Japanese Approaches to Green Economy
for a Sustainable

SocietyJune 2006
Japan Association of Environment and Society
for the 21st Century(JAES21)

1. Approaches to Green Economy for a Sustainable Society(1)

Green Economy – the economy that supports sustainable society

In order to build a sustainable society, we need to achieve a secure balanceamong the three value standards of “economy,” “people and society,” and“environment.”
The first value standard of “economy” is primarily measured in monetary
terms.

Spectacular development of global economy in the latter half of the20th century has greatly improved the living standard of many in theindustrialized countries and some in the upper segment of developing
countries from material and convenience points of view.

However, thissystem has fostered an excessive and lavish consumption pattern in the
U.S., Japan and other industrialized countries, casting substantiallynegative impact on the world’s sustainability and the true affluence ofpeople and society.
The second value standard of “people and society” is defined as all elements
associated with our social life minus the “economy”.

This domain,

therefore, includes such elements as health, security, equity, welfare andculture. In an industrial society such as Japan, we place emphasis on
money and goods, and often find ourselves out of touch from our families,
communities, or with our inner selves, elements that comprise animportant part of this value standard.
The third value standard of “environment” is defined here as the total
system of natural environment -- the basis of all life forms -- that surrounds
the man-made social system. Needless to say, this is under a grave threatas resources are being depleted, deteriorated or permanently damaged.
The environment may not serve as the value standard that directly dictates
our current generation, but we need to reaffirm its importance for the
future generations and the ecosystem.
Viewed from the perspective of time scale, these three value standards do notoccur parallel to each other.

“Economic affluence” and aspects of the“people/society” standard are elements that provide “well-being” for us, thecurrent generation. By contrast, the environment is associated not onlywith the “well-being” of the current generation but also serves as anindicator for the sustenance of the foundation for human survival into the
future.

In time scale, the “economy” may be defined as a short-term

standard, “people and society” as a medium-term standard and the“environment” as a long-term standard.
The Green Economy that we are seeking to build is an economy that is inharmony with the environment, an economy that supports a sustainableeconomy filled with the vibrant energy of people and society. It must be an
economy whereby the measures adopted for the environment encourage theeconomy and society in which we live to flourish, and conversely, measures
adopted as economic policy help preserve and recreate the environment andlead to the well-being of people and society.

(2) The difference between the Green Economy and our present economy
Today, Japan’s economy is forging ahead on its market-first track, with thewholehearted embracing of market principles in an attempt to respond to theglobalization of international economy.

In spite of the superficial andfragmented economic “prosperity” on the surface, many people live with asense of anxiety, of being trapped with no way out of the deadlock. Will
Japan continue to move further on this present path, or choose a different
path by shifting to a Green Economy to build a sustainable society in future?
The time has come for us to make a choice. The Green Economy we propose
is a sound market economy. If it were to materialize, Japan’s society shouldcome to display different features from what it is now, as shown in Table 1.
A Green Economy is an attempt to revert the market economy back to its
sound, fundamental state in this age. It is based not solely on economic
rationality: rather, theGreen Economy encompasses environmental

protection, preservation of culture, humanity, and other elements of external
diseconomy that had been excluded in the conventional calculation of
economic impact.

Table 1: Comparison between Present Econom y and Gr een Economy

Green Economy（Sound Economy）

Present Economy
・Little attention on life・

Respect for life in all forms

・Environmental destruction

・Environmental protection

・Destruction of ecosystem

・Conservation of ecosystem

・Destruction of culture・Preservation and creation of culture

・“M oney is everything”

・Emphasis on humanity

・M oney as purpose of life

・M oney as a means in social life・Ever-increasing desire・

Restraint of desire

・Greed and comfort

・

Benefiting oneself and others, middle-ground・Inequality

・Equality of all people and both sexes

・Humans treated as “parts” or・Respect for individual uniqueness andnumbers

differences

・ Competition, efficiency and・

dependence

Respect for voluntary will, independence andcommitment

・Acceptance of solution through・

Peace, non-violence and anti-war

・

Peace industry

・Withinviolent means
・Arms industry
・ Increasein scale andglobalization
Centralization and monopolization

one’smeans,

small-

andmedium-scale・

Decentralization of functions and power

・Working as compulsory duty

・

Improved social welfare

・Lack of purpose in life

・Working with joy

・Life with a purpose

・Poor social welfare(3) Four approaches to examine the Green Economy
We have held discussions on the elements that constitute the Green Economy,
features and conditions that enable the Green Economy, problems with thepresent economic system and other topics from the perspective of citizens
and members of NPO (consumers).

In the initial stage, we tried to extract the elements that will constitute theideal Green Economy. But due to the huge scope of areas associated with
the Green Economy, we realized the difficulty in exploring and identifying
the whole picture, and decided instead to examine the Green Economy fromthree perspectives of “food,” “work” and “purchase.”

These are closely

associated with our everyday life and activities among all the potentially
important domains of the Green Economy.

We then added the fourth,institutional perspective, which deals with the “proper regulation andeconomic instrument” in our effort to summarize the elements that make up
the Green Economy.
We know that not all people agree with our approach based on the four
perspectives, as they comprise only a portion of the components of the Green
Economy. In addition to the above four areas, which in our opinion carrygreat importance, we believe we will be able to attain a clearer picture of theGreen Economy to come through many other areas such as “energy” and“learning” in the future.

2. Ten-Point Proposals that Build the Framework of Green
EconomyFrom “Food and Agriculture”
Proposal 1: Let us substantially raise self-sufficiency of food to secure thebasis for living in Japan.
Proposal 2: Let us promote the consumption of locally produced food andestablish eating habit which is more compatible with local climate
and natural conditions.
Proposal 3: Let us reevaluate the significance of agriculture and try to builda system whereby younger people can easily go into and find job
security in agriculture.

From “Work”
Proposal 4: Let us work in a way that seeks not only personal income but
also the welfare of our family members, neighbors, community andnext generations.

Proposal 5: Let us recognize diverse modes of work and introduce a just andhuman evaluation system of work including fair social recognition.
Proposal 6: Let us work in a way whereby both men and women are able toraise children -- the leaders of future generations – free from undue
anxiety or pressure.

From “Purchase”
Proposal 7: Let us try to be wise consumers knowing that our purchase isinevitably affecting the global environment and living in the local
community.
Proposal 8: Let us appreciate and respect the traditional culture and local
identity and promote the local economy.

From the “Proper Regulation and Economic Instrument”
Proposal 9: Let us introduce proper regulatory measures based on the
Precautionary Principle, and regulations against CO2 emissions
from both stationary and mobile sources at the earliest possible
date.
Proposal 10: Let us rely more on economic instrument such as taxation,
emissions trading and other areas as appropriate in the “global
environmental age.”(1) Proposals on “food” – Perspective from “Food and Agriculture”
Proposal 1: Let us substantially raise self-sufficiency of food tosecure the basis for living in Japan.
The self-sufficiency rate of food shows the proportion of national foodconsumption provided by domestic sources. Normally, the rate is shown by
the ratio of calories supplied by domestically-produced foods to the total daily
calories supplied per person (about 2600kcal).

Food self-sufficiency is acomprehensive index that shows the current situation of food and agriculture
in Japan, or any given country, as it is determined by domestic farm
production and national food consumption. The self-sufficiency of food inJapan is very low, at 40% at present.

This is the lowest figure amongindustrialized countries when compared with 125% in the US, 132% in
France, 96% in Germany and 74% in Britain (2000 figures). The ratio in
Britain fell to less than 40% after World War Two but recovered successfully
later, thanks to the government’s post-war agricultural policy.
If food imports to Japan were to be cut off by global poor harvest caused byclimate changes, international conflicts or other contingencies, the Japanesepeople would lose their basis for living. Also, another source of anxiety isthat China, which now exports huge amount of food to Japan, could be forced
to stop its food exports to Japan when its own food self-sufficiency runs low.
In the Basic Plan for Food, Agriculture and Rural Areas, Japan’s Ministry ofAgriculture, Forestry and Fisheries initially set out the target of raising thenation’s food self-sufficiency to 45% by fiscal 2010. But because the rate
remained at 40% for seven years in a row from 1998, the Ministry extended
the target year by five years to 2015.
We propose raising Japan’s food self-sufficiency rate to 60-70%, which isequivalent to our food-self sufficiency between 1965 and 1970. This is thetime just before cases of air pollution and contamination of rivers and lakes
began to surface around the nation, a byproduct of the rapid economic
growth that started in the latter half of 1950s.

As we will note later,

economic growth has not only polluted the environment but caused majorchanges in our eating habits. The air pollution and water contaminationlevels in the decade from 1960 to 1970 are deemed appropriate target values
for pollution control. In the same way, we believe it would be reasonable toset the target for food self-sufficiency to coincide with the level in this era.
The Green Economy is an economy that supports a sustainable society. In
economic activities relating to food and agriculture, we believe threerequirements must be met to satisfy the needs of “people and society” and“environment.”
First is the protection of the environment or ecosystem.

Second is thepreservation and creation of local cultures. And third is the practice of
healthy eating habits to promote physical and mental well-being and a richsense of humanity. The food self-sufficiency rate is a comprehensive index

that is interrelated with all of the three requirements of the Green Economy.
This is one reason why we have included the improvement of foodself-sufficiency as one of our goals in our efforts to realize the Green
Economy.

Proposal 2: Let us promote the consumption of locally produced
food and establish eating habit which is more compatible
with local climate and natural conditions.
We have examined dietary patterns in today’s Japan from the threerequirements of Green Economy.
First, from the perspective of environmental protection, we surveyed the“food mileage,” an indicator of sustainability calculated by multiplying theamount of food imports by the distance traveled (ton・km). Japan imports
about 58 million tons of food a year, and its food mileage comes to about 900
billion tons ・ km (2001).

This stands far above the statistics in othercountries -- three times the figure in South Korea and the US, five times thefigure in Britain and Germany, and nine times the figure in France. Trialcalculations have shown that such massive-scale global food transportation
produces twice as much as CO2 emission as food transportation inside thecountry. Therefore, promoting local food production and consumption plays
an extremely important role in environmental preservation.
Second, we examined the problems associated with the second point ofprotection and creation of distinctive local cultures, by studying the low
self-sufficiency rate of two crops -- wheat and soy beans. Traditionally, theJapanese people have cultivated crops suited to the local climate, soil, andnatural conditions, and cooked and processed them for consumption. The
product is what we call Japanese food that represents our dietary culture.
It has been pointed out that eating locally grown produce is good for yourhealth too, because you are taking in the food that are more adapted to yourlocal natural environment. Also, a shift in Japanese consumers’ preference
towards Western-style foods has further pushed down the nation’s foodself-sufficiency because such foods are made from the species of wheat andsoy beans that are difficult to grow in Japan. We should also take note that,immediately after World War Two, the US government mandated bread andother Western foods at school lunches in Japan as a way of using up theirsurplus farm products, and this is one factor that has contributed to the
popularity of Western foods in Japan. Therefore, we need to grow more
wheat and soy domestically, and revert to a diet that is more in line with our
climate and soil to raise the nation’s food self-sufficiency.
Let us look at dietary patterns in Japan from the third viewpoint ofmaintenance of humanity. With the globalization of economy, competition
becomes severe, and people are working longer hours and often do not havethe time or energy to prepare a family dinner or healthy diet for theirchildren. Many grown-ups are also too busy to pay much attention to theirown diet or would settle for any food that fills up their stomach. Much foodis left over and thrown away. We are losing the sense of appreciation for the
animals and plants that have sacrificed their life for our food, or the desire
not to waste what is valuable, a traditional virtue summed up by theJapanese term, “mottainai.” Japan has turned into a nation of gourmet
consumption as a consequence of its economic growth. Somewhere along
the line, we seemed to have acquired a distorted idea about food, the mostbasic and important element for all human beings. The nation may now bebetter off financially but it is spiritually deprived than ever before. There
must be a direction of economic activities that enable each one of us to enjoy
more fulfilling, physically and mentally healthy dietary lifestyle.
If each one of us consumes and prepares food more consciously, pay attention
to which foods are more adapted to the local climate and soil, and promotelocal production and consumption, then we believe it is possible to turnaround the nation’s food consumption patterns together with efforts offarmers and food producers.

Proposal 3: Let us reevaluate the significance of agriculture andtry to build a system whereby younger people can easily
go into and find job security in agriculture.
In Japan, agriculture has in the past not been open to anyone who wants totake up farming. Unless they grow up in a farming family, young people
graduating from school did not have the option of getting a job in agriculturein the same way as in a company or governmental institution. This stems
largely from the government policy that barred non-farmers from owning
farming land, the most fundamental element of agriculture. As a result,due to the aging of farmers and dwindling number of young people to succeed
farms, the population in agriculture continued to decline. The number ofpeople engaged in agriculture totaled 3.62 million in 2004, which is only 30%of the number in the peak year 1960. Abandoned farmland reached 210,000
hectares in 2000.

The government’s agricultural policy that excluded

non-farming families from entering agriculture has led to dwindling interestin farming among non-farmers, polarizing the nation into farm producers
and consumers.

This is another reason behind the declining foodself-sufficiency of Japan. To develop a solid vision for Japan’s agriculture,
we must first of all secure people who will assume farming challenges in the
future. To make this possible, we need to build a system whereby younger
people can enter and find job security in agriculture.
In recent years, an increasing number of people are turning to agriculture
and forestry. Some are quitting their office work while others are taking up
part-time farming work after retirement or moving to local cities from thecity in pursuit of more meaningful life.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries, some
80,200 people took up a job in agriculture in 2003. Among them, fresh
graduates numbered 2,200. As for people who left their previous jobs inanother industry to start farming, those aged under 39 numbered 9,700,
those aged between 40 and 64, 46,500, and those aged over 65, 9,900 .
Middle-aged to senior citizens formed the largest group and the number offresh graduates remained small. While it is certainly necessary to increase
the aggregate number of people taking up farming, we believe it is crucial forthe development of agriculture to encourage fresh graduates to join thefarming industry.
Following the consolidation of agricultural land and introduction oflarge-scale farm management, the number of agricultural corporations run

by modern, business-style management has topped 10,000, and is growing
yearly. The revision of the Agricultural Land Law enforced in September
2005 authorized business corporations to engage in agriculture throughout
Japan, scrapping the past regulations that confined them to designatedareas called Structural Reform Special Districts. The revision is expected
to lead to full-scale entry of business in agriculture based on the lease of
agricultural land.

Also, institutional frameworks for personnel training

including teaching farming skills to newcomers are being introduced, paving
the way for job hoppers from non-farming households and fresh graduates toland a job in farming.
We believe creating a system in which young people are able to find job
security in agriculture would comprise a step in the direction of Green
Economy.

(2) Proposals from work
Proposal 4: Let us work in a way that seeks not only personal
income but also the welfare of our family members,
neighbors, community and next generations.
Our twentieth century civilization, symbolized by mass production and massconsumption, has implanted in us the notion that having more wealth(money) would enable us to acquire more things and that is what affluence isall about. As a result, the stereotyped value that “money is everything” hascome to prevail even among children, leading not only to environmental
degradation but threatening the sustainability of people and society. Morerecently, the act of work is being perceived as nothing more than a means toearn money rather than a process to fulfill more sophisticated human needsof achieving worthwhile goals or playing one’s role in and giving back to thecommunity. Many people believe that attaining high income the easy way
is the best, and that people who managed to achieve this are the winners inlife. In other words, for many people, the purpose of work is shifting fromsupporting the family and raising future generations, or enriching oneselfand society, to earning more and more money. Although we have seen somerecent moves to counter this tide, the globalization of market economy has
forced businesses to put more emphasis on short-term profits for their own
survival, inevitably affecting the employed workers.
The act of work carries a larger meaning beyond earning the income tosupport oneself. Work can serve as a means to develop one’s ability andskills to help fulfill his or her goals. Also, work can cultivate closer ties withother people or with the community and satisfy our needs to stay connectedwith others. Moreover, such ties among people can play a major role insupporting our society and motivating social reforms, for instance, throughenvironmental preservation, handing down of local culture and revitalizationof regional economy.
As we have seen, work is an effective means to secure the true affluence forpeople and society beyond one’s immediate or financial needs.

If morepeople realized this and if we have in place a system that enables us to work
more significantly, that can encourage people to live their life more fully.
The economy will be more vibrant, providing an incentive to shift to apeople-oriented Green Economy where “people” make “capital” and“resources” work.
We need to take every opportunity to spread the deep significance of workand create models of work that lead to true affluence in many different forms.
It is important that we offer opportunities to pass this on to people,
particularly to young people, through on-the-site work experience, dialogue
with workers and other means.

Proposal 5: Let us recognize diverse modes of work and introduce
a just and human evaluation system of work including
fair social recognition.
In today’s Japan, the social framework and evaluation system for work are
not programmed to accommodate or appreciate diversity.

Many people

therefore have no alternative but to choose work options that eventually put
priority on income.

Still, there are countries even in the market economy world that recognize
diverse working arrangements in their clear orientation toward building awell-balanced society.

For example, the Netherlands has promoted

work-sharing on the basic guideline of assigning 1.5 persons worth of work toa married couple.

As a result, the nation successfully overcame highunemployment and budget deficit in the 1980s to rank among the leaders in
Europe in international competitiveness. The Dutch people have realized
flexible work programs that do not distinguish full-time work from part-time
work, enabling many to choose a style of work that suits their way of life,
restore ties with their families and divert more energy into citizens’ activities,
for instance. The Dutch government created a system that encourages each
citizen to reexamine the significance of work and accommodates various
working styles as they move toward a well-balanced society. We must notehere that the challenge succeeded in part due to their national qualities:
the Dutch people historically have flexible value systems to accept people ofdifference

race

and

resolvedifferences

throughdiscussion;socialcharacteristics that enable free choice of profession to match ability or
aptitude; and high social status of NGOs being treated on a par withbusiness corporations or governmental institutions. Still, we can learn a lot
from this example of working styles as we in Japan examine and implement
the way of work in the Green Economy.
To make such flexible working styles possible, each of us will need toreevaluate our idea on the significance and value of work. The government
can help by incorporating a system for diversified, flexible working
arrangements by reviewing its labor policies and guidelines that are
currently measured by quantitative numerical targets and incorporating
qualitative targets and guidelines. Businesses will need to move beyond its
evaluation

systembased

onproductivity,

economic

efficiency

andperformance to introduce an evaluation system that appreciates theindividual worker ’s unique skills and characteristics, community work,
volunteer activities and other aspects that lead to sound and well-balanced
life. It is essential for companies to develop and spread a model based on
the new evaluation system and show that it can be an economically viableoption.

Proposal 6: Let us work in a way whereby both men and womenare able to raise children -- the leaders of future
generations – free from undue anxiety or pressure.
In a sustainable society and the Green Economy that supports it, people ofboth sexes earn equal respect just as they enjoy equal rights and duties as
members or wage-earners of the family and society.
Looking back, however, the era of rapid economic development in Japan
resulted in population migration from farming villages to urban areas andthe emergence of nuclear family households. In many families, men worked
as breadwinners while women stayed at home to take on family
responsibilities. The division of labor according to sex was widely accepted
as an efficient arrangement that supported the nation’s economic growth.
As Japan’s economy entered the era of stable growth, however, an increasing
number of married women joined the workforce in pursuit of more material
affluence. After the enforcement of the Equal Employment Opportunities
Law in 1986, employers began to expect female workers to put work before
family responsibilities, just as they have long required of male workers.
This has put excessive burden on women -- they now had to juggle work andfamily because most men continued to focus solely on work. In addition,
working conditions for employment, wages and promotion for women, inmany cases, are still inferior to those for men. If women wanted to achieve
the same evaluation and compensation as men, they often had to work
harder than their male counterparts, forcing them to carry an even heavier
burden.
Also, the globalization of economy has forced businesses to put top priority
on customer service and profit acquisition in order to survive, compelling
male and female employees to work longer hours. Workers are putting inlong hours and constantly pressed for time, as they are required to maximize
efficiency and achieve results in the shortest time possible.
Such long hours of work has demanded huge sacrifices not only fromindividuals but also from the family, particularly the people of future
generations.
For instance, childbirth and child care play a crucial role in maintaining
family ties, raising children for the future generations and securing thesustainability of human society. At present, however, only women in mostcases are forced to choose between work and childcare. If they decide tocontinue working, they often would have no choice but to give up having
children, or if they decide to have a child, they have to hire someone to lookafter their child for a greater portion of the day. From a social perspective,
the shrinking population could threaten the sustainability of Japan as anation.
Also, due to the long hours of work and the sense of being pressed for time,parents often neglect opportunities for the family to get together for meals.
Mentally, this can lead to insufficient communication between parents andchildren, and other problems.

Culturally, it can mean the loss ofopportunities to educate the children about the importance of eating right or
traditional dietary culture. When parents have little interest in what andhow they eat, it is the children who suffer as nutritionally insufficient dietcan hamper healthy growth.
To resolve these issues, each individual needs to reexamine the value of thefamily and significance of work. At the same time, we need to transform thegenerally accepted notions and social systems of work that had beenoriginally designed with only male participation in mind.

Something must

be done to change the prevailing practice of overtime without pay andlong-hours of work so that workers are able to fulfill both work and family
responsibilities without having to give up what is truly important, like timewith their family. Also, the government’s financial assistance to families
with children should be expanded further based on the idea that it is thewhole society that bears the responsibility for caring for members of the
future generations. The government has introduced after-hours childcare
programs and childcare benefits as measures to stop the decline of the birthrate. But if we are to truly turn the tide around to secure the nation’ssustainability, the only fundamental solution would be to build a system inwhich men and women are able to keep on working and raise children
without undue pressure or fear.

Proposals from purchase
Proposal 7: Let us try to be wise consumers knowing that ourpurchase is inevitably affecting the global environment
and living in the local community.
Global corporations secure vast amount of resources, energy, raw materials
and workforce to meet the needs of mass-consumption lifestyle inindustrialized countries.

Because of the gigantic scale of the productmarket, they are able to make huge profits if they can procure theseelements efficiently and at low cost. There is a whole list of instances where
profit-oriented

exploitationandindustrial

productionindeveloping

countries by global companies have damaged the environment and livelihoodof the local population. To cite just a few examples, virgin forests andtropical forests are deforested or damaged irreversibly to obtain building
materials or pulp, or to clear the land for cattle ranches to produce beef that
ends up as hamburgers. Also, mangrove forests are being destroyed forexcessive development of prawn farms.
At present, many people purchase products without being aware of what isgoing on in overseas production centers. Even if they did not know about it,
consumers are actually contributing, through the act of purchase, to thedestruction of environment and livelihood in the place of production,
obtaining low-price products at the cost of huge sacrifices in the producing
region.

We can stop this by “learning.”

Let us call on businesses todisclose more detailed information beyond the place of production to include,
for instance, the steps taken for protecting the environment and society inthe producing region. Changes in consumers’ awareness and action will be
the key factor to motivate a shift in the attitude of global conglomerates.
This also means that we as consumers have the duty to learn about how andwhere the product was produced and evaluate it accordingly. It would be a

good idea to always be aware when shopping where the product was
manufactured, whether the production places undue demands on the local
environment, society, economy and living, whether illegally exploited labor isused in the production process and whether the production takes global
environment into consideration.

In many cases, it may be difficult forindividual consumers to check out all these items all the time, in which casethey have the option of supporting NGOs and NPOs that specialize in theseareas. Specifically, they can become a fee-paying member and read theirjournals, participate in their activities, or make financial contributions.

Proposal 8: Let us appreciate and respect the traditional culture
and local identity and promote the local economy.
In this era of highly sophisticated information and communications, traffic
and transport and multilateral finances, the globalization of economy isprogressing rapidly. The market is getting bigger in an endless pursuit ofprofits, as larger entities swallow up smaller concerns to grow even stronger.
These powerful, profit-oriented economic activities have devastated thenatural and social environment and regional economy in various places,
while at the same time accumulating negative assets for our future
generations. If we fail to stop this tide, we cannot hope to sustain theregional community, or human society, for that matter.
To sustain local and global environment as well as people’s living in soundshape, we need to nurture independent, local economy, respected for its
culture, even if on a small scale, that would resist being swallowed up by thepowerful, global economy. To make this possible, it is essential that we
identify the unique characteristics of each region, renew our awareness ofthe traditional culture and performing arts rooted and handed down in thecommunity, and make them more accessible in various ways to people in thepresent day.

We are saying this because traditional cultures set an

example: they show us how people in the community have lived with nature
over the history. They are crystallized forms of wisdom that indicates ways
to lead sustainable life and economy in that particular region.

Today, many municipalities are devising innovative efforts to promote their
town or village. We believe people are seeking to build autonomous local
economies, even if on a small-scale, by focusing on the region’s uniquecharacteristics without having to take part in a competition based on
homogenized values. Today, Japan depends heavily on overseas imports fora great portion of its food, energy and timber resources while its agriculture,
forestry and fisheries industries continue to decline. The nation’s farms,
forests and fishing grounds are degenerating because we are underutilizing
the resources that enable us to be more self-sufficient.

From social,environmental or disaster-prevention point of view, this is regrettable.
To raise the domestic food and energy self-sufficiency, create jobs andrevitalize the local economy, we will need to develop local industry by
exploring tourism resources and promoting small hydroelectric, wind power,
biomass and other sources of renewable energy that occur naturally in thelocality, in addition to reviving agriculture, forestry and fisheries. Renewalof our awareness of diverse local values for their sustainable utilization in
the region forms the foundation for the revitalizing regional economy andpromoting local production and consumption.

Only when this approachgets under way, We believe we will have prepared the ground for the local
economy to coexist side by side with the powerful, global economy.
To turn this into reality, the central and municipal governments should offer
assistance in tax breaks and other forms of institutional support because theefforts of the local community have their limitations.

The measures topromote local economy may include tariffs on farm and forestry products andsecuring the price of renewable energy sold to utility companies.

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