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GISPRI No. 15, 1997

Reports


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 :

China: 

Prof. Shengkui Cheng, Chinese Academy of Sciences 

India: 

Dr. Rajendra K. Pachauri, Tata Energy Research Institute
Mr. Prabir Sengupta, Planning Commission, Government of India

Indonesia : 

 Dr. Siti Adiprigandari Adiwoso Suprapto, University of Indonesia 

Korea : 

Dr. Hoi-Seong Jeong, Korea Environmental Technology Research Institute 
Prof. Dong-Kun Lee, Sangmyung University 

Malaysia : 

Mr. Gurmit Singh, Environmental Protection Society of Malaysia
Ms. Ooi-Lin Yong, PE Research Sdn. Bhd. 

Taiwan : 

Dr. Su-Chin Tsao, and Dr. Yeong-Ren Chen, Environmental Protection Administration 

Thailand : 

Dr. Dhira Phantumvanit, and Dr. Qwanruedee Limvorapitak, Thailand Environment Institute 

USA : 

Dr. Allen Hammond, World Resources Institute
Dr. John Steinbruner, The Brookings Institution 

Japan : 

Prof. Yoichi Kaya, Keio University 
Prof. Kei Takeuchi, Meiji Gakuin University Prof. Shunsuke Mori, Science University of Tokyo 
Prof. Yuji Suzuki, Housei University 
Prof. Hirotaka Koike, Utsunomiya University 
Prof. Kanji Yoshioka, Keio University
Mr. Shoji Kusuda, Ministry of International Trade and Industry
Dr. Mitsuhiro Nakagawa, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries 
Mr. Koji Nagano, Central Research Institute of Electric Power Industry 
Prof. Kazumitsu Nawata, The University of Tokyo 
Prof. Ryuji Matsuhashi, The University of Tokyo 
Mr. Michio Watanabe, International Development Center of Japan
Ms. Miwako Kurosaka, World Resources Institute 
Mr. Shinji Fukukawa, Dentsu Institute for Human Studies 
Mr. Katsuo Seiki, and Mr. Shuichi Sasaki of GISPRI 

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.