Untitled - UNU-IAS

More documents

Recommendations

Info

condition of the disease, however, denied any connection between the disease and industries’ activities, and suggested people living in this area resettle elsewhere as in the above Ulsan case. 3) China (1989-) Environmental policy development in China has shifted to new stage since the late 1980s, with the establishment of the National Environmental Protection Agency in the State Council in 1988 and the enactment of the Environmental Protection Law in 1989 which replaced the Trial Law of 1979. Prior to that, policy reform in China had taken place for 10 years until the Chinese government began to pursue the transition from a socialist planned economy to a socialist market economy. In 1988, the National Environmental Protection Agency became independent of the existing ministries and conducted unified supervision and management of environmental protection work throughout the country. The Environmental Protection Law of 1989 provided basic principles for China’s environmental protection work and introduced systems for the prevention and control of environmental pollution. This Law is similar to the Basic Law for Environmental Pollution Control in Japan and the Environmental Preservation Act in Korea in the consolidation of environmental policy, despite a number of differences. Nature conservation also became a part of environmental protection work through the China Conservation Strategy of 1986, which was the first systematic guide for natural resources and environmental protection. Moreover, while information disclosure in China has been strictly limited for a long time, the Chinese government has begun to release environmental information through an annual Report on the State of the Environment, in compliance with an article of the Environmental Protection Law since 1990. Although the institutional aspects of environmental policy in China are, to a certain extent consolidated, so far China’s policy has arguably achieved few good results. The most crucial reason for this has been the scarcity of funds and technology for environmental protection (Qu,1990,p.104). In order to resolve such problems, the Chinese government has not only taken several domestic measures, such as formulating the “Regulations of the State Council on Integrating Industrial Pollution Prevention and Control with Technological Renovation of 1983”, but also demanded developed countries to provide financial and technical assistance for environmental protection. Since the late 1980s, China has adopted a very positive stance on environmental diplomacy. In the preparatory process for UNCED, the Chinese government invited ministers of developing countries to attend the Ministerial Conference of the Environment and Development in 1991. This conference adopted the so-called Beijing Declaration, which demanded new and additional financing and technology transfer to developed countries. In UNCED, Premier Li Peng himself attended and signed a series of legal documents. Thus, China’s positive stance on environmental diplomacy is in large part due to practical needs for funds and technology (Hao,1992,pp.30-32). 10
3-4 Focus -shi ft Period The term “Focus-shift Period” refers to the period that follows consolidation of the environmental policy when public concern shifts to new environmental issues. For example shifting from pollution issues to improvement of quality of life. The government, in response to the shift, reexamines existing policy responses in order to address the new issues as the policy agenda. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Environment Committee conducted a review of environmental policy in Japan in 1967-1977, and concluded, “Japan has won many pollution abatement battles, but has not yet the war for environmental quality (OECD,1977,p.83).” Thus the Japanese government initiated to address the new environmental issues, such as the improvement of quality of life since the late 1970s. The Environment Agency proposed several new measures to create a more comfortable environment (“Amenity”). The environmental policy development in Japan, however, slowed down by the early 1980s. Even though several large local governments, such as Kawasaki, had by the late 1970s incorporated the environmental impact assessment system into their ordinances or administrative guidelines prior to the central government, the Environmental Impact Assessment Bill was defeated in the Diet of 1983. Since the mid 1980s, global environmental issues, such as global warming and ozone depletion, have emerged and received much attention as a part of the policy agenda. By way of UNCED, the Basic Environment Law, which replaced the Basic Law for Environmental Pollution Control of 1967, was enacted in order to provide the basic principles and the policy instruments for environmental issues, which included not only pollution issues but also improvement of quality of life and global environmental issues. Currently, the most important task for Japan’s environmental policy is how the government, companies, and citizens will implement the Basic Environment Plan, which was established in 1994 based on the Basic Law of 1993 in order to comprehensively and systematically promote the policies for environmental conservation. On the other hand, the Korean government, soon after the Declaration for Democratization of 1987 initiated by Roh Tae-Woo and the Seoul Olympic Games of 1988, began to consider how economic development policies needed to be changed in order to promote economic and ecological prosperity at the same time (Ministry of Environment,1992,p.70). Korea which guaranteed people the right to live in a comfortable environment in the 1990 Constitution, took legislative action to address the new environmental issues of an improved quality of life and of a comfortable environment. In 1990, the Environment Administration was upgraded to the cabinet level Environment Agency. The National Assembly passed the Basic Environmental Policy Act which replaced the Environmental Preservation Act of 1977, and several other environment-related Acts for air quality prevention, water quality prevention, noise and vibration control, and toxic chemicals control. In addition, as a result of the democratization that 11
Page 2 and 3: UNU/IAS Working Paper No. 95 A Comp
Page 4 and 5: 1.Introduction High rates of econom
Page 6 and 7: 1) Japan (1945-1954) Since the mid-
Page 8 and 9: areas. Pollution damages became so
Page 10 and 11: As a part of the policy reform sinc
Page 14 and 15: has occurred in the late 1980s, cam
Page 16 and 17: confronted with the scarcity of fun
Page 18 and 19: een nearly 10%. At that time, moreo
Page 20 and 21: new environmental issues in the pol
Page 22 and 23: through a similar pattern. Thus env
Page 24 and 25: References Agency of Natural Resour
Page 26 and 27: Environmental Affairs 2(2): 103-108
Page 28 and 29: Table 1 Comparative Chronological T
Page 30 and 31: China Japan Korea China Japan Korea
Page 32 and 33: 1.National Experience (1) Events of
Page 34 and 35: 20 % 15 10 Japan Korea China 5 0 19
Page 36 and 37: 4,000 kg.oil equivalent 3,500 3,000
Page 38 and 39: 70 % 60 50 40 30 Agriculture Indust
Page 40: 70 % 60 50 40 30 Agriculture Indust

Untitled - UNU-IAS

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?