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Policy Actions on Environmental Education in Japan

Policy Actions on Environmental Education in Japan. September 23, 2012 Ministry of the Environment Japan. 1. Environmental Education Law. Overview. Background. ○ Basic Principle

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Policy Actions on Environmental Education in Japan

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  1. Policy Actionson Environmental Educationin Japan September 23, 2012 Ministry of the Environment Japan

  2. 1.Environmental EducationLaw Overview Background ○Basic Principle Environmental conservation efforts, encouragement of willingness for environmental conservation and environmental education shall be performed by appropriate sharing of roles and cooperation on an equal footing among various entities for construction of sustainable society. July 2003 “Environmental Education Law” (The Act on Enhancing Motivation on Environmental Conservation and Promotion of Environmental Education. former law) enacted (lawmaker-initiated legislation, unanimous) • ○Effort by Citizen, Private Entity, etc. • Citizen, private body, etc., shall not only make effort to perform environmental education, collaborative actions, etc. in household, workplace, local areas, etc., but also make efforts to cooperate with environmental education, collaborative actions (*), etc. performed by the other entities. ＊ Collaborative actions: Environmental conservation activity, encouragement of willingness for environmental conservation, environmental education and other efforts concerning environmental conservation based on suitable sharing of roles and cooperation on an equal footing among citizen, private entity, State and localgovernment. September 2004 The basic policy (primary) based on the former law endorsed ○Effort by Local Government Local government shall make efforts to create the action plan concerning promotion of environmental education, collaborative actions, etc. Afterward, the situation of environmental problems changed, for example, effect of Kyoto Protocol, execution of the Convention on Biological Diversity and formulation of the Fundamental Plan for Establishing a Secondary Sound Material-Cycle Society ＥＳＤ ＥＳＤ ○Effort by School - State and local government shall take measures on school education and social education to deepen understanding and nurture interests in environmental conservation according to development stage from infant period. - State government shall take measures to promote environmental education in schools, enrich training programs for teachers, develop teaching materials, and equip schools with eco-friendly facilities. Amended “Environmental Education Law” (The Act on Enhancing Motivation on Environmental Conservation and Promoting of Environmental Education enacted (lawmaker-initiated legislation, unanimous) June 2011 ○Effort in Workplace Business sector shall make efforts to provide their employees with environmental education. State and local government shall make efforts to introduce experts to the business sector or provide it with information, etc. ○Concrete Schemes - State government designates entities which support environmental activities by private entities, etc. - State government registers enterprises which certify/develop human resources or develop/provide teaching materials. - Prefectural governor certifies places to provide opportunities for environmental experiences including nature field trip. - State and local government can make agreement with private entities to promote collaborative actions. June 2012 The basic policy (secondary) based on the amended law endorsed October 2012 Amended law came into force on a full scale * The underlined parts are the points of amendment in June 2011

  3. 2.Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) Overview of ESD Main Background ○ ESD stands for Educationfor Sustainable Development, which includes key sustainable development issues into teaching and learning; for example, climate change, disaster risk reduction, biodiversity, poverty reduction, and sustainable consumption. ○　Government of Japan have proposed ‘Decade of Education for Sustainable Development’ in Johannesburg Summit in Sep 2002. It was adopted unanimously in the UN General Assembly in Dec. 2002. Consequently, UnitedNations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (UNDESD) has started in 2005. • Sep 2002Japan proposed DESD in Johannesburg Summit • Dec 2002UNDESD passed unanimously in UN General Assembly • Jan 2005UNDESD started • Sep 2005UNESCO cooperated with UN organizations concerned to formulate the international execution plan. • Dec 2005 The liaison conference for the ministries engaged in UNDESD was established. • Mar 2006The domestic UNDESD action plan was determined by the related ministries. • Jan 2008Roundtable for UNDESD was established. • Mar 2009ESD Global Conference (Bonn in Germany) • The venue of the international conference for ESD in 2014 has been decided as Japan. • Jun 2011The domestic UNDESD action plan was revised. • Jun 2012 UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) • It was agreed that we promote ESD, and integrate sustainable development more actively into education beyond 2014. • -”Green Future Initiatives” by Japanese government declared it continues contributing to the advancement of ESD. • 2014Final Year of UNDESD • NovGlobal Conference on ESD will be held (Nagoya city and Okayama city in Japan) ESD Environmental Education Education on Society International Understanding Education on Economy

  4. 3.Output related to Environmental Education in Rio+20 ○Rio+20 The future we want（Excerpted） We encourage Member States to promote sustainable development awareness among youth, inter alia by promoting programmes for non-formal education in accordance with the goals of the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development, 2005-2014. We resolve to promote education for sustainable development and to integrate sustainable development more actively into education beyond the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development. ○Rio+20 Japan’s “Green Future Initiatives” （Excerpted） UNESCO in Japan in 2014, the final year of the UNDESD, and continue contributing to the advancement of ESD; further promote the development of human resources for a sustainable society and the creation of environmental education programs toward the conference, and share these globally. ○Rio+20 Government of Japan Initiatives of the Ministry of the Environment, Japan （Excerpted） Japan will promote international cooperation regarding ESD through funding the project such as networking of Regional Centre of Expertise on Education for Sustainable Development（RCE）implemented by the United Nations University (UNU). Japan also enhances the efforts of domestic environmental education such that Japan can present exemplary actions and take leadership at the Final Year Meeting of the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD) to be held in 2014 in Japan.

  5. 4. Main domestic policies to promote ESD Model projects of local ESD Programs +ESD Project Plus ○MOE performed model projects in 14 regions from 2006 to 2008 　＜10 areas adopted from 2006 to 2007＞ Tobetsu town in HokkaidoSendai region in Miyagi Edo Maenoumi in TokyoSutama town in Yamanashi Mishima city in Shizuoka Kasugai city in Aichi Toyonaka city in OsakaNishinomiya city in Hyogo Kashiwa-jima in KochiKita-kyushu city in Fukuoka ＜ 4 areas adopted from 2007 to 2008＞ Nishiyodogawa-ku in OsakaOshima town in Yamaguchi Okayama city in Oakayama Unzen city in Nagasaki • ○+ESD Project is a system to register domestic local ESD activities on a website for visualizing them. • ○Objectives of this registration system are; • ESD activities to develop human resources who struggle with local or global issues and make efforts to realize sustainable society. • Projects to assist ESD activities by providing funds or introducing experts. • ○MOE organizes ”ESD Learning Forum” to gather those who are engaged in the registered ESD activities or assistance projects to encourage mutual learning and cooperation and building network. • (Others) • MOE makes contribution of \160 million to the United Nations University each year, a part of which is for • development of network of several leading higher education institutions in Asia and the Pacific to integrate 'sustainable development' into postgraduate courses and curricula. (ProSPER.Net) • Development of Regional Centre of Expertise on ESD (RCE), which is a network of existing formal, non-formal and informal education organizations, mobilized to deliver ESD to local and regional communities.

  6. 5. ESD to lead the action (Good Practice) Winter Do you think activities to create a sustainable community and ESD are same ? It is difficult to draw a line between them. For example, Osaka's Nishiyodogawa ESD Commission members from high schools, universities and Girl Scout troops tackled a project for a sustainable transportation system by adopting the Nanohana (rape blossom) Project. Nishiyodogawa High School students also work on the Nanohana Project through compulsory subjects on the environment, in which they learn about the history of local pollution to enable them to reconsider societal matters. The project has also spawned the Eco Communication Club (ECC), which has increased its activities in the area and been developed while interacting with other commission members. ●A New Year party was held among Nishiyodogawa ESD members. ●Activity reports were given by many participants, and opinions on environmental problems were exchanged with junior high school students from South Korea. ● Discussion and debate were conducted on what can be done and what the national government, local governments and businesses should do. ●Participants collected waste oil at a local festival and sold cotton candy during the Toyonaka City Environment Exposition using BDF as fuel for the cotton candy machine. ESD at Nishiyodogawa High School Summer ●The members distributed rape blossom seeds in conjunction with the Green Fund run by Girl Scouts in the area. ●The members instructed elementary school students of the Junior Eco-club in the Nanohana Project. A generator was operated using BDF to power an electric fan. The group also helped on a farm with students from Osaka University of Economics and a local junior high school. Autumn ●Students monitored air pollution and learned about the Nishiyodogawa Air Pollution Lawsuit involving the story of a victim of pollution-related disease. Spring ●The class was started in a rape blossom field in full bloom from last year. ●Students in the class learn about a range of activities on the Nanohana Project. ●Nishiyodogawa ESD stickers were produced to promote the project. ●Harvesting and threshing of rapeseed were carried out in cooperation with local volunteers. ●Osaka's project members athered seeds to refine Bio Diesel Fuel (BDF), which is utilized to operate Hankyu buses.

  7. 6. International policies to promote ESD (1) Development of Environment Human Resources in Asian Graduate Schools : ProSPER.Net＊1 ＊1Promotion of Sustainability in Postgraduate Education and Reseaerch Net work - November 2007 Drafting of Charter (11 Organizations) - June 2008 Signing Ceremony (18 Organizations) - As of August 2012 22Organizations ProSPER.Net Building network of several leading higher education institutions in Asia and the Pacific to integrate 'sustainable development' into postgraduate courses and curricula. 【Member Universities : 22】 （Japan:11, Korea:1, China: 2Australia: １. Philippine:1, Thailand:１,Indonesia:１, India:１, Malaysia:1, Others:2） (2) Development of Regional Centre of Expertise on ESD: RCE ○United Nations Universityreviews and certificatesplaces where various stake holders cooperate to perform ESD effectively with strong partnership and network. ○ As of Sep 2012, 101 places are certificated as RCEs. ○ Japan has 6 RCEs : Greater Sendai, Yokohama, Chubu, Hyogo-Kobe, Okayama, Kita-Kyushu Place Certificated as RCE (3) Environment Cooperation among Japan, China and Korea : Tripartite Environmental Education Network (TEEN) Experts and administrators of environmental education in China, Korea and Japan gather to have symposium and seminars to develop the network of environmental education among 3 countries, which is one of the TEMM*2 projects. 12th TEEN Meeting (Gyeongju, Korea, Nov 2011) ＊2 Tripartite Ministers Meeting among China, Korea and Japan Note. As for (1)and (2), funding (\160 million) is contributed from Ministry of the Environment, Japan to the United Nations University.

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