COP10 host nation shuts eyes to corporate destruction of environment

Japan Press Weekly

Japan Press Service Co., Ltd. is the only news agency providing information of progressive, democratic movements in Japan

COP10 host nation shuts eyes to corporate destruction of environment

Japanese Communist Party representative Ichida Tadayoshi at a November 11 Upper House Environment Committee meeting criticized the government for neglecting Toyota's development of facilities on an environmentally-rich area, contradicting the pledge Japan expressed at the 10th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP10).

Toyota Motor plans to construct a test course and other facilities for research and development in a 660-hectare area of "satoyama" (woodland near human settlements) stretching from Toyota City to Okazaki City in Aichi Prefecture, which hosted the COP10 last month.

The planned construction site includes forests and rice fields where many endangered species inhabit, such as the Japanese night heron, grey-faced buzzard, and oriental honey-buzzard. The Japanese night heron breeds only in Japan. It is estimated that only around 1,000 remain.

Proposed by the Japanese government, the "Satoyama Initiative" was adopted at the COP 10 with the aim of conserving farmlands, secondary forests, and other human-influenced natural environments.

Ichida asked how the government allows the negative impact of Toyota's development plan on the conservation of ecosystems.

Environment Minister Matsumoto Ryu answered that it is a matter for the prefectural government to appropriately deal with based on the principle of local autonomy.

The JCP secretariat head then stated, "The matter of environmental degradation or destruction should not be left to the whims of local governments and private firms. With such an irresponsible stance how can the government claim to promote the ‘Satoyama Initiative' it proposed?"

- Akahata, November 12, 2010