2008 Japan G8 Summit NGO Forum Report1Preface
Chair: Masako Hoshino

This document reports the activities of the 2008 Japan G8 Summit NGO Forum. We would like to send thisreport to the member organizations of the forum as well as other organizations and individuals who kindly
provided us with a great deal of support. We would also like to express our deep appreciation for their support.
It has been a long time since the word “advocacy” was introduced to Japanese society from outside Japan, but
the concept does not seem to have spread fully to Japanese society. The importance of NGO activities indevelopment cooperation programs on the ground is increasingly becoming recognized. However, most people
perhaps still have doubts about whether advocacy by NGOs is necessary.
Since the 1970s, when the Japanese economy rapidly grew, various negative impacts on growth in Japan andelsewhere have been revealed. It was also recognized that there was a risk of national aid programs in developing
countries prioritizing the development of large-scale industry and undermining the lives of the silent majority forthe benefit of a limited group of people. Many NGOs were formed in Japan to tackle these problems.
NGOs started by working on emergency relief, then rehabilitation, and then expanded into development
cooperation. In this process, an increasing number of organizations started realizing the importance of“advocacy” from the 1990s onwards in addition to the activities on the ground. Advocacy activities raise theawareness of the general public about the problems of social and material conditions that economically andsocially disadvantaged people face, in order to push governments to include these issues in their political agendas.
In my case, an experience at an NGO meeting in Manila in the late 1980s removed the scales from my eyes. In
the meeting, I was told that there was no need for Japanese development NGOs to come to the Philippines. They
also said that it would be much more helpful to conduct advocacy activities in order to ban Japanese activities
which cause harm to the general public in the Philippines, such as the giving of Official Development Assistance(ODA) to the Filipino dictator and the exaggerated advertising on Japanese products. Many development NGOs
launched advocacy activities based on what they learned in the field. In addition, various NGOs specializing in
advocacy activities were created from the late 1990s onwards.
In the autumn of 2006, interested Japanese NGOs gathered to discuss the possibility of putting forward joint
requests and proposals on global issues to G8 governments at the Japan-hosted 2008 G8 Summit. Their idea wasto create joint proposals through cooperation with civil societies around the world, on issues including poverty,
development, the environment, peace and human rights. At the end of January 2007, the interested NGOs
launched the “2008 Japan G8 Summit NGO Forum.” This was the first occasion where Japanese NGOs fromvarious subject areas stood together with one purpose.
In the past, many people considered that the Japanese NGOs were of very low quality when compared to NGOs2

in other developed countries. After trial and error, we gathered with the belief that the time was ripe. This report
is a record and a review of the activities which the 140 NGOs devoted one and half years of their time. On theoccasion of establishing the NGO Forum, our wish was to make 2008 the year when Japanese NGO advocacy
activities start. I would like to leave the judgment on whether we made this wish come true, to those who readthis report.

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Summary of the Activities ofthe 2008 Japan G8 Summit NGO Forum2008 Japan G8 Summit NGO Forum Secretariat■ Outline of the 2008 Japan G8 Summit NGO ForumThe 2008 Japan G8 Summit NGO Forum (hereinafter called the “NGO Forum”) is a network of NGOs which
was organized to jointly conduct advocacy activities in the run up to and during the G8 Hokkaido Toyako
Summit.
The final number of NGOs which participated in the NGO Forum was 141 organizations from the field ofpoverty and development, the field of the environment and the field of peace and human rights. Three units
were formed to work on these fields. This is the first time that Japanese NGOs have formed aninterdisciplinary forum and worked together on advocacy activities.
The table below shows main events conducted by the NGO Forum.
Date

Events2007

January 31

Inauguration ceremony of the NGO Forum, the launch of the First Period activities

February 10

Commemorative symposium for the establishment of the NGO Forum

June 30

Briefing session on the G8 Summit held in Germany

September 18

General assembly for the Second Period, the launch of the Second Period activities

October 14

Release of the Position Paper at the international symposium
2008

February 19

Meeting with the MOFA

April 15

The launch of the Tanzaku Action - One Million Wishes

April 23, 24

Civil G8 Dialogue

June 18

Dialogue with Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda

July 6 - 8

People’s Summit 2008 (co-organized with the Hokkaido People’s Forum on the G8
Summit)July 29

Briefing session on the G8 Hokkaido Toyako Summit

November 14

Dissolution general assembly

December 31

Dissolution4■Organizational Structure

The NGO Forum is comprised of the Organizer Committee, three units (the Environment Unit, the Poverty andDevelopment Unit and the Peace and Human Rights Unit) and the cross-unit Project Teams for campaigns, theCivil G8 Project, etc. The Organizer Committee is made up of a Chair, two Vice Chairs, three Unit Leaders andthe Project Leaders. The Committee decides the overall direction of the NGO Forum. On the other hand, theoperation methods of the Units were left to each Unit. The Leader and the Secretariat that each Unit decided onwere responsible for the basic operation of the Unit. Each Unit employed a different operation method, such asappointing steering committee members and setting up working groups. Project Teams are cross-unit voluntarygroups which were established to conduct campaigns and events that the NGO Forum is involved in. These
teams include the Campaign Team which works on campaigns, the Civil G8 Project which is responsible fororganizing the Civil G8 and the Alternative Summit Project which engaged in the People’s Summit held in
Sapporo. The Japan NGO Center for International Cooperation (JANIC) served as the Secretariat of the NGO
Forum as well as the Secretariat of the Poverty and Development Unit. The Environmental Partnership Council
served as the Secretariat of the Environment Unit and the Peace Boat served as the Secretariat of the Peace andHuman Rights Unit.
There are two types of NGOs which participated in the NGO Forum: the Steering Committee NGOs whichhave voting rights in general assemblies; and the Supporting NGOs which do not have voting rights. The final
number of the member organizations is 141 organizations, including 60 Steering Committee Member NGOs
and 81 Supporting Member NGOs.
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Officers and Secretariats (July 2008)
Chair

MasakoJapan International Volunteer Center (JVC)

HoshinoYurikaVice Chairs

Kiko Network

Ayukawa
MasaakiJapan NGO Center for International Cooperation

Ohashi(JANIC)

Environment Unit Leader

Mika

the

(Person responsible for the Civil

Obayashi

Policies(ISEP)

Sumie Ishii

JOICFP

Peace and Human Rights Unit

Akira

Peace Boat

LeaderKawasakiCampaign Team Leader

Yuka

InstituteforSustainable

EnergyG8 Dialogue)
Poverty and Development Unit
Leader

ACE (Action against Child Exploitation)

Iwatsuki
Secretariat of the NGO Forum

Japan NGO Center for International Cooperation

Secretariat of the Poverty and(JANIC)

Development Unit
Secretariat of the Environment

The Environmental Partnership Council (EPC)

Unit
Secretariat of the Peace andPeace Boat

Human Rights Unit

■ Highlights of the NGO Forum’s Activities
Establishment of the NGO Forum
Preparations for the establishment of the NGO Forum started in autumn 2006. Development NGOs,
environmental NGOs and others started preparatory meetings with the aim of creating a platform formaking proposals for the G8 Summit. They discussed the prospectus and the organizational structure of
the NGO Forum in the series of meetings. Following several
meetings, the inauguration ceremony was convened on January
31, 2007 where 34 Steering Committee Member NGOs and 11
Supporting Member NGOs participated. The NGO Forum wasformally founded at this ceremony with the approval of the“Goals and Principles” and the “Rules of Operation.” There were
68 NGOs which participated in the NGO Forum at the time offoundation.
The inauguration ceremony
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The commemorative symposium for the establishment of the NGO Forum was held in the Tokyo
Women’s Plaza on February 10, 2007 and the role of civil society in the run up to the G8 Summit was
discussed. Government officials also participated in the discussion.
Participation in the Events during the G8 Summit in Germany and the Briefing Session on theSummitIn June 2007, the NGO Forum dispatched about 20 members including the Organizer Committee
members to the G8 Summit which was held in Heiligendamm, Germany. In Heiligendamm, the members
conducted media work in and outside the Media Center, as well as participating in various events within
the Alternative Summit held in Rostock which is a town near the Summit venue. They also had a meetingwith German NGOs and exchanged ideas about activities for the 2008 G8 Summit.
Following participation in the events during the G8 Summit in Germany, the NGO Forum held a briefing
session on June 30 in order to discuss the achievements and problems at the Heiligendamm G8 Summit aswell as discussing the actions which need to be taken by Japanese NGOs in the run up to the Toyako
Summit in 2008. Government officials and German NGO members were invited to the briefing session
and they exchanged opinions with the NGO Forum
members.
The NGO Forum organized a buffet party on June
28 (prior to the briefing session) with the aim of
exchanging ideas between the NGO Forum
members and people from other sectors. The NGO
Forum members exchanged ideas with lawmakers,
the Japanese G8 Sherpa, staff of foundations andambassadors from various countries.
The Chariperson, Hoshino,at the Alternative Summit in Rostock

Creation of the Position Paper
Each Unit of the NGO Forum created a Position Paper (the document which states our policy proposals), basedon which we had dialogues with the G8 Sherpas, officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministryof the Environment. The following themes were included in the Position Paper: “Climate Change,”“Biodiversity Issue” and “3R Initiative Issue” in the Environment Unit Position Paper; “Official Development
Assistance (ODA),” “Trade and Investment,” “Innovative Financing Mechanisms,” “Global Health,” “Basic
Education and Child Labor,” “Gender Equality and Empowerment of Women” and “Climate Change andPoverty” in the Poverty and Development Unit Position Paper; and “Peace Recommendations,” “Human
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Rights Recommendations,” “Africa Recommendations” and “Proposals Regarding Cross-Cutting Issues” in thePeace and Human Rights Unit Position Paper. The Position Paper was not modified, but the Forum produced
various statements and press releases based on the positions stated in the Position Paper.
The Position Paper was released at the Symposium “What Japanese Civil Society can Do toward 2008 G8
Summit in Japan” on October 14. Guests from Asia and Africa were invited and the Position Paper was further
discussed at the symposium.

NGO and Government Dialogue Meeting
The NGO and Government Dialogue Meeting was held on February 19, 2008, commemorating the firstanniversary of the establishment of the NGO Forum. The NGO Forum invited Mr. Masaharu Kohno (theDeputy Minister for Foreign Affairs and the Japanese G8 Sherpa) from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Mr.
Toshiro Kojima (the Vice-Minister for Global Environmental Affairs) from the Ministry of the Environment to
the Dialogue Meeting. We shared information about the issues to be discussed at the Toyako Summit in Julyand about the developments in the discussions about theissues, as well as exchanging opinions about the proposals
from NGOs.
Prior to the speech made by Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda
about the G8 Summit in Davos in the late January, 2008,
the NGO Forum also handed a statement directly to thePrime Minister’s Private Secretary Tatsuo Fukuda in order
to communicate the policy requests from the NGO Forumto the Prime Minister.
The panel discussion with the Sherpa

Civil G8 Dialogue
The Civil G8 Dialogue was held in Kyoto on April 23 - 24, 2008 when the Sherpa meeting was conducted.
“Civil G8” is an occasion for opinion exchanges between the Sherpas from G8 countries and civil society,which started on the occasion of the Saint Petersburg Summit in 2006.
The Roundtable Discussion between the G8 Sherpas and civil society was conducted on the second day of
the Dialogue (on April 24) for two hours, where eight Sherpas except France and twenty civil society members
participated in the discussion. 200 observers watched the discussion. Two themes namely “Environment andClimate Change” and “Development and Africa” were discussed in the Roundtable Discussion and NGOs
exchanged opinions with the Sherpas. In the “Environment and Climate Change” session, NGOs requested thatgreen house gas emissions should be reduced globally by 50% by 2050 and that the G8 countries should set
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mid-term goals and take action to achieve these goals. The Sherpas responded to the requests saying thatemerging countries need to participate in reduction plans. In the “Development and Africa” session, NGOs
made a wide variety of statements on different issues including development financing, the Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs), health, education and food. Sherpas stated the importance of accountability andthe delayed progress in MDGs including goals on health, among other issues.
On the first day of the Civil G8 Dialogue (April 23), four Plenary Sessions were held. On the morning of thesecond day (April 24), various workshops were held for individual issues. The themes of the four Plenary Sessions
were: “G8 Process and the Toyako Summit: Perspectives, Expectations and Recommendations from the Civil
Society”; “Poverty and Development: Toward Achieving MDGs - Poverty Eradication and Social Justice”; “Peaceand Human Rights: G8 Official Agenda and Rights-based Approach”; and “G8 Countries and Environment.” Inthese Plenary Sessions, the government officials including Sub-sherpas and NGO members from different
countries had discussions as speakers. More than 200 people participated in the Civil G8 including Japaneseparticipants and 52 members from overseas(including those invited).
The

NGO

Forum

organized

theTaskforce for conducting the Civil G8
Dialogue. The Taskforce then worked onnegotiating with the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs, inviting NGOs from overseas,developing the program and running theevent.

The Round Table

photo: Yuko Yanase

Tanzaku Action - One Million Wishes
The NGO Forum organized the “Tanzaku Action - One Million Wishes” campaign in order to gain
support from people for the NGO Forum’s proposals, as well as encouraging Japanese civil society to
deepen its understanding of global problems and to take action, using the opportunity of the G8 Summit.
The NGO Forum started discussions about the campaign in October 2007. Through a series of meetings, thecampaign logo and a catchphrase were created with the cooperation of Dentsu Inc., Hakuhodo Inc., etc. as well
as clarifying the key concept for the campaign. In “Tanzaku Action - One Million Wishes,” people write amessage to the G8 leaders on a “tanzaku” through the NGO Forum's website or by printing out a message. This
campaign is based on the Japanese tradition of making a wish on a star on “Tanabata Day” by writing a wish
on a piece of paper called tanzaku. We decided to use this idea because the start of the G8 Summit is on July 7
which is “Tanabata Day.” As part of the campaign, the NGO Forum also worked on developing various PR
9tools and conducted public relations activities so that campaign participants could read and understand the
NGO Forum's proposals. The PR activities included summarizing the NGO Forum’s policy proposals in a short“Letter to the Prime Minister,” participating in other events and posting advertisement in newspapers.
“Tanzaku Action - One Million Wishes” disseminated the NGO Forum's proposals to people and collected thevoices of numerous people during its campaign period, which started on April 15 and ended on July 9.
“Tanzaku Action - One Million Wishes”
obtained numerous supporters by cooperatingwith other campaigns in Japan and overseas.
The final number of messages that it collected
reached 711,211. The messages were delivered
to Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda on June 18.
Regarding the implementation of the campaign,a Campaign Committee was initially created
and it discussed the campaign content. This wasfollowed by the establishment of the Campaign
Team in January 2008 which then implemented
Handing over the message to the prime minister, Fukuda.

the campaign.

Dialogue with the Prime Minister
A dialogue between Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda and NGOs were realized on June 18. There havebeen opportunities for the Prime Minister andNGOs to have a direct dialogue in the run up to
recent G8 Summits. The dialogue with Prime
Minister Fukuda was also realized in thiscontext.
International NGOs and members of the NGO
Forum attended this meeting and discussed
issues on the “Environment,” “Poverty andDevelopment,” “Peace and Human Rights” forone and half hours.
The Dialogue with the Prime Minister
Photo: 2008. Furuya.Hitoshi

People’s Summit 2008
In parallel to the G8 Summit, the NGO Forum co-organized the People’s Summit 2008 with the Hokkaido
10People’s Forum on the G8 Summit in various places in the City of Sapporo from July 6 to July 8. In order tohold the People’s Summit, the NGO Forum established a Project Team more than six months prior to the eventand prepared for the event in cooperation with civil society in Hokkaido.

The Opening Symposium titled “People’s Voices to the World” was held on July 6, the first day of theevent. At this Symposium, eight speakers from Japan and overseas discussed world poverty and theenvironment. 400 people participated in the event. On July 7 and in the morning of July 8, about 30 Workshops
and Seminars were held at four venues in the City of Sapporo. In the morning of July 7, each Unit held asectional meeting. The Sapporo Declaration was adopted in the sectional meeting of the Poverty andDevelopment Unit. The Closing Session titled “We Can Change the World” was held on the final day. In thisSession, various opinions were expressed by the 250 participants who gathered at the venue, in addition to thethree main speakers. The most common opinions werethat the world’s various issues must be promptly
resolved, that the G8 governments are largely
responsible for resolving these global issues and that
the G8 Summit must be open to the people.
The NGO Forum also disseminated information byholding Tanzaku Action-related workshops during theperiod of the People’s Summit and the Milky Way
Action on July 7.
The Alternative Summit

Activities at the Media Center
The International Media Center (IMC) was established at the Rusutsu Resort during the G8 Summit which washeld in Toyako from July 7 to July 9. A total of about 100 members of the NGO Forum and NGOs fromvarious parts of the world entered the Media Center and conducted media work. There was a working area anda press conference area for NGOs next to the Media
Center. NGO members who entered the Media
Center actively disseminated information using thesefacilities. With NGO members issuing various press
releases, responding to interviews and holding morethan 20 press conferences in three days, informationfrom NGOs appeared in a variety of media. This is
the first time that NGOs have been given such areasand have been able to conduct their media activities
inside a Summit venue.
The press conference of NGO Forum11

Cooperation with other NGOs
The NGO Forum conducted its activities by cooperating with other NGOs.
Because the G8 Summit was to be convened in Toyako, Hokkaido, the Hokkaido People’s Forum on the G8
Summit (the People’s Forum) was established. Citizens’ groups such as trade unions, consumer cooperatives
and the Ainu organizations from around Hokkaido participated in the People’s Forum. The People’s Forum
conducted its activities with the aim of making the G8 Summit open to the people, discussing Hokkaido’s
problems from a global perspective and including the voices of Hokkaido people in the Summit. Since its
establishment, the NGO Forum cooperated with NGO members in Hokkaido, shared opportunities for decision
making on the NGO Forum with them and co-organized the People’s Summit with them. The NGO Forum also
shared opportunities for advocacy with the People’s Forum, for example the representatives of the People’s
Forum joined the Civil G8 Dialogue and the dialogue with Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda.
The NGO Forum also cooperated with the Network of Lawyers Observing Human Rights around the G8
Hokkaido Toyako Summit (WATCH), which was established with the aim of monitoring excessive security
and the violation of human rights in relation to the holding of the G8 Summit, and providing legal support. The
NGO Forum obtained legal knowledge through meetings with the WATCH Secretariat and through information
provided on the internet. The NGO Forum also published a statement on false arrests and interference by the
Immigration Bureau, in response to a request from WATCH.
Another group that the NGO Forum worked with was young people. In particular, the NGO Forum cooperated
with the Japan Youth G8 Project which was established to send the voices of young people to the G8 Summit.
The NGO Forum and the Japan Youth G8 Project sent speakers to each other’s events, such as briefing sessions,
the Youth Summit and the People’s Summit.

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Summary of Advocacy Activities of the 2008 Japan G8 Summit NGO
Forum
Vice Chair: Yurika Ayukawa

Cross-Unit Activities
Since the establishment of the 2008 Japan G8 Summit NGO Forum in January 2007, Japanese NGOs havecontinued to work together in order to achieve one goal which was to politically influence the G8 Summit in
an interdisciplinary manner. This had great significance because Japanese NGOs have traditionally beenworking on their specific subject areas separately, namely in the area of “poverty and development,” the areaof “peace and human rights” and the area of “the environment.” This was the first opportunity where JapaneseNGOs which work on different issues united based on a broad common interest and worked together to
conduct advocacy activities. Japanese civil society matured through this experience. There was significant
progress in the cooperative relationship between the government and NGOs. This progress was made possible
because NGOs were able to present a united front. NGOs continued their activities while negotiating with thegovernment and succeeded in yielding results. This is one of the most important achievements of the 2008
Japan G8 Summit NGO Forum.

Matured Civil Society and Progress in Dialogue between NGOs and the Government
There were many different opinions about how various NGOs (which have been working on different issues) would
deal with the G8 Summit and politically utilize this opportunity. The method that the NGO Forum employed was thateach Unit produced its Position Paper and the NGO Forum collectively conducted lobbying based on the Position
Paper, seizing every opportunity. This enabled the NGO Forum to send strategic messages to the right target at theright time. NGOs were able to significantly influence the government through these activities. The 2008 G8 Summit
was also a landmark event when compared to past G8 Summits held in Japan, in the sense that the opportunity forNGOs to present their proposals to the government was created for every step in the process, including the NGO and
Government Dialogue Meeting, meetings with the G8 Sherpa, the Civil G8 Dialogue, the meeting with the Prime
Minister and the Tanzaku Action. This demonstrates the fact that NGOs have become stronger than ever, and thatthe government and the media can no longer ignore the NGOs.

Media Coverage
At the 2008 G8 Summit, the NGOs achieved the largest amount of media coverage on NGO proposals when compared toother G8 Summits held in Japan. One important achievement was that the NGOs obtained the right to access theInternational Media Center (IMC) which was created for the Toyako Summit, after repeated negotiations with the13

Ministry of Foreign Affairs. At the last G8 Summit in Japan (2000 Okinawa Summit), the NGO Center was a long way
away from the Summit venue. Therefore, the only media personnel who visited the NGO Center were the“correspondents in charge of NGO matters” instead of the political correspondents who cover what is discussed at theSummit. A handful of reporters attended the press conferences that the NGOs held and nobody wrote about the NGOs’comments about the government policies. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs also appointed officials to be in charge of NGO
matters. These officials visited the NGO Center every day in order to give briefings to the NGOs, but they would not give
us any policy details.
In contrast, a large “NGO Center” was created right next to the Media Center where all the media worked on the2008 G8 Summit. An area for press conferences was also provided. Most seats were filled every time the NGOs
held press conferences and some correspondents said that the NGOs’ press conferences were more interesting
than the government’s briefings because NGOs made more detailed statements about policies. NGOs were alsoable to enter the International Media Center and listen to important decisions and press releases with thereporters. This enabled us to disseminate our reactions to the Summit results in real time because we were able to
make comments to the reporters and respond in interviews on the spot.
This successful media work was also made possible because NGOs have worked to build close relationships withthe media long before the Toyako Summit started, by holding informal meetings with the Summit reporters froma variety of media. Another reason for the success was that NGO representatives were given opportunities toattend various G8-related meetings and to make statements, as a result of negotiations with the government.
These meetings included the Gleneagles Dialogue in Chiba, the Environment Ministers Meeting, theDevelopment Ministers Meeting, the Energy Ministers Meeting, the Finance Ministers Meeting and TICAD(Tokyo International Conference on African Development). These gave us the opportunity to let the government
and the media recognize the existence of the NGO Forum.

Did the G8 Leaders Listen to our Message?
As seen above, there was great progress in the sense that NGOs had various opportunities for lobbying, including
the dialogues and the discussions with the government and that the media covered many of our proposals. However,whether or not these proposals were included in the G8 communiqués is a different story. The outcomes of the G8
Summit were not what NGOs hoped for.
At the 2008 G8 Summit, five other countries were invited in order to discuss climate change, including Brazil,
China, India, Mexico and South Africa. Australia, Indonesia and South Korea were also invited because theMajor Economies Meeting (MEM) Leaders’ Summit was held at the same time. In addition, seven Africancountries as well as the Chairperson of the African Union Commission were invited in relation to TICAD.
Therefore, the G8 Summit was actually a Summit of 23 countries (15 countries in addition to the G8 countries).
This indicates that various countries including developing countries have to be included in discussions because
the G8 countries alone cannot solve the wide variety of problems that the world is facing today, including
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economic problems, surging food prices, HIV/AIDS, ODA, climate change and poverty.
This shows that the G8 Summit is no longer able to play the role that it is supposed to play, and that its politicaland social impact has been weakened. Therefore, we consider that the question of the legitimacy of the G8
Summit was highlighted once again during the Toyako Summit.

The Future Relationship between NGOs and the Government
I would like to conclude this summary by mentioning the relationship between NGOs and the government.
NGOs' expertise is being increasingly accumulated and therefore, the government should utilize our expertise
more actively. For example, high government officials from Europe, the US, Canada, etc. always arrange
meetings with Japanese NGOs when they visit Japan. This is because governments overseas believe that theyneed to listen to NGOs in order to get the whole picture of a country. We hope that the Japanese government will
use NGOs in a similar way. When traveling abroad, Japanese government officials can also contact local NGOs
and discuss the government and the policies of the country. This will enable a more in-depth informationexchange than having discussions between the governments alone, and the countries will be able to build closer
relationships. The Japanese government should be able to develop more appropriate diplomatic strategies andexercise its leadership based on these experiences.
The NGO Forum has realized opinion exchange with the government to a certain extent through the 2008 G8
Summit process. The challenge for us from now on is to encourage governments to continue this trend in Japan
as well as in other countries so that the governments will further recognize the significance of NGOs. It is also
important to hand over the outcomes from the activities of the NGO Forum to the NGOs of Italy which will be
the host country of the next G8 Summit.
We need to go back to the specific issues that each NGO has been working on, continue watching relevant
policies and create a new momentum for the resolution of various policy issues. The Toyako Summit is not thegoal for us. It was only the “moment” when we took a large leap forward in the history of our advocacy. We will
work on new challenges which have been highlighted through the activities for the Toyako Summit, whilelooking into the new opportunities which have come about because of the achievements at the Toyako Summit.

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