2. Measures for Building a Sustainable Society

1. (1)What is a sustainable society?
   

The above-mentioned crises are progressing in a multi-tiered, interrelated vicious cycle. We must tackle these crises directly and find ways to resolve them in order to secure growth and prosperity for our society. To this end, we must strive to maintain a sound and rich environment from the global to the local levels so that people in every country and region of the world can enjoy a happy life andwe can pass on a sound society—that is, a sustainable society—to future generations. The following points are important to transform socio-economic activities on a global scale into sustainable ones. During implementation, it is necessary to ensure that actions to reduce the consequences of the environmental load shall, based on the precautionary principle, not be delayed under the pretext of a lack of complete scientific evidence, while efforts are made to promote scientific studies and increase scientific knowledge.--Keep the environmental load within the environment’s carrying capacity at present and in the future, at a level that will not hinder environmental conservation.--Minimize the collection of natural resources and minimize emissions/disposal into the natural environment, so that a sound material cycle will be ensured.--Restore and maintain ecosystems in a sound state and seek co-existence between nature and humankind. With technological and social innovation, we can minimize environmental load and alleviate environmental constraints. It is important that we keep a proactive attitude to challenge the so-called “limits to growth” theory and achieve “plus sum” growth while continuing to develop the socio-economy to match people’s energy and desire for betterment in the long term. To this end, it is necessary to fully utilize the unique qualities of our citizens and the energy of our society using three types of efforts, namely, developing and disseminating energy and environmental technologies, reforming our lifestyles, and reviewing our current socio-economic system, followed by the creationof appropriate incentives.

2. (2)Implementing comprehensive efforts for building a sustainable society
   

In the context of the three crises mentioned above, a sustainable society is envisioned as a “low carbon society,” a “sound-material cycle society,” and a “society in harmony with nature.” If we focus attention on efforts to mitigate climate change and free ourselves from the constraints of fossil-fuel energy resources, what we will need is efforts to bring about a “low carbon society.” This calls for a drastic reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel consumption so that the greenhouse gas emissions of the world as a whole will be at levels that can be absorbed by nature. These measures will enable lifestyles of abundance while stabilizing the concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere at levels that will not adversely impact climate. If we focus attention on the environmental load resulting from the collection and disposal of

resources, we will need efforts to bring about a “sound material-cycle society.” This calls for reducing waste and recycling resources through all stages of our socio-economic activities, including the collection of resources, production, distribution, consumption, and disposal. This will minimize the extraction or collection of resources, thereby lessening the burden on the environment as much as possible. Furthermore, if we focus attention on conserving ecosystems, which form the basis of human existence, we need to develop a “society in harmony with nature” so that we can enjoy the benefits of nature for the current generation and generations to come. This calls for properly conserving biodiversity, conducting socio-economic activities in harmony with nature, including agricultural, forestry, and fishery operations that follow natural cycles, and creating various opportunities and

venues for us to experience and enjoy natural environments.The sustainable society which we are aiming for has the above aspects. The multiple measures necessary to accomplish each aspect, however, tend to be implemented idependently with insufficient coordination, despite the fact that the society we envision is a single one. We must take into consideration the interrelationship between these aspects and implement comprehensive measures with the understanding that humankind is an integral part of the earth’s ecosystem and our existence is dependent on it. While striving to live in harmony with nature, we must pursue a sound cycle of materials, including carbon dioxide, in our society—a cycle that observes the greater cycle

of nature and of the earth—so that we can realize a society having sustainable growth and development.

3. (3)Building a sustainable society with the participation and cooperation of all actors
   

Building a sustainable society is an objective not only for Japan but also for the world. Quite a number of years have passed since this issue was first brought to the attention of the international community. For example, it was in 1987 that the World Commission on Environment and

Development (WCED) defined the concept of “sustainable development” in its report “Our Common Future” and appealed the cause to the world. Since that time, twenty years have passed. Today, understanding the need to create a sustainable society is shared by many sectors of society both in Japan and overseas. Various countries and regions in the world, including Japan, have actively carried out a wide range of measures to work towards the realization of a sustainable society. However, despite all these measures, environmental problems are still advancing on a global scale, making it difficult to say that the measures undertaken so far have delivered adequate results. In view of the seriousness of problems such as climate change, we need to have a sense of urgency and advance the measures that are being implemented. As human activities have increased in both quality and quantity and environmental problems have become more complex and diverse, the realization of a sustainable society is certainly not an easy task. What is needed now is to gain the participation and cooperation of all actors in various sectors in Japan and abroad, join forces under the common goal of protecting the environment, expand the circle of individual activities, and offer strong support so that, together, we can pass on a sound and abundant environment to future generations.

The economic activities of the industry slow life

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Industrial slow life in KADAMO region.

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Increasingly serious global environmental issues

Measures for building a sustainable society