A better future for children -- Akahata editorial, September 6The World Summit on Sustainable Development held in Johannesburg, South Africa, ended after adopting the "Plan of Implementation" and the "Political Declaration."
Implementation of Kyoto Protocol
An early effectuation of the Kyoto Protocol, which has been called for as a first step towards preventing global warming, has become a real possibility with Canada having announced that it will ratify the protocol by the end of year and with Russia having promised to ratify it very soon. China ratified the protocol prior to the opening of the Earth Summit.
These moves throw into relief the arbitrary U.S. attitude of withdrawing from the treaty.
It was not without reason that U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell was met by protesters booing and jeering him when he delivered a speech referring to the U.S. government's action on prevention of global warming.
It is important to further heighten the public awareness and increase the movement to get the United States to abide by the rules established in the Kyoto Protocol along with the effort to ensure that the protocol will come into effect as early as possible as the general will of all countries.
The energy question was a major focus of discussion to the last moment. It is regrettable that the summit failed to agree numerical targets of increasing the share of wind, solar and other renewable energy sources.
It is serious that the Japanese government along with the United States opposed establishing numerical targets. Japanese Foreign Minister Kawaguchi Yoriko said that the difficulty is that the energy situation differs from country to country.
But, the implementation of the Kyoto Protocol for curbing greenhouse gas emissions calls for an effort to increase the share of renewable energy sources so that the use of fossil fuels such as coals and oil can be reduced. Japan lags behind the trend in this field. So it can only be a powerful driving force if it accepts and pursues numerical targets that meet the international standards.
Japan should not uncritically follow the United States in turning its back on the world trend towards the prevention of global warming; it should show an attitude of exerting its power to protect the global environment. This is precisely what the world expects from Japan.
Ten years have passed since the previous Earth Summit. The global environment is worsening as a result of the increased greenhouse effects.
The three-billion-year-old life-support system is in major danger of collapsing.
"It is very likely that the 1990s was the warmest decade in this millennium," the Third Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a panel of world researchers, pointed out.
The people of Tuvalu, a country in the South Pacific, are afraid that their country will be under water if the sea level continues to rise. Global warming, which has an adverse effect in many parts of the world, reminds us of the urgent need to take actions to protect the environment.
Japan must fulfill its responsibility
The Political Declaration says, "through our actions, they (world children) will inherit a world free of indignity and indecency occasioned by poverty, environmental degradation, and patterns of unsustainable developments."
The agreement achieved by this Earth Summit may not be sufficient but its steady implementation will be a first step towards protecting the environment.
At the same time, further discussion will be needed concerning insufficient parts of the agreement.
We hope that world governments will move forward in good faith toward protecting the global environment, and demand that the Japanese government and corporations take initiatives to fulfill their responsibility. (end)