Theme for the 29 t h Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society for Environmental Education (Tokyo)

Looking Back the Root of Environmental Education:
LIFE, Environment and People
The year 2020 marks the 30 t h year since the establishment of the Japanese Society for
Environmental Education. Japanese Environmental Education started 60 years ago as a form ofEducation for Nature Conservation or Pollution Education . Current contents, methods, subjects,targets, locations and programs are so various and diverse depending on how it expands.
Internationally, Environmental Education activities have been conducted for about a half century.
Environmental Education—transformed from ‘education for environment’ to ‘education for creating
sustainable society,’ which is also known as Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) , driven
by various arguments—is, today, at the stage of Education for Sustainable Development Goals(ESDGs) that responds to ‘a plan of action for people, planet and prosperity’ and “Transforming
our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development” (the Sustainable Development Goals, orSDGs) targeting to be achieved by the year 2030.
Keeping above in our minds, I would like to have exchange of our thoughts to ascertain its future
by looking back the root of environmental education and hundred flowers bloomed from it at the29 t h Annual Meeting in Tokyo.

Theme for the Annual Meeting

Looking Back the Root of Environmental Education:
LIFE, Environment and People◆ LIFE: “Life” is the root of energy for an individual living thing to live and take actions,“Journal of Life” is a continuous story of histories of living things that has been continuing for
3.8 billion years transcending a span of a life time of an individual living thing, “LIFE” is what
we recognize as people facing an issue of “death” and “Living Activities” is what we conduct
every day as people.
◆ Environment: the place for LIFE and the world surrounding all living things and affecting eachother through various relationships. The world/place for the “Life” is “Nature,” the world/placefor “LIFE” is the “World of LIFE” and the world/place for people’s “Living Activities” is“Historical Society.”◆ People: People—as a living thing, as a social being and as a presence of “LIFE”—lives
dynamically by involving with different environments including “Nature,” “Historical Society”
and “World of LIFE” in various ways . That dynamism, departing from mutual relationship ofsupport between LIFE and Environment, also includes history of destroying LIFE, Environment
and People by conducting inappropriate or excessive development. To turn around this negative
sense, Today’s SDGs (17 goals) consists of 5 pillars. 11

United Nations, Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development , 2015

① People: We are determined to end poverty and hunger, in all their forms and dimensions,and to ensure that all human beings can fulfil their potential in dignity and equality andin a healthy environment.

② Planet: We are determined to protect the planet from degradation, including throughsustainable consumption and production, sustainably managing its natural resources
and taking urgent action on climate change, so that it can support the needs of thepresent and future generations.

③ Prosperity: We are determined to ensure that all human beings can enjoy prosperous andfulfilling lives and that economic, social and technological progress occurs in harmony
with nature.

④ Peace: We are determined to foster peaceful, ju st and inclusive societies which are freefrom fear and violence. There can be no sustainable development without peace and nopeace without sustainable development.

⑤ Partnership: We are determined to mobilize the means required to implement this Agenda
through a revitalised Global Partnership for Sustainable Development, based on a spiritof strengthened global solidarity, focussed in particular on the needs of the poorest andmost vulnerable and with the participation of all countries, all stakeholders and allpeople.
As a year just before the 30 t h anniversary of the Society, I hope every one of us participating
here will look back yourself, seek the roots of your own environmental education, muse and reflect
where it is going, share your emerging thoughts with others, find seeds and germinations of newEnvironmental Education and start nourishing that germination of LIFE with great care in this
29 t h annual meeting.
HARAKO Eiichiro, Executive Director
The 29 t h Annual Meeting of JSFEE Executive Committee