Report on the Regional Workshop for Sustainable Development in East Asia

The Regional Workshop for Sustainable Development in East Asia was held at Arcadia lchigaya in Tokyo from 2 to 4 October 1996, hosted by World Resources Institute, the Brookings Institution, and Global Industrial and Social Progress Research Institute. Reported below is its programme, Invitee, and the discussion summary presented at the conclusion of the workshop by Prof. Yoichi Kaya of Keio University.

Programme

2 Oct. Wed., Morning
Opening remarks (Mr. S. Fukukawa, Japan)
Keynote address (Prof. S Mori, Japan)
Session- I "Prospects for and obstacles to achieving a sustainable society"

2 Oct. Wed., Afternoon - 3 Oct. Thu.
Session-2 "Vislon of development and its prospects"
Group I "Local economic development and gaps between areas"
Group 2 "Industrial development and environmental conservation"
Group 3 "Wastes and recycling" Group 4 "Sustainable land use and its limitation"
Special Lecture "Potentiality and limitation of sustained growth in East Asia" (Prof. K. Takeuchi, Japan)

4 Oct. Fri., Morning
Session 3 "Actions required to create a sustainable society in East Asia"
Closing address (Prof. Y. Kaya, Japan) Closing remarks (Mr. K. Seiki, Japan)

Invitee :

Discussion Summary

Closing Address by Prof. Yoichi Kaya of Keio University As a whole, the discussion focused on the Issues of poverty elimination and environmental pollution. How do we incorporate environmental concerns in economy? This can be expressed in economic terminology as the internalization of economic externalities.

Concerning economy and environment, the first question is whether investment on environmental conservation will be a plus or minus in view of economy. An example can be found in Japan's past. The overwhelming argument in Japan for 1960's and 1970's was that the investment for pollution measures would be minus to economy. In 1980's, however, the view that such investment might not be totally minus to economy increased supports.

Will Asia take a similar course in view of environmental investment? It will not be simple, because of diverse economic structures. It should be stressed here that the serious addressing of environmental measures would lead to technological development. A good example is the case of automobile manufacturing technology developed in Japan. Higher the obstacles, more enthusiastic the engineers get.

I would like to conclude here that it is possible to attain both the economic growth and environmental protection. I would also like to emphasize the importance of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). There may not be sufficient interest in LCA between developing countries, but it has utmost importance. In addition, I hope that no-regret strategy would be adopted in Asia.

What is the minimum that must be introduced to developing countries? I would like to point out the energy efficiency technology and efficient biomass technology. The word "appropriate technologies" is not appreciated well in developing countrles, due to mis-apprehension that it is equal to "used and outdated technologies" of developed countries. However, the "appropriate technologies" also means the technologies that conform to a new environment of host countries.

First of all, I would like to point out the water saving clean coal technology as an example. Such water saving technology was not developed in Japan due to relative abundance of water resource. On the other hand, there should be considerable importance in the field of clean coal utilization to develop such technology.

Similar argument can be made for biomass utilization technology. It has not been fully developed in the North, including Japan, but the Asia Pacific Advanced Technology Transfer Cen-ter in Hawaii is actively carrying the study of gas combined cycle power generation technology using biomass.

These two technologies are new and will become important future technologies for Asia.