Kaze, April 2021

Environmental NPOs serve the public interest, but in Japan …
(What a survey result tells us.)
Konoe FUJIMURAThe Agenda 21 adopted at the Earth Summit in 1992 stipulates the needto enhance the roles of NPOs. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2015
clearly states the importance of civil society organizations. In the international
community, NPOs/NGOs are considered an integral part of society and they arehighly expected for their expertise. In Japan in 2000 or around, policymakers
seemed to recognize the importance of environmental protection, and we
successfully led the enactment of the law to promote environmental education.
However, the survey we conducted last fall in collaboration with the National
Institute of Environmental Studies (NIES) revealed that things have not improvedin the past two decades.
Let me outline the result of the survey which was conducted online with
442 responses received.
1) Size of organizations
Most organizations are small with less than 100 members (67%) and thenumber of staff members is less than five (47%). Budget size ranges from lessthan 30 thousand to 100 million yen, and 19% has a yearly budget of 3 – 10million yen. After 20 more years of the enactment of the NPO law, 26% ofrespondents have not been incorporated. Most of them are voluntary localorganizations practicing environmental education/awareness-raising activities
or revitalization of the respective area with little profit earned. Few
organizations engage in research activities and make policy recommendations
based on their expertise. The survey also shows that those NPO leaders areaging. More than 90% of their representative are over 50 years of age.
2) Issues to be solved

Most NPOs have a difficulty in staffing, finding successors, and securing
budgets. They all recognize the urgent need of strengthening their financialbase, which enables them to employ capable staff for the long term.
For future activities, 47% consider stable funding is essential and 28% of thegroups have some difficulties finding next-generation leaders. As regards thefuture direction of the society, 59% think it necessary that people becomeaware of the environmental issues as a part of their life, and 56% feel that
institutional support (taxation system, subsidies, etc.) is required for theiractive participation in NPOs.
3) Needs for NPOs/NGOs to work together
Only 17% know the Green Alliance Japan, but 77% think that NPOs/NGOsneed to work together.
4) Participation in environmental policymaking
55% have experienced policy-making procedures of mostly local communities(prefectures, cities, towns). Of them, 80% think that the experience enhanced
their skills and helped expand their network. Of all respondents, 74% feel theneed to renew the current environmental policies or to start newpolicies/projects, which indicates that they are not satisfied with the current
status of environmental policies.
5) Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic
Major problems raised are: they cannot hold on-site events/meetings, cannot
visit their activity areas and resulting income decrease. Instead, they started
such new activities as online meetings and seminars. However, less than 10%
enjoyed the positive effect (enhanced dissemination, moreaudience/supporters, increased income) of the pandemic. More than 80%
consider that through the pandemic experience, local, social and economic
systems should be reviewed to make necessary modifications.
It seems that the corona pandemic provides us with a good opportunity tothink deeply about the current ways of living, and about a better economic andsocial system for the future. At the same time, the survey result represents theproblems that I observe in our day-to-day activities. To my great disappointment,
the problems they raised are almost the same as those we identified in the early
2000s. Behind this is the fact that, in Japan, NPOs/NGOs are not recognized theirserving the public interest.
Contrary to the situations in western countries where democracy ishistorically deep-rooted, Japanese people in general including national and local
governments, regard environmental NPOs/NGOs as groups of volunteers topromote environmental conservation without profits. They have not and are not at
all considered as partners to improve environmental policy-making These days,some groups/leaders including myself are invited to the governmental panels andprovide “opinion”, but it is quite different from partnering with the government.
Following the statement of Prime Minister Suga to realize decarbonized society by
2050, the government injects a huge amount of public money into the business
entities but does not provide NPOs/NGOs with any support for their public interest
activities.
It is regrettable that, in Japan, governments, the general public, and even
NPOs/NGOs themselves do not recognize environmental NPOs/NGOs as expert
groups that serve the public interest (environment). Of course, on-site activities
are quite important for environmental conservation/protection, but such activities
alone will not improve the current NPO/NGO situation of poor funding/staffing. To
fully play the expected roles as non-profit and non-governmental organizations,further action is needed to reflect their firsthand experiences to the actual policymaking.
Today, urgent issues are piled up: climate crisis, ecosystem collapse,
issues related to plastics disposal, chemical issue, and energy issues including
atomic-power generation, etc. Governments and governmental organizations
alone are limited in their ability to cope with all these issues. It is time theyrecognize the role of NPOs/NGOs and invite them to the policy-making process.
For that purpose, the status of NPOs/NGOs is to be articulated, and based on that
understanding, their activities for public benefits should be subsidized andpromoted. Utilizing this survey result, we will work on the government torecognize NPOs/NGOs are representing environmental benefits.