to supply charcoal to Japan for energy to wage war, since
Japan lacked sufficient energy sources at the time. This meant people had to cut down every
available tree, thus leaving mountains near villages completely bald. Korean tigers were
known to have become extinct during this period. Any remaining forests were further
devastated during the Korean War (1950-1952). In 1952, when the war ended, the forests had
been reduced to 36 million m3 in South Korea, which is equivalent to 5.6 m3/ha in density.
Likewise, such deforestation used to be regarded as a sin in the Western world as well. The
Old Testament says,“When thou shalt besiege a city a long time, in making war against it to take it, thou shalt not
destroy the trees thereof by forcing an axe against them: for thou mayest eat of them, and thoushalt not cut them down (for the tree of the field is man`s life) to employ them in the siege(Deuteronomy 20: 19).”
During the Seven Years` War in the seventeenth century, Friedrich of Saxony was
known to issue a decree to his forces to take particular care to avoid any damage to wooded
areas and trees (Green 1991).
The deforestation had an enormous impact on Korea`s environment. The land could
no longer control flood and drought. Numerous small dams had to be built to supply irrigationwater during Japanese rule, while in recent years many large-scale dams have been built tocontrol flood and drought.
There has also been considerable soil erosion: river bottoms have been heavily
deposited with eroded soil and raised to such an extent that river banks have had to beelevated to control flooding. In some rivers the bottoms have become even higher than the
nearby crop fields. These streams are called “ceiling streams.” Korea, fearing foreign invasion,
did not develop good road systems until the last century. Instead, rivers and streams used toserve as the media for transporting agricultural products and other goods. It is known thatlarge Japanese barges used to sail along the Han`gang river up to Yǂngwǂl, about 200 km
from the West Coast, to build a thermal power plant. Nowadays, however, the Han`gang river
has become too shallow for navigation. Moreover, large-scale reclamation projects on theWest Coast were made possible because of the vast load of eroded soil deposited in the areaand many sandy beaches on the West Coast have been spoiled with clay deposits. Based onthese and other factors, it seems that our environment has still not recovered from thedeforestation shock.

㩷

12. Current Environmental Issues in South Korea and Policies toward a Sustainable Society 139㩷Japan also forced Korea to change its traditional method of farming. Korean farmers
used to practice mixed-culture and crop rotation to control pests and preserve soil fertility.
However, Japan forced the mono-culture of rice. As a result, chemical fertilizers and pesticides
had to be introduced and the soil began to degrade rapidly (Korean Catholic Farmers
Association 1990).
Environmental degradation during industrialization

When the South Korean Government launched the first 5-year economic development plan in
1962 to industrialize Korea after Western countries, the environmental ethics completelychanged and even mentioning the environment was regarded as national treachery. For
example, Prof. Won Jong Hoon of the Busan National University of Fisheries was abducted by
the KCIA and tortured after publishing data on the environmental pollution levels of fishery
farms, while the dean of the university was fired. Prof. Won died a few years later, allegedly
due to the injuries sustained from torture. By that time, industrialized Western countries had
experienced serious environmental problems, especially during the 1950s and 1960s.
Metropolitan cities and industrial areas experienced casualties resulting from environmental
pollution. In Japan in particular, a variety of serious illnesses such as Minamata disease,
Itai-itai disease, Yokkaichi asthma, and others began to emerge, marking the urgent need toeliminate pollutive industries.
However, the government encouraged rather than restricted environmental pollution.
There used to be an environmental law called the Pollution Prevention Law, but it was so laxthat industries, even those not operating treatment facilities, were unhindered by the same.
Even in cases where the law was violated, this was seldom penalized. Such loose
environmental policy inevitably attracted pollutive industries to Korea from abroad.
Mr. Lawrence Summers, former secretary of finance of the USA, once circulated amemorandum to his colleagues while he was a chief economist at the World Bank. He insisted
that pollution should be exported to developing countries. He listed three reasons. Firstly, thecost of health-impairing pollution is lower because the labor cost is cheaper in developing
countries. Secondly, the impacts of pollution are less pronounced in developing countries
because they are under-polluted. And thirdly, the demand for a clean environment is lower,
because of the reduced life expectancy in developing countries, reducing the likelihood ofpollution-related diseases, such as cancer, being inflicted on them (Foster 1993). Such an idea

140 Kim Jung Wk㩷㩷is clearly shown in the following example. A rayon (a synthetic fabric) plant, infamous for
toxic gas called CS2, used to operate in the USA, where it harmed employees. When thecompensation became expensive, the plant was exported to Japan. The plant was later
exported to Korea and finally to China, leaving serious health damage, including mortality,
affecting employees and neighbors in each country.
During the early stage of industrialization, foreign investments were the main
source of capital, meaning transnational corporations (TNCs) played a very important role inshaping the industrial structure in South Korea. Among the Ulsan/Onsan Industrial Complexes,
the first and largest industrial estates established in South Korea, the majority of highly
pollutive industries turned out to be TNCs. Initially based on these pollutive TNCs, the overall
structure of the South Korean industry has also been shaped to be pollution-intensive. In theexport-oriented Korean economy, exports generate far more environmental pollution thaneconomic contribution.
The South Korean industrialization policy was successful and this success turned
Korea turned into a resource-wasteful and environmentally-pollutive society. The energy
consumption per GNP in South Korea is the highest among OECD countries: about 50%
higher than average. The industrialized countries have also succeeded in drastically reducing
pollution emissions since the 1970's, unlike those in South Korea, which have been increasing
well in excess of those in industrialized countries. Although the size of the South Korean
economy is only 1/12 that of Japan, the population 1/3, and the area 1/4, emissions of sulfur
dioxide are twice that of Japan, while Korea's per-capita energy use exceeds those of Japan
and Germany. The pollution growth rate has far exceeded the economic growth rate for
decades. Only in recent years have there been some signs of relief: sulfur dioxide emissions
began decreasing from 1991 and municipal solid wastes from 1992. Other pollutants are still
increasing but at a much slower rate (Kim 2002). Consequently, the quality of the environmenthas been continually deteriorating in South Korea. The earliest environmental problems
observed since industrialization were the damage inflicted on farmers and fishermen aroundindustrial areas, like Ulsan/Onsan and Yeocheon Industrial Complexes. In 1985, theGovernment decided to remove about 37,000 inhabitants in Ulsan/Onsan Industrial
Complexes from the area for fear of health problems as well as damage to agricultural andfishery crops. The victims engaged in violent demonstrations demanding compensation, but
the public had to stay away from their pains under the dictatorship. However, this episodehelped trigger public awareness of the environment.

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12. Current Environmental Issues in South Korea and Policies toward a Sustainable Society 141

㩷The environmental conflicts, which were formerly limited to industrial areas, began
to disperse into areas surrounding metropolitan cities or industrial estates and even into rural
areas, as waste disposal sites or other environmentally-susceptible facilities were built in thoseareas.
In Korean society, like many other oriental cultures, individual citizens are usually
supposed to tolerate inconveniences inflicted on them for the good of society. Within such anenvironment, the complaints of the minority suffering from environmental pollution in limitedareas are easily overlooked, which may be very dangerous when it comes to environmental
issues. When environmental problems become those of the majority, they may be too late tosolve. A good example is the case of Nakdong River pollution. It was reported that Doosan
Electronics had long secretly discharged industrial waste into the river. Such secret practice
resulted in a major spill of phenol in March 1991, which caused tremendous turmoil among
over 10 million inhabitants along the river basin. Ever since, it has been impossible to improve
the water quality of the river, despite massive investment totaling trillions of won.
Consequently, 99% of Korean people do not trust tap water as safe (Ministry of theEnvironment 2003).
The air pollution level of Seoul City also ranked top among OECD countries, aheadof Mexico City: the annual average level of PM10 in Seoul in 2003 was 76 ȝg/m3 while thatin Mexico City was 53 ȝg/m3 and the NO2 level in Seoul was 36 ppb while that in Mexico
City was 27 ppb (OECD 2004). It was estimated that the air pollution in the Seoul area might
be responsible for 11,000 deaths in the area and other respiratory diseases which might cost up
to 10 trillion won each year (Yu 2004).
The dangerous state of the South Korean environment is well expressed in theenvironmental sustainability index reported by the World Economic Forum. South Korea
ranked 136th among 142 countries in 2002 and 122nd among 146 countries in 2005. The
overall pollution load of South Korea ranked 146th among 146 countries (Jang 2005).
FUTURE ENVIRONMENTAL RISKS
Domestic threats

The South Korean government has continued its planning of growth-oriented economic
development without giving the environment much thought. Such plans, if implemented,

142 Kim Jung Wk㩷㩷would put Korea in danger of further environmental risk. However, since the economic crisis
that significantly battered the country in 1997, it is doubtful whether the implementation of all
such economic plans is feasible, given the fact the public became very critical about the plans.
However, since the government has not stated any intention to change the plans, they remainin effect. These plans are highly supply-oriented and resource-wasteful, and they will turn the
country into a high-cost and low-efficiency economy.
The population of South Korea is expected to reach 50 million in 2020 from thepresent 46 million, which has been a major burden on the environment. The population
density of South Korea is also the second highest in the world. The government expects
per-capita income to reach US$ 30,000 by 2020 from the present US$ 12,600; while thenumber of vehicles will increase to 25 million from the present 10 million (Government of the
Republic of Korea 1992) and the total energy demand 330 MTOE (million tons of oil
equivalent) from 190 MTOE in 2000 (Wang et al. 2002).
To support such growth, many large-scale land development projects are underconstruction, many of them termed ‘National Policy Projects’ and many supply-oriented,
lacking full consideration of ecological efficiency and the environmental impact. Suchprojects are anticipated to further lower the productivity of the land and aggravate theenvironment.
The government plans to reclaim most of the mudflats in the West Coast, which
many scientists cited as a valuable source to support the marine ecosystem and wetland birds
and clean up pollution. The quoted purpose is to supply farmlands, industrial sites andcommercial towns. However, it is claimed that the rapid decrease in fishery products, theaggravated water quality and the receding sand beaches in the West Coast in recent years are
all attributable to the large-scale reclamation projects. The Shihwa reclamation project,completed in 1995, aroused people`s attention because of the serious polluting of a freshwaterlake. The lake was supposed to be used for both irrigation and industry, but pollution has left it
fit for neither. The lake turned black and its odor became offensive to nearby inhabitants;
hence a dyke had to be opened to let seawater in. The Saeman`gǎm reclamation project, thebiggest of its kind ever in the world, is now under construction, with many concernedscientists predicting it will become another Shihwa. It is jeopardizing one of the few
remaining estuarine tidal flats in South Korea (Citizen-Government Joint Investigation
Committee for Saeman`gǎm Project 2000). The Government has a plan to reclaim most of theWest Coast, reducing the coastline by half.

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12. Current Environmental Issues in South Korea and Policies toward a Sustainable Society 143㩷Incheon International Airport, constructed on a reclamation site in the West Coast, isscheduled for expansion to accomodate 100 million passengers a year, twice the size of
O'Hare Airport in Chicago, which is currently the busiest airport in the world. There are also
claims that this will seriously damage the tidal flat ecosystem in the West Coast. Since this
airport is located at the northwest end of South Korean territory, where no utilities such as
electricity, water, gas and transportation existed, it has also aggravated the land use efficiency
as well as the environment, aspects which will further deterioriate when the airport is fully
constructed.
The Seoul-Busan High Speed Train, which links the two cities in two hours, isunder construction and set to take 300,000 passengers a day. However, the current total is only
70,000 passengers, which were the main target of the train, and the reduction in automobile
trips has been insignificant. This high speed train uses about twice the energy of existing trains(Krewitt 1999) and increases energy consumption, necessitating the construction of anothernuclear power plant.
The so-called ‘7x9 highway’ network (7 highways running north-south and 9east-west) is under construction, to connect all places in the peninsula to any other place
within 6 hours. Many urban highways are also being constructed, so that access to thesehighways will be possible from anywhere in the country within 30 minutes. When completed,the highway density of South Korea will reach over 60 m/km, the largest in the world (Min2002). The well developed highway system will encourage automobile trips and discourage
the use of mass transit. The roads in Korean downtown cities are very wide, often exceedingten lanes; some are 16 lanes with a width of over 100 meters. Moreover, cheap public parking
spaces are available in downtown areas, since major downtown buildings are required toprovide parking spaces for visitors by law. Korean cars run an average of 26,000 km/year
while American cars run 19,000 km/year, French cars 12,000 km/year and Japanese cars only
10,000 km/year (Kim et al. 1999). This is the major cause of the air and noise pollution in
Korean cities.
The Government`s land-use plan in relation to transportation is paradoxical: it plans
to promote automobile trips by constructing the densest highway network in the world and at
the same time to promote train trips by building the High Speed Train, and promote air travel
by building large airports nationwide, including the Incheon International Airport, the largest
in the world, all of which must be in a trade-off relationship. This will make the land moreenergy-intensive and pollutive.

144 Kim Jung Wk㩷㩷The Government is also planning to build 20 further multi-purpose dams, mainly inorder to supply water and control flooding and drought. There are already 10 such dams,
which have been regulating the flow of all of South Korea`s major rivers. Even though Japan
has a similar rainfall pattern, it does not have such big dams. In 1996, the collapse of theYǂnch`ǂn dam due to unprecedented flooding brought disaster to the downstream
communities. If Soyang dam, the largest in South Korea, failed, it would be catastrophic forSeoul. In September of 1990, the whole nation was on alert, watching as the rising water levelof the dam was covered live on television, following record rainfall in the area. Although thesedams are very effective in controlling small floods and droughts, they could trigger a major
catastrophe should they fail to control any disastrous flood.
In order to supply the energy demand forecasted, the government has built 8 further
nuclear power plants since 1997, in addition to the twenty plants currently in operation, manyof which were constructed while the economy was receding. Seven more nuclear power plants
are planned by 2015 and a further six by 2030 (Byrne et al. 2004). In Yeongheung-do island,
to the west of Seoul, the largest coal power plant complex in the world is under construction.
In order to dispose of surplus electricity overnight, the government encouraged the use of‘midnight electricity’ for heating homes and water, which is very energy-inefficient compared
to direct heating. This night time surplus electricity is the result of over-supply from nuclear
power plants, Due to this policy, peak energy demand shifted to winter nights from summer
afternoons.
All of the above plans encourage the wasteful use of energy and resources which
will have a tremendous impact on the environment. None of the economically feasible
environmental technologies will ever be able to reduce the emissions from such development.
Threats from the Northeast Asian region

More serious environmental threats may originate from the Northeast Asia region, which
includes Siberia, Mongolia, China, Korea and Japan. The wind pattern in this region is suchthat air pollution from one country can be easily carried to regional neighbours. In particular,
due to the prevailing northwest wind in this region, the air quality in Korea is heavily affectedby air pollution from China. For example, yellow dust originating from deserts in China canbe carried to Korea within just three or four days (Kang 1993). In recent years, China hasachieved the world`s highest economic growth, meaning it will rise to become an economic

㩷

12. Current Environmental Issues in South Korea and Policies toward a Sustainable Society 145㩷superpower early this century (Time 1993). Alongside economic growth, China is expected to
produce enormous amounts of air pollutants. The amount of SO2 generated in China wasestimated to be 16 million tons in 1988, but it increased to 17.5 million tons in 1990 and 21
million tons in 1993, which is about 14 times that of South Korea (Woo 1999). At current rates,
China`s emissions may reach 200 times those of South Korea before its per-capita income
reaches US$ 10,000, which may be achieved within a few decades. The air pollution in China
is projected to be worse than that of South Korea, because China depends mainly on
low-quality coal, while South Korea uses refined oil. It is estimated that about 1 to 2% of thesulfur dioxide generated in China will be deposited onto the Korean peninsula, either in wet or
dry form (Kim 1993), which is disastrous for both countries.
The Siberian environment is also reported to be in bad condition. For example, acomplex of smelters in Norilsk in central Siberia, the largest single source of air pollution in
the world, was reported to produce 2 million tons of sulfur (4 million tons of sulfur dioxide)
per year, which is two and half times the total amount produced in South Korea (Time 1995).
While information about North Korea is very limited and of questionable accuracy,
the environment in North Korea is also reportedly poor. Total emissions of five major air
pollutants (sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons and totalsuspended particulates) was estimated to be 10,816,000 tons in 1994, 2.4 times that of South
Korea (4,526,000 tons), even though its energy consumption is 1/5 that of South Korea (Kangand Chǂng 1996). However, the actual air quality data measured in some parts of North Korea
showed very low levels compared with those of South Korea. The NO2 level in Pyongyang
was almost equivalent to rural areas in South Korea and the air quality in Keumho area, a ruralarea along the East Sea, was below those of South Korea's rural areas (Kim and Lee 2005). It
is well known that the North Korean forests are very badly destroyed from farming andlogging for wood fuel, which has been blamed for the frequent floods and drought in recent
years. North Korea's environmental sustainability index ranked 146th among 146 countries in
the world in 2005.
Another threat in the region is the polluting of the Yellow Sea. The Yellow Sea,
surrounded on three sides by China, Korea and Japan, is so shallow, with an average depth of
only 44 meters, and so stagnant that its capacity to tolerate water pollution is very limited.
Presently, China mostly uses human manure as fertilizer, but when flush toilets are
popularized and chemical fertilizers replace human manure, the Yellow Sea may be placed inserious jeopardy. The removal of mud flats and the construction of industrial bases along the146 Kim Jung Wk㩷㩷coast, in both Korea and China, will further aggravate the situation.
The East Sea is encircled by the Korean peninsula, the Russian continent, Sakhalin,
and the Japanese islands, and has very limited access to the Pacific Ocean. Accumulation ofwaste in the Sea, as evidenced by the dumping of radioactive waste by Russia, can also affectall countries along the seacoast.
Newly developing countries tend to import more pollutive industries from richer
countries. Although South Korea`s environment is far worse than those of Japan, U.S.A. or
Western European countries, China`s environment is worst of all. In this respect all countries
in the Northeast Asia region except Japan are very likely to accept pollutive, leftover
industries from richer countries. If China, Russia, Mongolia and North Korea continue toaccept accepting pollutive industries from the rest of the world, the environment in this region
will become highly vulnerable.
POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS FOR A SUSTAINABLE SOCIETY

As shown above, growth-oriented economic development which encourages wastage ofenergy and resources and which neglects the environment can bring disastrous results. Besides,
as shown by the recent economic collapse in East Asia, such plans cannot succeed in the longterm because of additional inefficiency in the economic sense. The South Korean public is
well aware of the danger of the current policy. In public surveys conducted in 1995 and 1996,
57.1% of the respondents responded that environmental problems represented the mostdangerous threat to their future and 75.9% believed that the environment would get worse. In
response to the question concerning the priority of policies for the twenty-first century, theenvironment came top (44.8%), followed by security (19.1%), information/media (16.9%) andothers (Kim et al. 1997). Since the present development policy, which demands a continuous
supply of resources and sacrifices the environment, is destined to fail, we must look for new
ways of development.
Environmental land-use planningLand use should be planned from an ecological perspective so as to best preserve the land`s
productivity and stability. In that sense, there should be a definite goal on where and to what
extent to preserve the three important ecological bases in the Korean Peninsula, namely,㩷

12. Current Environmental Issues in South Korea and Policies toward a Sustainable Society 147

㩷forests, coastal wetlands and agricultural farms. The forest is the base for terrestrial
ecosystems like flood control, water resource, climate and others; the coastal wetland for themarine ecosystem and the farmland for producing food. Within that goal, limits should be set
the extent to which the land can be utilized for activities like urban development,
manufacturing, recreation and others. Moreover, the limits of pollution loads resulting fromsuch activities should be set so as not to irreversibly damage the environment. Economic
development should be planned to minimize the use of energy and resources, only after these
constraints have been satisfied.
The Korean Peninsula is separated from China, Japan and Russia by seas, rivers andmountains, which form a relatively independent ecological unit. Therefore, it is relatively easy
for Korea, as a unified country, to set out ecologically-sound land-use planning, such as thatconcerning the conservation of forests, wetlands, animal habitats, farmlands and others as wellas on limits of economic development.
Local communities should be established in conformity with ecological principles
and within the framework of the national environmental plan. Cities in California like Los
Angeles used to be set as ideal models to follow in South Korea. Web-like networks ofhighways and roads are built in such cities to facilitate the flow of people, energy andresources between sects, which eventually encourages the wasteful use of energy andresources and dumping of waste on poor neighboring sites. Local communities should beestablished so as to minimize the use of energy and resources and maximize the recycling ofmaterials as in natural ecosystems. Each local community should be established as an efficient
ecological unit.
The current centralized energy system in South Korea is inefficient and the energy
efficiency of large power plants located in remote areas can only reach thirty percent because
the heat generated cannot be utilized. Including loss during distribution, this falls way below
the thirty per cent figure. If the electricity is used for heating, the overall efficiency is below
15%. Conversely, if small-scale energy plants are located near the demand sites (distributed
energy system), efficiency can be elevated to over 80%. In order to achieve energy security,
we have to depend less on oil and nuclear fuel, which are governed by only a few global
powers. Global political instability will seriously jeopardize our energy security; hence
renewable energy, which can be produced with technology only, should be promoted. The
current share of renewable energy in South Korea is below 0.1%, which is far lower than otherdeveloped countries.

148 Kim Jung Wk㩷㩷The automobile-oriented transportation system cannot solve the traffic problem.
Trains should be the main means of transportation between cities and for mass transit withincities. Many cities in South Korea are not connected by railroads while numerous highways
are being built to link cities. The High Speed Train does not help much: it is currently posing aserious problem for traffic to and from small cities in South Korea. The number of parking
spaces in downtown cities must be reduced and parking fees raised to solve the problem ofheavy urban traffic. The current parking fees are too cheap compared with the expensive land
prices.
Until the end of the Chosǂn dynasty, each local community in Korea was believed
to have functioned as a sustainable ecological unit: energy was supplied from nearby forests
without creating irreversible damage, and waste from urban areas was returned to farms
without polluting the water systems. In a healthy ecosystem, renewable energy is used to makethe system function and materials are completely recycled. Human settlements should be
restructured so as to maximize the efficiency of energy use and material cycle, and minimize
the environmental impact. We cannot turn back the clock, but we can learn the ideas andprinciples of sustainability based on our traditions.
Environmental management policies

The present path of economic development in South Korea, which is energy/resource wastefuland environmentally pollutive, is destined to fail because it is inefficient in the economic sense,
and the pollution which accumulates from using so much energy and so many resources will
degrade the productivity of the land. All the inputs to economic activity, such as energy andmaterials, must come out of the system as outputs, in whatever form and in whatever timeframe. Those outputs are called waste. No matter how clever the technology we employ intreating this waste, it never disappears, but simply changes its form. The surest way of
reducing environmental pollution, therefore, does not lie in treating waste, but rather in
reducing the input. Therefore, the first priority in controlling environmental pollution should
be given to reducing the use of energy and resources. Only then can we concentrate on
treatment technologies changing the waste into a less harmful form.
Energy prices in South Korea have been kept much cheaper compared withindustrialized countries. For example, the price of electricity in South Korea is less than halfthat in Japan. That has been possible because less money has been spent on treating pollution

㩷

12. Current Environmental Issues in South Korea and Policies toward a Sustainable Society 149

㩷arising from energy use. However, the total energy cost remains more expensive in South
Korea, as evidenced by the total energy use, because no serious efforts are made to saveenergy and more energy is needed to restore the damage created from using cheap, pollutive
energy. Ultimately, so-called cheap energy is not at all cheap. To save energy, we have to use
clean energy, meaning renewable energy, such as solar, wind, tidal, biomass and other forms
should be developed.
An efficient recycling system should be established to save energy and resources
and reduce waste volume. It was estimated that about 6 to 7% of the total energy demand inSouth Korea could be saved if the recycling rate of paper were raised from 43.3% to 65%, ironand steel from 26.4% to 70% and plastics from 16% to 50% (Kim and Choe 1994). Recycling
campaigns mainly directed toward the public should be extended to manufacturers whose
volume of industrial waste amounts to twice that of household waste. Industries should target
zero-discharge technology, which is truly sustainable.
Next, the industrial structure should be reformed to make it environmentallyfriendly and pollution should be cleaned up. Substances never disappear but only change theirform, and move from one place to another. Therefore, environmental problems should be
solved using a “holistic” approach. Damage to the ecosystem, air pollution, water pollution,solid waste, soil pollution and other environmental problems should not be seen as
independent problems, since they are all inter-related. Moreover, priority should be establishedbetween sectors. Environmental problems which are impossible or difficult to resolve should
be given higher priority. The first priority should be given to the ecosystem, and subsequently
the atmospheric environment, soil/water and solid waste. All domestic environmental policies
should be in conformity with national environmental planning.
Environmental standards need to be upgraded, and penalties for violating laws
should be stricter and heavier. In addition, adequate funding should be invested in theenvironment. Saving energy and resources does not mean doing less work and investing lessmoney, contrary to the beliefs of most growth-oriented developers. Rather, it requires
investment and efforts to make industries and urban structures function with less energy andresources.
Korea`s environmental problems cannot be fundamentally solved without firstsolving those of the Northeast Asian region, such as trans-boundary air pollution, marine
pollution, and the conservation of endangered species, all of which need to be solved throughinternational cooperation.

150 Kim Jung Wk㩷㩷
CONCLUSION

For decades, South Korea has indulged in developing a growth- and supply-oriented economy
while paying little attention to the environment. Such development worked for a time, but has
not been as economically efficient as was hoped and instead poses a dangerous threat to theland and people. The Korean ancestors provide a good example on how to pursue harmony
with nature. The ultimate goal of the nation`s policies should target environmental
sustainability, rather than economic indices. Our economic activities should not be allowed to
exceed the land`s carrying capacity and land use should be planned from an ecologicalperspective to best preserve its productivity and stability. In that sense, there should be adefinite goal concerning where and to what extent to preserve the three key ecological bases in
the Korean Peninsula, namely, forests, coastal wetlands and agricultural farms. The forest is
the base for terrestrial ecosystems like flood control, water resources, climate and others; thecoastal wetland for the marine ecosystem and farmland for producing food. Within that goal,
limits should be set on the extent to which the land can be utilized for activities like urban
development, manufacturing, recreation and others. Moreover, the limits of pollution loads
resulting from such activities should be set to avoid irreversibly damaging the environment.
Economic development should be planned to minimize the use of energy and resources only
after these constraints have been satisfied. Energy efficiency should be upgraded and an
efficient recycling system established to save energy and resources and reduce waste. The
industrial structure should be reformed so as to be environmentally friendly and pollution
should be cleaned up. Korea`s environmental problems cannot be fundamentally solved
without first solving those of the Northeast Asian region, such as trans-boundary air pollution,
marine pollution, and the conservation of endangered species, all of which need to be solved
through international cooperation.
REFERENCES
Byrne J, Wang Y, Kim JD, Lee H, Kim J (2004) Energy revolution: 21 century energy and environmental
strategy. Maeil Daily Economics, Seoul
Citizen-Government Joint Investigation Committee for Saeman`gǎm Project (2000) The final report ofthe environmental impact of the Saeman`gǎm project
Foster JB (1993) Let them eat pollution: capitalism and the world environment. The Monthly Review 44:

㩷

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㩷
10-20
Government of the Republic of Korea (1992) The seventh 5-year economic development plan 1992-1996
Green L C (1991) The environment conventional warfare Law. Paper presented at the conference on theuse of environment as a tool of conventional warfare. Ottawa, Canada
Jang J (2005) The results and the significance of the Environmental Sustainability Index by World
Economic Forum. 136 Letter 21. Seoul: 136 Forum
Kang K, Chǂng H (1996) The energy-atmospheric environment problems in North Korea and theSouth-North cooperation. Environmental Forum (3) 18: 1-8
Kang T (1993) A study on the long-range transport of air pollutants in North-East Asia. M.A. thesis.
Graduate School of Environmental Studies. Seoul National University
Kim C and Choe K (1994) A mid- to long-term policy for sStrengthening energy demand management.
KEEI Report 94-07. Korea Energy Economics Institute: 213.
Kim J (1990) Environmental aspects of transnational corporation activities in pollution-intensive
industries in the Republic of Korea: a case study of the Ulsan/Onsan industrial complexes. inenvironmental aspects of transnational corporation activities in selected Asian and Pacific developing
countries, ESCAP/UNCTC Publication Series B, no. 15. New York: United Nations: 276-319.
Kim J, Lee K, Jung G (1997) Environmental problems and public awareness in the Republic of Korea.
Proceedings of 1997 Shiga University International Symposium. Shiga University. Otsu. Japan: 36-48
Kim J (2002) Current environmental issues in Korea and policies toward sustainability. Environmental
Impact Assessment for Sustainable Society: Proc. International Symposium for the 10th Anniversaryof Korean Society of Environmental Impact Assessment, Seoul, pp 61-75
Kim J, Lee S (2005) A study on the state of air pollution in North Korea. A Study on the Environmental
Policy of Unified Korea. Seoul National University: 201-242
Kim T (1993) A study on the effects of air pollution from China on the Korean Peninsula. M.A. thesis.
Graduate School of Environmental Studies. Seoul National University
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Korean Catholic Farmers Association and Korea Pollution Research Institute (1990) Pesticide pollution
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Kim S (1990) The relationship between trade structure and environmental pollution in Korea. M.A.
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Kim W et al (1999) A study to improve the environmental aspects of old cars in Seoul. Seoul
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Lee C, Lee J, Chang S (2005) A study on the transportation system in the high-speed train era: toward
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152 Kim Jung Wk㩷㩷Development Institute
Min M (2002) Construction of roads and the environment: where are the roads' ends?. Green Critics 63
Ministry of Environment (1990) The road to environmental conservation. Seoul: 13
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efficiency scenario analyis. Bulletin of Science, Technology & Society. 22(2): 110-122
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pollution in Northeast Asia. Ph. D. Dissertation. Graduate School of Environmental Studies. Seoul
National University
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University Press: 4
Yi S (1985) Korean traditional view on nature. Seoul: Seoul National University Press: 201
Yu Y (2004) The analysis of socio-economic cost of air pollution in capital area. Suweon: Kyeonggi
Development Institute㩷㩷

13. Environmental Problems and Strategies in China
Yanqing Wu
School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai,
China

ABSTRACT
Rapid economic growth and industrialization in China is bringing higher living standards to its people.
However, in the absence of a sustainable development scheme, such economic growth has also broughtvery severe environmental problems, such as air pollution, water resource depletion and pollution ofwater bodies, ecological degradation, soil erosion and pollution, desertification, acid rain, sandstorms,
forest depletion, pollution of seawater and red tides, etc. Since such environmental conditions are
expected to worsen, China urgently needs a new sustainable development pattern and strategy. In orderto promote both economic development and environmental improvement, the Chinese government isenhancing its environmental management policy. In this paper, the author analyzes the environmental
problems of China based on the environmental evolvement process over the past 15 years. From asustainable development perspective, the author has explored the relationship between economy, society
and the environment and proposes a new model of sustainable development. This model is an integrated
socio-economic environmental system that aims to solve the main environmental issues of China.
Keywords: Environmental problems, Environmental strategies, Sustainable development,
Socio-economic environmental system, GGDP

154 Yanqing Wu㩷㩷
INTRODUCTION

The rapid economic growth of developing nations is bringing welfare and higher living
standards to people. This economic growth, however, is accompanied by natural resource
depletion, ecological degradation, environmental pollution, and biodiversity loss. Ecologicaland environmental problems are affecting human health, safety and security, and sustainable
development.
In the past two decades, the Chinese economy has grown rapidly, bringing higher
living standards to its people. However, in the absence of a sustainable development scheme,
such economic growth has also triggered very severe environmental issues, such as air
pollution, water resources depletion and pollution of water bodies, ecological degradation, soil
erosion and pollution, desertification, acid rain, sand and dust storms, forest depletion,
pollution of seawater and red tides. Since such environmental conditions are expected toworsen, China urgently needs a new sustainable development pattern and strategy. In order topromote both economic development and environmental improvement, the Chinese
government is enhancing its environmental management and financial investment inenvironmental science and technology.
The objectives of this paper are:x

to address the environmental problems China is facing in the process of economic
development;x

to analyze the environmental evolvement processes of China;x

to explore the relationship between society, economy and environment based onsustainable development;x

to present the current patterns of sustainable development, andx

to propose strategies towards solving the environmental problems of China.

ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS OF CHINA

According to data from the State Statistical Administration of China, the GDP of Chinareached 18.2321 trillion RMB Yuan and 13,943 RMB Yuan per capita in 2005. The populationof China is 1.3076 billion people. Even though this economic growth has been significantly
increasing over the past two decades,it has also been accompanied by many environmental
problems.

㩷

13. Environmental Problems and Strategies in China 155㩷
Water pollution of the main rivers in China

According to the Chinese Environmental Protection Communique, there is severe waterpollution of China’s main rivers, with 59% of all river water bodies said to be polluted. Basedon the long-term measurement of water quality, good water qualty has decreased and that ofpolluted water increased, as shown in Figures 13.1 and 13.2. The volume of wastewater
discharged into surface water bodies also increased yearly from 1989 to 2005 (Fig. 13.3).

Figure 13.1 3-type water quality of China’s main rivers

Figure 13.2 4-5 types water quality of China’s mainriversFigure 13.3 Wastewater discharged into surface
water bodies from 1989 to 2005

156 Yanqing Wu㩷㩷
Air pollution of China

The air quality of China has been improving slowly since 1997 where it reached its worst level.
The volumes of soot and industrial dust discharged into the atmosphere have yearly decreased
from 1997 to 2005 due to central government management, as shown in Figures 13.4 and 13.5
respectively. However sulfur dioxide emissions have been increasing as shown in Figure 13.6
and acid rain distribution has extended from 1989 to 2005.

Figure 13.4 Soot discharged into the atmosphereof China from 1989 to 2005

Figure 13.5 Industrial dust discharged into theatmosphere of China from 1989 to 2005

Figure 13.6 Sulfur dioxide emissions of China from 1989 to
2005

㩷

13. Environmental Problems and Strategies in China 157㩷Inshore seawater pollution of China

The marine environment of the China inland sea has changed over the past decade due tohuman activities. Its water quality reached its worst level in 2001(where polluted seawateroccupied 49%). After 2002, the water quality of the inland sea has improved gradually as
shown in Figure 13.7.
The frequency of red tide occurrence decreased in the China inland sea region, but
the area of red tide occurrence extended gradually, as shown in Figures 13.8 and 13.9
respectively.

Figure 13.7 5- type water quality of China inshore
sea from 1999 to 2005

Figure 13.8 The frequency of red tide occurrence in
the China inland sea region

Figure 13.9 The area of red tide occurrence in the China
inland sea region

158 Yanqing Wu㩷㩷Industrial solid waste production of China

In addition to huge consumption of material and energy resources, industrial waste production
has also been increasing yearly from 1989 to 2005, due to rapid industrial development (seeFig. 13.10).

Figure 13.10 Industrial solid waste production of China from1989 to 2005

To sum up, industrial development has brought economic growth and environmental
degradation. Figure 13.11 outlines the environmental effects of human activities.

Figure 13.11 Environmental effects of human activities㩷

13. Environmental Problems and Strategies in China 159

㩷
CONSIDERATION OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

In the early stages of economic growth, societies paid little attention to the environment.
Environmental degradation caused by rapid economic growth, however, was one of thecatalysts for the introduction of environmental policies. Sustainable development is perhaps
the most challenging policy concept ever developed. Sustainable development is defined as‘development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future
generations to meet their own needs’. Definitions of sustainability must consider
intergenerational equity, resilience or the carrying capacity of the earth system, environmental
maintainance and consumption or welfare maintainance (Clarke and lslam 2004).
Sustainable development requires a harmonious relationship among environment,
economy and society. ICLEI (1996), du Plessis (2000), and Barton (2000) proposed this model
as shown in Figure 13.12. This model has some limitations. It assumes the separation and evenautonomy of the economy, society and environment from each other. The separation distracts
from or underplays the fundamental connections between the economy, society and theenvironment and also prompts assumptions that trade-offs can be made between the threesectors. The result will produce weak sustainability. In order to unify economy, society and theenvironment, Giddings, Hopwood and O’Brien (2002) proposed the nested model for
economy, society and the environment, as shown in Figure 13.13. This indicates that theeconomy is nested within society, which, in turn, is nested within the environment. The nested
model integrates different actions and sectors and overcomes barriers between disciplines.
However this model also incorporates internal boundaries, a problem which hinders system
optimization and also leads to weak sustainability.

Figure 13.12 Common three-ring sector view ofsustainable development

Figure 13.13 The nested model forsustainable development

160 Yanqing Wu㩷㩷The boundary between the environment and human activities remains unclear andpoorly defined, namely fuzzy. There is a constant flow of materials and energy between
human activities and the environment and both constantly interact with each other (Giddings
et al. 2002) as shown in Figure 13.14.
The model in Figure 13.14 merges society and economy which can be measured interms of human activity and well being. Although this model of sustainable development
intends to show strong linkages between human activities and the environment, it still shows aseparation between human activities and the environment and strengthens the central humanposition within the natural system. Since natural resources are finite and given the limited
nature of the environment, economic growth cannot last forever. Humans must be included
within the ecosystem. Based on this, a reasonable model of sustainable development should bea socio-economic environmental system, merging society, economy and the environment, asshown in Figure 13.15.
The proposed model of sustainable development is an integral borderless system.
The quantification analysis of the socio-economic environmental system can use optimization
theory.
The model also provides an optimal solution (strong sustainability). The model tells
us that the environment and human systems are not contradictory and should be treated as a
unified system. Harmonious Society is basic for human life and also requires healthy
economic development that respects the environment. Sustainable development requires aharmonious relationship among environment, the economy and society.

Figure 13.14 Fuzzy boundaries: merging society

Figure 13.15 A model of sustainable development

and economy and opening up to the environment

merging society, economy and the environment㩷

13. Environmental Problems and Strategies in China 161

㩷
CONCLUSION

Strategies to solve environmental problems require the theory and practice of sustainable
development. Such strategies should consider the following measures:x

to change both living and production patterns, as well as traditional natural views ofhumans being at the centre of the natural world, and to establish a developmental view of
harmoniousness between humans and nature;x

to construct “eco-cities” and “eco-industries” and promote a closed-loop economic
system (waste material repair, reconditioning, remanufacturing, reduce, recycle, andreuse);x

to integrate environmental laws and environmental management, and extend GGDP
(Green Gross Domestic Product), considering environmental and ecological services, andenvironmental and ecological damage within a national account system instead of a GDP
account system, GGDP=GDP+ECS+ES-ECD-ED, where GDP is the Gross Domestic
Product, ECS is the Ecological Service Values, ES is the Environmental Service Values,
ECD is the Ecological Service Damage Values, and ED is the Environmental Service
Damage Values;x

to intensify interdisciplinary research between human-cultural science and naturalscience-technology and increase investments in environmental science field research andenvironmental remediation;x

to educate the common people to enhance environmental awareness, so that they become
wider participants in this task; andxto design mechanisms for global environment assessment and increase international
cooperation in the environmental field.

REFERENCES
Barton H (2000) Conflicting perceptions of neighbourhood. In Barton H(ed)Sustainable Communities:
the potential for eco neighborhoods. Earthscan, London, pp 3-18
Bithas KP ChristofakisM (2006) Environmentally sustainable cities: critical review and operational
conditions. Sustainable Development 14:177-189
Clark M, lslam S (2004) Economic growth and social welfare: operationalizing normative social choicetheory. North-Holland, Amsterdam
Clark M, lslam S (2006)National account measures and sustainability objectives: present approaches

162 Yanqing Wu㩷㩷and future prospects. Sustainable Development 14:219-233
Du Plessis C(2001) Cities and sustainability: sustaining our cultural heritage. In Brandon P, Lombardi P,
Perera S(eds)Cities and sustainability: sustaining our cultural heritage. Conference Proceedings,
Kandalama, Sri Lanka
Giddings B, HopwoodB, and O’BrienG (2002), Environment, economy and society: fitting them
together into sustainable development. Sustainable Development 10:187-196
ICLEI (1996) The local agenda 21 planning guide: an introduction to sustainable development planning.
International Council for Local Environmental Initiative, ICLEI: Toronto
King AM, BurgessSC, Lljomah W, McMahonCA (2006) Reducing waste: repair, recondition,
remanufacture or recycle? Sustainable Development 14: 257-267
The Chinese Environmental Protection Communique (2005)
The Chinese Statistical Communique(2005)

㩷㩷

14. On the Circular Economy Legislation of Shanghai City
Guided by the Ideal of a Circular Economy Society
Xi Wang1, Yuan Hu1 and Lu Fu2
1

Environmental and Resources Law Institute, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai,

China
2

Law School, Wuhan University, Hubei Province, China

ABSTRACTThe Chinese government introduced a new strategy which aims at changing the current economic system
into a system that meets the requirements of a circular economyi.e. a sustainable closed-loop economy.
Shanghai City is taking the lead in the development of a circular economy as the largest industrial andcommercial city and the engine of the Chinese economy. In this paper, the authors elaborate the general
strategy for developing a legal system favoring the development of a circular economy in Shanghai.
Historically, Shanghai has adopted many local laws and regulations related to waste control and reuse.
They constitute a good basis for the development of a legal system that meets the requirements of acircular economy. The authors suggest a legislation system of circular economy for Shanghai andelaborate the major tasks of municipal legislation for promoting a circular economy in the city.
Keywords: Circular economy, Circular Economy Society, Theory basis, Legislation, Shanghai

164 Xi Wang, Yuan Hu1 and Lu Fu㩷㩷
CONCEPT OF THE CIRCULAR ECONOMY
Circular economy is the abbreviated form of the name ‘Closing Materials Cycle Economy’(Qu 2001). A circular economy is an economic growth model, where the core idea is theeffective utilization and recycling of resources. This model is based on the ‘Reduce, Reuse,
Recycle’principle and targets low consumption, low discharge and high efficiency. The
circular economy conforms to the sustainable development ideal and represents a revolution to
the traditional economic growth model characterized by ‘mass production, mass consumption,and mass waste’.
Although people hold different opinions concerning the nature of the circular
economy, a consensus on the following content has been reached:x

The circular economy is a reflection and achievement of the sustainable development
strategy. Sustainable development requires the integration of economic development andenvironmental protection. As circular economy characterizes resources use as ‘Resources– Products – Recycled Resources’, it successfully embodies the harmonization ofdevelopment and environmental protection, and is an effective approach and model
toward achieving sustainable development.

x

The circular economy is an ecological economy that follows ecological laws, while thetraditional model of economic development is a straight and one-way linear process ofresource flow – ‘Resources – Products – Pollution Discharge’. During this process,economic growth is achieved through a one-way linear process, turning materials andenergy into waste.

The circular economy, however, differs from the traditional

economic model in that it is a closing cycle of material and resource flows – ‘Resources –Products – Recycled Resources’. The circular economy regards the various economic
activities of human society and the resource elements of nature as a closely connected andintegrated body, takes them into consideration while making economic development plans,requires that natural resources and environmental capacity be utilized in anenvironmentally friendly way, minimizes the impacts of economic activities on thenatural environment, and achieves harmonious development of economic growth andenvironmental quality improvement (Liu 2004).
x

The ‘3R’ principle - ‘Reduce, Reuse, Recycle’ is the basic principle of the circular
economy. The “Reduce” term means to reduce the quantity of materials used in
production and consumption processes, as well as the waste generated. The “Reuse”term㩷

14. On the Circular Economy Legislation of Shanghai City Guided by the Ideal of a Circular Economy Society 165

㩷refers to using products as many times and ways as possible and preventing products frombecoming waste at an early stage. Finally, the “Recycle” term means to recycle waste,turning it into regenerated raw materials. The sequence of the 3R principle is reduce –reuse – recycle, because the ultimate objective of the circular economy requires thesystematic prevention of waste and its reduction during the economic flow process, andrecycling waste is merely a means of reducing the quantity of waste to be finally disposedof(Zhu 1998, 2003).
x

The basic characteristic of the circular economy is low exploitation, high utilization andlow discharge, in contrast to the traditional economic model of high exploitation, lowutilization and high discharge. The circular economy requires that targeted production andconsumption objectives be achieved with minimum material input, production andtechnology chains be prolonged and expanded, waste digested within enterprises, andpollution discharge reduced; products and packages be made available for future reuse in
their initial forms; waste generated during production, circulation, consumption and otherstages being recovered and recycled for other uses after being treated with technologies;
waste that cannot be disposed of by enterprises themselves is recovered and treatedcentrally, reducing resource exploration, non-renewable resource utilization and waste
discharge (Niu 2004).

x

There are three types of circular economy. They include the circular economy within
enterprises, the circular economy among enterprises and the circular economy in a society
as a whole. The circular economy within enterprises is characterized as the recycled useof materials and energy within an enterprise and is formed through ecological industry
chains. Various enterprises are organized as a combination of industries sharing resourcesand exchanging by-products, where the waste of one enterprise becomes the resources ofanother. This type of circular economy often exists in some advanced industrial parks. A
circular economy in society as a whole closes the loop of ‘Resources – Products –Recycled Resources’ throughout society as a whole by developing cleaner production,
green consumption and resources recovery industries(Liao 2003; Zhu 1998).
In addition, differences exist between the broad and narrow perceptions of thecircular economy. The narrow understanding mainly refers to minimizing waste, emphasizing
cleaner production and whole-process management, while the broad interpretation covers all
social production activities, and is equivalent to the proposal of the ‘Circular Economic
Society’.

166 Xi Wang, Yuan Hu1 and Lu Fu㩷㩷
THEORY BASIS OF CIRCULAR ECONOMY

One of the theory bases of the circular economy is ecology. An ecosystem is composed of bothorganisms and non-organisms; all of which co-exist and influence each other within thesystem, forming countless connected food chains, from low to high and simple to complex.
“Energy and materials are passed on in food chains, from low to high, and again vice versa,
forming a connected and mutual organism chain, thus maintaining the ecological balance
between various materials in nature, and ensuring continuous natural development”(Xu2003).
As for human society, although the division of labor between social production
sections is becoming subtler and cooperation between human economic sections is being
reinforced, the economic model of human society remains a linear pattern, based on exploringlarge amounts of resources from the nature, and then throwing all kinds of waste back into thelatter. This model of economic development fundamentally violates ecology laws, seriously
destroys the natural environment and ecosystem, and is unsustainable.
Faced with serious environmental problems, people have realized that it is necessary
to restructure the economic regime in accordance with ecology laws, reorganize humaneconomic activities in light of ecological principles, dramatically reduce resource
consumption, achieve full materials recycling, and thus guarantee a sustainable future forhuman society.
The second theory basis of the circular economy is the latest development of
economics – ecological economics. In the late 1960s, the American economist Kenneth
Boulding officially proposed the concept of ‘Ecological Economy’ in his important essay
Ecological Economics as a Science. Since then ecological economics has made great progress.
The most important contribution of ecological economy is that it proposes andproves the concept of the overall scale of human economic activities; it highlights what shouldbe the priority for traditional economics – effective resource allocation and fair distribution of
wealth, and include the prerequisite that the overall scale of economic activities cannot exceed
the supporting capacity of the earth ecosystem. The resource reserve of the earth is limited,
likewise its environmental capacity. The scale of human economic activities should remain
within the bounds of the supporting capacity of nature, and the means of human economic
development should comply with the restricted mechanism of the ecosystem, taking full㩷

14. On the Circular Economy Legislation of Shanghai City Guided by the Ideal of a Circular Economy Society 167㩷consideration of ecological parameters in the economic development model. Since theindustrial revolution, the economic development of human society, however, has never fully
considered the ecological prerequisite. Even economists neglected the ecological limit.
Ecological economics identifies this critical drawback of the traditional development modeland traditional economics, and highlights the importance of this prerequisite. It further
proposes that the foremost task of economics is to study the relation between the overall scaleof human economic activities and the supporting capacity of the earth ecology, and this takes
precedence over studying effective resource allocation and the fair distribution of wealth.
Ecological economics requires that ecological principles be the basis of economic policies.
“The relationship between ecologists and economists is like the relationship between
architects and builders, ecologists should provide economists with blueprints”(Brown 2001).
Ecological economics advocates ecological economy; it applies ecology laws aswell as those of traditional economics to guide human economic activities, and integrates theobjectives of human economic activities with ecosystem improvements. Traditional economics
separates the economic system of human society from the ecosystem, and treats the lattermerely as an external element utilized by the human economic system. However, humans havenever lived outside the ecosystem; since human society is part of the Earth ecosystem, andmust exist under the laws of nature.
Ecological economics holds that public resources, such as air and water, althoughpreviously considered unlimited and free to use, should be counted as costs in humaneconomic activities. The forerunner of ecological economics, Daly Herman pointed out that
our world “has ended the era of which human-made capital (‘non-existent’ substances)
represents the restricted element of economic development, and entered into a new era inwhich increasingly scarce natural capital (‘real’ substances) replaces its status”. With thecontinuous expansion of human development, the products and services provided by the earth
ecosystem are increasingly declining, meaning natural capital becomes the restricted element(Daly 1993).
Ecological economics emphasizes ecological efficiency, although this efficiency is
not the same as that under traditional economics. In traditional economics, the environment
and natural resources are terribly neglected in the production function and the term efficiency
refers only to the value created by laborers. Ecological efficiency means that the national
economy should achieve constant growth on the basis of increasing the utilization efficiencyof natural resources and reducing environmental pollution. On the one hand, it increases the168 Xi Wang, Yuan Hu1 and Lu Fu

㩷㩷
productivity of energy, minerals and other raw materials, mainly measured by reducing energy
and materials consumption per GDP; on the other, it minimizes external non-economic losses
caused by pollution, mainly measured by reducing environmental pollution load per GDP
(Huang et al. 2004).
These views held by ecological economics represent important revisions andsupplements to the traditional economics. Together with the basic principles of traditional
economics, they constitute the theory basis of the circular economy. The circular economy
recognizes the limits of the earth supporting capacity, and is based on the fact that the overall
scale of human economic activities cannot exceed that limit. The circular economy recognizes
the integration of the human economic system with the natural ecosystem, and accepts the factthat ecosystem laws should guide human economic activities. The circular economy regards
natural capital as a cost of implementing human economic activities, recognizes its economic
value, and incorporates it into the balance sheet of human economic activities. The circular
economy stresses ecological efficiency, namely reducing energy consumption, materials
consumption and pollution load per GDP.
The legislative activities of the circular economy should be guided by theabove-mentioned basic views of ecological economics, implement these guiding thoughts
while setting rules and regulations for human economic activities, and reflect theses basic
views of the circular economy in legal rules.
NEED TO DEVELOP A CIRCULAR ECONOMY IN SHANGHAI CITY

Shanghai is a mega city with a high population density and relatively deficient resources. It isan alluvial plain, located downstream of the Yangtze River, and facing the East Sea, with a flat
topography and limited resources. The city is 6,340 square kilometers, housed 15.6 million
permanent residents in 2002, and the population density was 2,460 people/square kilometer. In
the central city area, within the external ring line and occupying 670 square kilometers, thepopulation has reached 9.11 million, a density much higher than that of New York, Paris andLondon(Wang 2005).
This high population density and fast pace of city development has left Shanghai
confronting land deficiency. If the current pace of development is maintained, available land
will be used up in the following 10 to 15 years, let alone considering reserve land and “landfor future generations”(Wang 2005).

㩷

14. On the Circular Economy Legislation of Shanghai City Guided by the Ideal of a Circular Economy Society 169

㩷Deficiency of drinking water resources is another severe problem in Shanghai.
According to monitoring results of cross sections of the main rivers of Shanghai, conducted byenvironmental agencies, only 1 percent of surface water in Shanghai meets the national
standards of drinking water sources, while water of quality below V Class accounts for 68.6%.
Although Shanghai has water, it lacks quality water. Its water quality is both influenced by
upstream water pollution, and also damaged by local pollution sources. Shanghai is a typicalcity that lacks quality water, and is currently listed by the United Nations, as one of the six
cities in the world seriously lacking drinking water in the 21st century(Wang 2005).
In respect of energy consumption, industrial energy consumption accounted for 63%
of the city energy structure in 2002, while this proportion was only 7% in New York. The totalenergy consumption increased from 31.91 million tons of standard coal in 1990 to 67.5
million tons of standard coal in 2003, more than doubling the 1990 figure. Calculating theenergy consumed to produce a value of 10,000 RMB, it is 0.583 (ton/10,000 RMB) in
Shanghai, while only 0.18 in Japan, less than one third the unit energy consumption in
Shanghai(Wang 2005). In addition, the fast economic growth means that the use of bothindustrial and domestic electricity is rocketing; meaning neither the installed capacity nor
power generation can meet the electricity consumption needs. In the short term, Shanghai
cannot achieve electricity self-supply, nor can she depend wholly on external electricity
provision(Wang 2005).
In 2002, the discharge rate of wastewater was 78.73%; and although a substantial
drop from the 86.25% discharge rate in 1998, a gap still remains when compared to developed
countries. Taking industrial waste water as an example, the water reuse rate was 81.7% in
Osaka in 1981 and 92.7% in Yokohama, Japan in 1982(Wang 2005).
In respect of domestic garbage, taking 2003 as an example, the quantity of domestic
garbage generated in the whole city reached 6.45 million tons; of which 600,000 tons were
diverted through waste recovery systems, and 5.85 million tons were cleaned, transported anddisposed of by the environmental sanitation sector (4.34 million tons in the urban district, and1.52 million tons in the suburbs). Currently, the classified collection capacity for domestic
garbage is poor, and there is insufficient disposal capacity, which results in a low level of
reducing, harmlessly treating and recycling domestic garbage. Among the 14,000 tons ofdomestic garbage generated daily in Shanghai, about 10% cannot be transported to the LaoGang landfill site, and is simply piled up in the suburbs(Wang 2005).
Over the past decades, the GDP of Shanghai has escalated, but this has come at the㩷

170 Xi Wang, Yuan Hu1 and Lu Fu㩷cost of consumption of water resources, energy and raw materials, and increased domestic
garbage and urban waste water, and waste air. Currently, resource consumption and waste
discharge tends to be over-hasty. For instance, since 1990, the GDP per capita in Shanghai has
been increasing at an annual rate of 12%, while domestic garbage has also ascended at an
average annual rate of 7%(Zhu 2004).
In conclusion, the economic growth in Shanghai, based upon high material
consumption and pollution discharge, is definitely unsustainable. This development model
does not conform to the strategic objective of constructing Shanghai to be an international
economic, financial, trade and shipping center, and also a socialist modern metropolis.
Shanghai shall fully develop a circular economy, reducing material consumption and pollution
discharge, while ensuring economic growth. Only by doing so can Shanghai remaincompetitive in the international market in future.
GENERAL STRATEGY AND MAIN TASKS OF DEVELOPING THE CIRCULARECONOMY IN SHANGHAI CITY

Relevant agencies in Shanghai have reached initial consensus on the general strategy and themain tasks of developing the circular economy. The following are the main points of thestrategy:xReducing energy consumption through the reform of industrial structure, technology andmanagement systems, aiming to determine a fundamental resource saving method.

x

Promoting the construction of closing materials circle systems at levels of small, middle
and large circles.

x

Implementing whole-process management, namely from the input end through processes
to the output end, with a view to achieving the integration of the reduce, reuse and recycle
principle.

x

Forming a cooperation mechanism for the forces of market, society and government topromote the circular economy.

xStrengthening the coordination with neighboring provinces/cities, such as Jiangsu andZhejiang, with a view to building up a regional circular economy regime(Jiang 2005).
Relevant agencies in Shanghai have put forward the following eight key sectors andtasks for developing the circular economy:x

Furtherpromotingindustrial

structuraladjustment,

developing

resourcesand㩷

14. On the Circular Economy Legislation of Shanghai City Guided by the Ideal of a Circular Economy Society 171

㩷environmentally friendly industries;x

Promoting all in society to save energy, controlling the growth of energy consumption;x

Improving the level of land intensive utilization, and reducing land consumption causedby socioeconomic development and urban construction;x

Accelerating the construction of a water saving city through reasonable development andeffective utilization;x

Promoting cleaner production, and reducing the industrial pollution discharge;x

Developing ecological recycled agriculture, and controlling agricultural non-point
pollution;xStrengthening the recovery and reuse of renewable resources, and improving resources
utilization level at the exiting end; andx

Promoting appropriate product packaging, reducing packaging waste(Jiang 2005).
The proposal for the above-mentioned general strategy and main tasks reflect theguidance function of the basic principles of ecology and ecological economics in developing acircular economy in Shanghai. The view of ecology, namely that natural things are mutuallyconnected and co-existent, and the views of ecological economics on the ecological limit ofhuman economic activities, and the human economic system being part of the ecologicalsystem, natural capital and ecological efficiency, are all clearly reflected in the general
strategy and main tasks. The proposal of the general strategy and main tasks not only
highlights the direction and objective of developing a circular economy, but also includes animportant meaning of guidance for the legal system construction of the circular economy. The
legal system construction of the circular economy in Shanghai should follow the general
strategy and center on the main tasks.
LEGISLATION OF THE CIRCULAR ECONOMY IN SHANGHAI GUIDED BY THE
IDEAL OF A CIRCULAR ECONOMY SOCIETY
Current status of the legal system of the circular economy in Shanghai

Shanghai has prioritized the comprehensive utilization of resources, environmental sanitationand environmental protection. In 1985 Shanghai formulated the Interim Rules of Energy
Conservation of Industrial Enterprises in Shanghai (these Interim Rules were abolished after
the issuance and implementation of Regulation on Energy Conservation in Shanghai), in 1987

172 Xi Wang, Yuan Hu1 and Lu Fu㩷㩷
the Administration Methods of Waste Paper Recovery in Shanghai (these Interim
Administration Methods were abolished), and the Interim Administration Methods ofComprehensive Utilization of Coal Ash (these Interim Administration Methods were abolishedafter the issuance and implementation of Administration Rules of Comprehensive Utilizationof Coal Ash).
To date, current local regulations and rules concerned with the circular economy are
as follows: Regulation on Energy Conservation in Shanghai (passed at the 5th meeting of theStanding Committee of the 11th People’s Congress of Shanghai on Sep. 22, 1998, implemented
since Oct. 15, 1998), Administration Rules of the Comprehensive Utilization of Coal Ash in
Shanghai (issued by Decree No. 89 of the Shanghai Municipal Government on Dec. 5, 1994,
revised and reissued by Decree No. 53 of the Shanghai Municipal Government on Dec. 14,
1997), Interim Administrative rules on Disposal Plastic Lunch- Boxes in Shanghai (issued by
Decree No. 84 of the Shanghai Municipal Government on Jun. 14, 2000, implemented sinceOct.1, 2000), Administrative rules of Waste Paper Recovery in Shanghai (approved by the
Shanghai Municipal Government on Nov. 24, 1987, implemented since Dec. 1, 1987), andOpinions on the Implementation of Law on Cleaner Production Promotion in Shanghai(issued by the Decree No. 41 of the Office of the Shanghai Municipal Government in 2003).
In addition, other regulations also include certain stipulations on reducing and recycling waste,such as the Rules on Pollution Prevention and Control of Hazardous Wastes in Shanghai(1985), and the newly issued Plan and Administrative Rules on Domestic Garbage inShanghai (2005) and Administration Rules on Restaurant Garbage Disposal (2005). Recently,
the city has also issued several other related regulations, including Administrative Rules on
Building Energy Conservation (issued by the Shanghai Municipal Government on Jun. 13,
2005) and Provisional Rules on the Subscription and Sales of Green Electricity (transmitted
by the Office of the Shanghai Municipal Government on Jun. 14, 2005).
Relevant agencies in Shanghai are amending Regulations on Energy Conservationin Shanghai, Administratve Rules on Water Saving in Shanghai, and planning to issue
Administrative Rules on Electricity Saving in Shanghai, Administrative Rules on Central
Heating Supply in Shanghai, Administrative Rules on Key Energy Consumption Organizations,and other government rules.
Some local regulations or rules in Shanghai have been well-implemented. Take theInterim Administrative Rules on Disposal Plastic Lunch-Boxes as an example. Through theimplementation of the rules, the once serious ‘white pollution’ has vanished. Moreover, ‘white㩷

14. On the Circular Economy Legislation of Shanghai City Guided by the Ideal of a Circular Economy Society 173㩷pollution’ has been transformed to “white resources” through recycling disposed plastic
lunch-boxes. A complete industrial chain of disposed plastic boxes has been formed in
Shanghai, from production and disposal to recovery, which has achieved positive economic
benefits (Jiefang Daily 2005). It is an excellent demonstration that legislation plays animportant role in promoting the circular economy.
Through the implementation of national laws and regulations concerning the circular
economy, and the formulation and implementation of local regulations and rules, Shanghai has
acquired rich experience in the legal system construction of the circular economy. This
experience will be very beneficial in strenghening the legal system of the same.
Although Shanghai has done a lot of work in the legal system construction of
circular economy, and made some progress, no basic framework has yet been formed, due tothe rather incomplete legal regime of the circular economy nationwide, and the resulting
inability to provide a solid legal basis for developing the circular economy in Shanghai. As far
as the local circular economy legislation is concerned, although relatively good compared tothat of other provinces and cities, it remains inadequate to meet the needs of developing thecircular economy in Shanghai. Moreover, Shanghai plans to become an international
metropolis, despite its lack of resources; hence the urgent need to promote economically,
environmentally and socially harmonious development through reinforcement of the legal
system within the circular economy.
General strategy for circular economy legislation in Shanghai

Based on the above-mentioned review and study of the concept and theory basis of thecircular economy, the necessity, initial general strategy, and main tasks involved in the circular
economy development, and the historical experience of the legal system of the same, thegeneral strategy for circular economy legislation in Shanghai can be summarized as follows:“Learning and absorbing experiences concerning the legal system for the circular
economy from other cities and countries, complying with national laws and regulations,following the laws of ecology and ecological economics and the general strategy of circular
economy development, targeting three legal subjects - enterprises (including enterprisechains or industrial parks), the general public and government, focusing on key areas suchas saving energy, water, land, raw materials and reusing waste, sorting, formulating andamending regulations, rules and standards concerning the circular economy, and providing

174 Xi Wang, Yuan Hu1 and Lu Fu㩷㩷
improved legal rules and order for developing the circular economy in Shanghai”
The general strategy includes eight elements:x

Learning and absorbing. To carry out circular economy legislative work in Shanghai, it isnecessary to learn and absorb the relevant legislative practice from other cities andcountries.

x

Complying with national laws and regulations. Circular economy legislation in Shanghai
must be conducted within the framework of national laws and regulations.

x

Following scientific principles. Circular economy legislation in Shanghai should follow
the basic principles and laws of ecology and ecological economics.

x

Conforming to the general strategy of circular economy development in Shanghai.
Circular economy legislation in Shanghai should follow the general strategy of circular
economy development in Shanghai, analyzing the specific conditions of Shanghai andserving to achieve the main tasks of the circular economy development of the city.

x

Setting clear legislation targets. Circular economy legislation in Shanghai should target
three groups, enterprises (including enterprise chains or industrial parls), the generalpublic and government, stipulating rights and duties for enterprises and the general public
undertaking circular economy activities, and powers and responsibilities for government
agencies. Therefore, legislators should conduct research into the status, roles and needs ofthe three targets in the circular economy career, thus enabling them to conduct legislative
work with a well-defined objective in mind.

x

Determining key areas. According to the initially formed general strategy and main tasksof circular economy development in Shanghai, saving energy, water, land and raw
materials, and reusing waste should represent the key content of current circular economy
legislation.

x

Setting clear and specific tasks. The specific tasks of circular economy legislation in
Shanghai comprise sorting, amending and formulating regulations, rules and standards
concerning the circular economy in Shanghai, including sorting and amending current
regulations, and formulating new regulations. The work should be systematic, carryingout an all-round study of current laws, regulations, rules and standards, with a view toforming a general understanding of the legislation system of the circular economy inShanghai.

x

Defining clear objectives. The objective of circular economy legislation is to provide
improved legal rules and order for the development of the circular economy in Shanghai,㩷

14. On the Circular Economy Legislation of Shanghai City Guided by the Ideal of a Circular Economy Society 175

㩷and smooth the orderly and effective circular economy work of all walks of life.
Legislative model of circular economy in Shanghai

Legislation should derive from reality. The foremost question of legislation is to know thenature of the key issues and requirements reality raises(Wang Xu 2005). The choice oflegislative model of the circular economy in Shanghai should be made based on reality, withclear knowledge of the key issues and requirements needed for the circular economy
development.
Legislative work should take into account costs. Legislation cost includes theconsumption of human labor, finance, time and other resources during the law formulation
process. In addition, the costs of implementation should be considered. Legislation should also
consider whether regulations will be operational or not, and their implementation effect as
well.
Based on the above-mentioned considerations, the authors think that the legislative
regime of the circular economy in Shanghai may choose the model of “resolution of theStanding Committee of Municipal People’s Congress plus specialized regulations, rules andstandards”.
As discussed above, relevant agencies in Shanghai have done considerable workover the past decades with respect to legal system construction of circular economy. Although
the work was not titled “circular economy”, it was aimed at developing the same. Shanghai
has formulated a series of local regulations or agency rules regarding saving energy, coal ash,waste paper, disposal plastic lunch-boxes, cleaner production, domestic garbage, restaurant
garbage, moon cake packaging, building energy saving, and green electricity. These
regulations and rules have been very effective,. Currently, Shanghai is, on the one hand,actively formulating new regulations and rules relating to the circular economy; and on theother, amending current regulations and rules. In the meantime, relevant agencies have agreed
upon an initial general plan of circular economy development. Research into the current statusof circular economy development that we conducted shows that drawing up a comprehensive
Regulation on the Circular Economy in Shanghai is not an urgent task. Therefore, drawing up
a comprehensive local regulation on the circular economy is not a key requirement raised by
the circular economy practice to legislative work. In addition, with the legislation cost andoperational and implementation effect of comprehensive regulation taken into consideration,
to prioritize the formulation of a comprehensive local regulation on circular economy seems

176 Xi Wang, Yuan Hu1 and Lu Fu㩷㩷
unnecessary.
However, a comprehensive local regulation has two essential functions, namely
declaring policy and leading the regime as a whole, which cannot be replaced by specialized
regulations and rules. To promote the circular economy, it is necessary for the legislative bodyto declare, by certain legal means, the policies and general requirements of circular economy
development. This type of function could be achieved by the Standing Committee ofMunicipal People’s Congress through the issuance of a Resolution on Promoting the Circular
Economy. The Resolution may declare the general objectives, general strategy and main tasksof circular economy development in Shanghai, and the status and roles of enterprises, generalpublic and government in developing the circular economy, illustrate to the general public theimportance of developing the circular economy, and mobilizing the general public to care,
support and undertake work in the circular economy. In the meantime, the Resolution may, tosome extent, function as comprehensive regulation in leading and integrating the current
regulations, rules and standards concerning the circular economy. A legal system of thecircular economy would be formed, headed by the resolution of the Standing Committee ofPeople’s Congress, and other specialized regulations, rules and standards. Compared to
drawing up a comprehensive regulation, the legislation cost of the resolution by the Standing
Committee of People’s Congress is much less, while its legislation effect remains more or lessthe same. Therefore, it is a reasonable choice.
Keys of circular economy legislation in Shanghai

What are the key requirements that the reality raises for circular economy legislation in
Shanghai? Research we conducted shows the urgent need to develop the circular economy inShanghai also requires the further formulation and improvement of specialized regulations,rules and standards with respects to saving energy, water, land, raw materials and reusing
waste, safeguarding and promoting vastly improved effects of circular economy activities invarious industries and sectors.
Based on the above discussion, the following key areas of current circular economy
legislation in Shanghai were put forward for reference by the relevant agencies:
Studying and drawing up a circular economy legislation plan

The main work of the circular economy legislation plan is to identify the objectives, key areas㩷

14. On the Circular Economy Legislation of Shanghai City Guided by the Ideal of a Circular Economy Society 177

㩷and implementation scheme of circular economy legislative work in Shanghai.
The objective of circular economy legislation in Shanghai is to formulate or amend
regulations, rules and standards concerning the saving of energy, land, water, raw materials
and reuse of waste. This is determined by the specific conditions of Shanghai. Shanghai has ahuge economic scale, fast development, large population, limited land, high resource
consumption and inadequate supply of its own resources. Therefore, saving energy, land,
water, raw materials, and reusing waste to develop the circular economy has far-reachingsignificance.
The implementation scheme of circular economy legislation work in Shanghai canbe summarized as follows: realizing the current status of regulations, rules and standards
concerning the circular economy in Shanghai, proposing a list of regulations, rules andstandards that need to be formulated, amended or adjusted (including mergers, abolishments
and others), and in light of the legislative model of “resolution of the Standing Committee ofMunicipal People’s Congress plus specialized regulations, rules and standards”, organizing
and combining related legal instruments as a connected system according to their nature, level
and involved industries, sectors or sections, and drawing up specific legislation plans(formulating, amending or abolishing) for each legal instrument.
Setting energy, land, water, raw materialssaving, and reuse of waste as the key areas:
formulating or amending related regulations, rules and standards

Based on the analysis of the initially formed general strategy and main tasks of circular
economy development in Shanghai, the key areas of current circular economy development
include saving energy, land, water, raw materials, and reusing waste. Therefore, theformulation and amendment of specialized regulations, rules and standards should focus on
these items. The Standing Committee of the Municipal People’s Congress could organize staff
to conduct an overall review of regulations, rules and standards related to saving energy, land,
water, raw materials and reusing waste. Moreover, considering legislation needs, costs and theoperational and implementation effects of regulations, the Standing Committee of theMunicipal People’s Congress could propose a list of regulations, rules and standards that need
to be formulated or amended, and carry out the legislation work step by step.

178 Xi Wang, Yuan Hu1 and Lu Fu㩷㩷
Drafting and formulating the Resolution of the Standing Committee of Municipal People’s
Congress on the Promotion of the Circular Economy

As discussed above, a Resolution on the Promotion of the Circular Economy formulated by
Municipal People’s Congress is necessary. It would, at a relatively low legislative cost,function as a comprehensive regulation in leading other regulations, rules and standards within
the legal system of the circular economy. Because of its leading role, the proposal of maincontent of the Resolution must build on a systematic and all-round review and study of thecurrent regulations, rules and standards concerning the circular economy, so that the
Resolution may provide a macro and strong guidance policy declaration to develop thecircular economy, and direct the general public to work together to build up a circular
economy society in Shanghai.

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㩷㩷

15. Towards Sustainable Rural Development: Combining
Biodiversity Conservation with Poverty Alleviation - a Case
Study in Phu My Village, Kien Giang Province, Vietnam
Tran Triet1 and Richard Caines2
1

International Crane Foundation, Southeast Asia Program, andUniversity of Natural Sciences, Vietnam National University - Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
2International Finance Corporation, Washington DC, USA

ABSTRACTIn many developing countries, there is a prevailing conflict between biodiversity conservation and theneed for poverty alleviation. One possible solution for solving that conflict is to find ways that help poor
people directly benefit from nature conservation activities. That approach has been tested in a wetland
conservation project in Phu My village, Kien Luong District, Kien Giang Province. The 2,000-hectareseasonally inundated grassland, dominated by the sedge Lepironia articulata (Cyperaceae); in Phu My
Village is the last of its kind remaining in the Mekong Delta. In January 2004 a new model of protectedarea was established in Phu My Village. It is an "open" protected area where the local Khmer ethnic
minority people are still allowed to harvest Lepironia as they have been doing for centuries. The projectprovides local people with skills training and production equipment, allowing them to make finehandicrafts from the Lepironia they harvest. The project also helps market handicraft products to more
profitable export markets. After two years of operation, the daily income of those who participated was
an average of twice that before the project. The unique remnant wetland is protected, and would
otherwise have been turned into a rice cultivation area according to the previous land use planning ofKien Giang Province.
Keywords: Lepironia, Sustainable rural development, Poverty alleviation, Kien Giang

182 Tran Triet and Richard Caines㩷㩷
INTRODUCTION
Located in the southwest corner of the Mekong Delta, the Ha Tien Plain is a geologicalanomaly – a shallow basin on which sheet floodwaters pool for a longer duration each year,
creating its characteristic acid-prone, inundated grasslands. These grasslands are diminishingrapidly, along with other plant communities: saltwater mangroves, coastal lagoons, freshwater
grassland and limestone karst vegetation (Triet et al. 2000).
Classified in its natural state as 'unproductive', the Ha Tien Plain has been the testing
ground for several episodes of failed economic development, including forestry (22,000
hectares of abandoned Eucalyptus plantation), rice (extremely low yield) and the ongoingboom in shrimp aquaculture (highly acidic water requiring constant neutralization) (Triet2004). These activities are failing to alleviate long term poverty in the region while
simultaneously destroying the ‘natural capital’, which could power a sustainable economic
engine for the region.
Far from being unproductive, the Ha Tien grasslands support a rich biodiversity. Yet
the value assigned to that biodiversity has been low – due to Vietnam’s legitimate concerns toensure its own food security and raise its citizens out of poverty. The centrally planned
economy rewards provinces on attaining production targets for rice and other staples and indoing so, provides no incentive to include conservation within its land use mix. The natural
capital of the Plain is therefore being heavily exploited, but without bringing significant
economic gain to the local population.
The problem facing the Ha Tien Plain is a near universal one in the developingworld – the perceived conflict between development and conservation. Some new models ofsustainable economic development need to be implemented to break this downward spiral.
Located within the Ha Tien Plain, the 2000-ha wetland of Phu My Village, Kien
Luong District, Kien Giang Province supports the last extensive remnant of Lepironia
grassland ecosystem (named after the dominant sedge species Lepironia articulata Cyperaceae) of the Mekong river delta (Fig. 15.1). The Phu My wetland is not only importantfor biodiversity conservation, but it also provides an economic base to the Khmer ethnic
minority, who harvest Lepironia for the production of woven goods.
Established in November 2004, the "Phu My Lepironia grassland conservation andsustainable use" project (hereafter referred to as the Phu My project) seeks to protect thisimportant wetland by implementing an innovative model that combines nature conservation

㩷

15. Towards Sustainable Rural Development: Combining Biodiversity Conservation with Poverty Alleviation - a Case Study in Phu My Village, Kien Giang Province, Vietnam 183

㩷with improving the daily income of local people whose livelihood depends upon harvesting
natural resources from the wetland. The project began by successfully convincing the Kien
Giang province authority to grant protection status for the Phu My wetland. Unlike manyother "traditional" protected areas, in Phu My the access of local people to natural resources
still continues but is being organized in a more sustainable way.
SITUATION BEFORE THE INITIATIVE BEGAN

The Khmer ethnic minority people, the main ethnic group of Phu My's inhabitants, have long
been harvesting Lepironia, but only for making simple household products. The products
made are of low value – a mat taking two days to make, for example, will be sold for
10,000VND (approximately $0.70). Due to this low profit margin, the Lepironia is being
harvested in an unsustainable manner as households produce a higher volume of goods tosustain themselves.
The provincial government wanted to convert the whole area into a rice farmingarea. Acid soils and the lack of freshwater supply, however, made the land unsuitable for ricecultivation. A feasibility study prepared by scientists from Can Tho and Ho Chi Minh City
National University showed that the natural Lepironia wetland landscape was deeply valued
by local Khmer ethnic minority people, who have lived in the area for hundreds of years (Triet2004). Maintaining the area in its natural state is therefore both ecologically sound andculturally just.

Figure 15.1 The project site: Phu My Village,
Kien Luong District, Kien Giang Province184 Tran Triet and Richard Caines㩷㩷
OBECTIVES AND STRATEGIESThe priority of the project is to preserve the unique, biodiversity-rich wetland remaining in
Phu My Village. The main goal is to ensure that the use of natural capital does benefit local
people by maximizing the income they receive from the sustainable use of wetland resources.
The project seeks to:x

protect the Phu My wetland;x

promote the sustainable use of Lepironia;x

increase the income of local people; andxpromote the community-based management of natural resources.
These objectives were formulated as a result of a feasibility study, in which a social

survey was conducted to document the local community's opinions, perceptions and valuation
regarding wetland resources and values and how to best manage the area (Triet 2004). The
management strategy is to create an "open" protected area where access to wetland resources
continues but is organized in a sustainable manner.
In developing this alternative, the intention is to demonstrate to other residents ofthe Ha Tien Plain – and the government officials who administrate them – the validity of theapproach and encourage them to adopt similar techniques. A wholesale switch from rice or
shrimp is implausible – but it may help to conserve the last remaining fragments of grassland.
PROCESSThe project won a US$102,000 award from the World Bank's Development Marketplace
award competition in 2003 and received co-funding of US$100,000 from the International
Finance Corporation. Kien Giang Province's Department of Science and Technology
contributed $20,000, while the project also received in-kind support in the form of expert
consultation from Ho Chi Minh City National University and Can Tho University. The projectis managed by the Vietnam Program of the International Crane Foundation and is working
under the supervision of a steering committee, consisting of representatives fromgovernmental agencies and community organizations of Kien Giang Province and Phu My
Village.
Since the establishment of the project, local people are still allowed to harvest
Lepironia inside the protected area. The project provided local villagers with skill training so㩷

15. Towards Sustainable Rural Development: Combining Biodiversity Conservation with Poverty Alleviation - a Case Study in Phu My Village, Kien Giang Province, Vietnam 185

㩷that they can make fine handicraft products, and help with marketing so that villagers can sell
their products to more profitable markets. Besides providing a better return for their labor,
new fine handicraft products do not consume as much raw materials as traditional handicrafts
and thus reduce the pressure of resource harvesting.
The project seeks to redirect the Lepironia products toward higher value markets –such as the burgeoning tourist markets in Ho Chi Minh City, where a handbag typically sells
for $3.00 or more. Selling into such markets significantly increased household incomes,
despite the additional transportation costs.
Land encroachment has been a serious problem. By cooperating closely with local
community and authorities land encroachment was prevented to some extent. Illegally
occupied lands were spotted early by local people and reported to village authorities who thenenforced the return of occupied lands to the project.
Over-exploitation of Lepironia is another important issue. Before the project was
introduced, there was free access to the area for Lepironia harvesting, meaning that people
from outside the area often applied indiscriminating harvesting techniques. They cut all
Lepironia plants, both long and short and took only the former. Local villagers harvest not by
cutting but by pulling up the plants and only select those long enough for weaving. This
traditional method is more laborious but does not deplete the grassland as quickly as the “cut”
method. A new regulation was issued by Phu My commune to ban the “cut” method and tolimit access only for villagers of the project area. Illegal exploitation was reduced but noteliminated. To solve this problem requires considerable time and patience as well as goodpeople skills from the project management.
The project regularly carries out monitoring and eradication of invasive alien
species in and around the protected area. Mimosa pigra – a highly invasive weed, which has
started to infiltrate the wetlands of the project area, is the primary focus of the eradication
effort. With assistance from village's Buddhist pagodas, environmental education activities
were conducted to raise awareness within the local community about the conservation
importance of the project area.
Buddhist belief is an important cultural aspect of the Khmer community living in
Phu My Village. The project's goals, objectives and activities were developed in close
consultation with the supreme monks of the village. The project has also been receiving
effective support from the village's pagodas in communicating with the community.
There is a unique cooperation among the local community, Buddhist pagodas,

186 Tran Triet and Richard Caines㩷㩷governmental authorities (village and provincial levels), international NGOs and development
agencies, academic institutions and private companies in the implementation of this project.
RESULTS ACHIEVED

The project established a wetland protected area of 2,890 ha in Phu My commune, Kien
Luong District, Kien Giang Province, Vietnam, conserving the last remnant of Lepironia
grassland in the Mekong Delta.
After one year of operation, the project now involves 200 of 350 families living in
the project area. An average mat-making labor can earn a net income of 20,000 VND a day,while handbag-making labor can earn 30,000 VND a day. The average income of people
making Lepironia products before the project was about 8,000 to 10,000 VND a day.
After the project was established, human disturbances and encroachment in the newprotected area were reduced, leading to an improvement of the biodiversity value of the area.
The annual Sarus crane count, carried out by the International Crane Foundation in 2005,
recorded 45 cranes in the project area - a significantly higher number of cranes visiting thearea as compared to the year before; the number of cranes recorded in Phu My during the2006 annual census was 41 (Triet and Barzen 2005; Triet et al. 2006). The project area wasalso included in the Kien Giang Biosphere Reserve; being nominated to UNESCO by theGovernment of Vietnam.
By working with district and provincial authorities, and having strong support fromthe local community, the project successfully prevented the digging of a canal, proposed by ashrimp farming company located nearby, which would have cut through the project area andpotentially had a considerably adverse impact on the wetland and its wildlife.
At a provincial level, the project implementation resulted in a change in provincial
economic development planning, leading to the establishment of a protected area on land that
had been planned for agricultural development. At district and village levels, a new regulation
was issued to promote the sustainable harvesting of wetland resources of the project area.
On a broader level, the Phu My project demonstrates the benefits of multi-use land
management. Land reform is a recent phenomenon in Vietnam and as such, there are manycases where conflicts exist. This is particularly so in less industrialized provinces like Kien
Giang, where the pressures to stimulate economic growth and provide land tenure are moreacute. Officials are caught in the middle - they understand these pressures, but often have㩷

15. Towards Sustainable Rural Development: Combining Biodiversity Conservation with Poverty Alleviation - a Case Study in Phu My Village, Kien Giang Province, Vietnam 187

㩷inadequate data available on which to base land use planning decisions. The Ha Tien Plain is acase in point – it has suffered due to the assignment of blanket land use designations, rather
than land use based on an assessment of its natural capital. The resulting monocultures havedestroyed 98% of the Plain’s natural habitat and made the population over-reliant on single
agricultural commodities – which have routinely failed to provide adequate economic returns
to the majority. A much more ‘balanced portfolio’ is required - a multi-use model based onsustainable management principles. The Phu My project is a first step towards such a
portfolio.
SUSTAINABILITY
Financial

Even though the project operation is not for profit, the production of handicrafts can still bringa certain amount of income for project management. The goal is to for the project to befinancially self-sustaining. Yet to be completed, however, is the development of a businessplan that will help guide the long term economic aspects of the project.
Social and economic

Weaving products from Lepironia is a traditional livelihood activity of the Khmer community
living in Phu My. Maintaining the wetland in its natural state and continuing Lepironia
handicraft production are, therefore, socially acceptable. Economically, this resource
management option is also superior to transforming the wetland into a shrimp farming area
because the local people lack knowledge of shrimp farming or sufficient capital investment.
Nonetheless, shrimp farming in the Mekong Delta is a very risky business.
Cultural

The Leprironia wetland has been part of the natural landscape of the area for centuries,
something which is deeply appreciated by local people.

188 Tran Triet and Richard Caines㩷㩷Environmental
Given the characteristics of the wetland environment in Phu My, which is unsuitable for riceor shrimp cultivation, maintaining the Phu My wetland in its natural condition is anenvironmentally-viable option. The exploitation of natural resources (Lepironia sedge) is
organized in a more sustainable way: indiscriminate harvest techniques were banned; thevolume of harvested raw material was reduced; wetland habitats have been well protected andmajor disturbances prevented.
Institutional

By approving the implementation of the project, the Kien Giang authority formally recognized
the Phu My wetland as a protected area. This remarkable change in provincial policy has seen
the entire area enlisted for agricultural expansion. The project is supervised by a steeringcommittee, consisting of representatives of project partners, including provincial and district
agencies, local community, donors and academic institutions.
The project has good potential to be replicated elsewhere, especially in the Mekong
delta region, both in Vietnam and Cambodia. In fact, the project ideas and activities have been
applied in the areas surrounding Phu My village, which share similar environmental, culturaland ethnic characteristics. The project received requests from many people living outside theproject boundary and has provided skills training for more than 200 people from three nearby
villages. Many of them are now beginning to make handicraft products to be sold by the
project. Increasing the production of Lepironia products has lead to the protection offragments of Lepironia wetlands in the surrounding area and therefore reduced the
exploitation pressure on the core zone of the project site. The boundary of the project is muchwider than that administratively designated.
LESSONS LEARNEDThe role and capacity of local villagers in managing their own resources from the wetland
have been improved along with the implementation of the project. The family income of local
villagers participating in the project has increased and people are more appreciative of thevalue of the wetland and have a better sense of ownership of the area. This is perhaps the most㩷

15. Towards Sustainable Rural Development: Combining Biodiversity Conservation with Poverty Alleviation - a Case Study in Phu My Village, Kien Giang Province, Vietnam 189

㩷important reason for the project to exist in the area.
Cooperation among many different stakeholders is important for projects thatinvolve community development and nature conservation. Within that cooperation, local
knowledge and expertise has been truly respected and mobilized.
The experience from Phu My has shown that it takes time to develop projects thatinvolve nature conservation and community development, projects that require changes ingovernmental policies and regulations and in the way people manage the natural resource base.
The time necessary to make those changes is often longer than the one/two-year lifetime of
typical projects receiving outside funding. It is important to build a strong support baseinvolving many different partners, both from within and outside the project area or region.
CONCLUSION

The Phu My project has addressed three principal problems: (1) the perceived conflict
between development and conservation, (2) the low value assigned to the biodiversity inquestion and (3) government incentives to convert the land to other uses. A fourth problem
can be added – a lack of creativity in the responses to these problems, particularly in relation
to the role the private sector can play. The project supplied that creativity by encouraging arural Khmer population to benefit from the "reform" policy of the government, which
encourages private commerce, and in doing so; demonstrate the economic case formaintaining a high value ecosystem in its present state. Assigning an economic value to an
ecosystem like Phu My is among the first of its kind in Vietnam.
REFERENCES
Triet T, Safford J, Duy Phat T, Van Ni D, Maltby E (2000) Wetland biodiversity overlooked andthreatened in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam: grassland ecosystems in the Ha Tien Plain. Tropical
Biodiversity 7(1): 1-24
Triet T (ed) (2001) Proceedings of the workshop on conservation and utilization of biodiversity
resources of the Ha Tien – Kien Luong wetlands (in Vietnamese with English summary). Rach Gia
17–19 June 2001. College of Natural Sciences, Vietnam National University – Ho Chi Minh City
Triet T (ed) (2004) Sustainable management of Phu My Lepironia grassland project. Phu My Commune,
Kien Luong District, Kien Giang Province, Vietnam. International Crane Foundation and Universityof Natural Sciences, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

190 Tran Triet and Richard Caines㩷㩷
Triet T Baren J (2005) Annual Sarus crane census in Cambodia and Vietnam 2005. International Crane
Foundation, Baraboo, Wisconsin, U.S.A. (unpublished report)
Triet T, Phuc Bao Hoa N, Walton J. (2006) Annual Sarus crane census in Cambodia and Vietnam 2006.
International Crane Foundation, Baraboo, Wisconsin, U.S.A. (unpublished report)Indexbiological productivity

concept

24

conservation

115

eco-order cultivating

28

definition112

functional coupling

28

interactive regulation29

social learning

29

structural coupling27

ecosystem exhaustion23

biomass
characteristics
conversion technologies

102104, 105

energy potential

103

sustainable production

117
environmental degradation in Korea

circular economy

during industrialization

139
142

concept

164

future domestic environmental risks

driving forces37

future risks from Northeast Asian regionin Zhejiang, China

36

legislation in Shanghai

144172, 173, 176
environmental policies

status in Shanghai, China

168

strategy in Shanghai

170

in Japan5

theory basis

166

in Yuhan-Kimberly

60

traditional approaches in Korea

136

circulation of wastes in Asia
environmental problems of China

advantages

68

examples69

air pollution

156

modeling and evaluation

71

inshore sea water pollution

157

problems

67

water pollution

155

scenarios

72, 73

types

environmental resources

66

corporate green management9

eco-towns in Japan7

91

features90

green product design

ecological industry
adaptive planningcategories in Japan

29
191

8

industrial ecology

reduce, reuse, recycle (3R)

advantages and constrains in Vietnam

programs in Japan

49-51
Burnside, Canada

48

concept24

13

and rethinking, reform and renovation
policies in China

26

Dafeng, an example in China

30, 31

different terms

42-44

Fairfield, USA

47

in practice

45

city

131

Kalundborg, Denmark46

national and regional130

Map Ta Phut, Thailand

49

RISS initiative
scales of material cycles

SENCE
institutional fragmentation

15

22, 2323
sustainable rural development in

integrated water resource management in

Phu My village, Vietnam

Vietnamachievements

186

features91

objectives and strategies

184

major policies

93

situation before the initiative

183

integrative management of industrial
ecosystems

sustainable society
25

pricing urban water in Ho Chi Minh City
legal basis

96

problems

97

supply and demand95

problems in Japanese agriculture

geographic concentration

38

policy recommendations in Korea

146

through sustainable cities

126

urban metabolism

recycling clusters
36

125

through 3R for resource conservation 128

81

in Zhejian

objectives

192

12