Citizen Action
Nov. 1995A spokesperson of logging-affected people in Papua New Guinea
(PNG) and an activist of an organization in PNG providing legal and
other aid to such people toured through Japan about 2 weeks, giving
public talks in Tokyo, Osaka, Fukui, Kamakura, and Fujisawa to explain
the current situation of logging and efforts to protect forests in PNG.
They came at the invitation of the Society to Protect the Forests of
Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands.
Oct. 1995The Kansai Region Tropical Timber Use Reduction Committee was
launched as a joint initiative of the tropical forest action groups
Hutan (Osaka), Tropical Forests-Kyoto, Tropical Forest Network-Nara, and
The Kobe Student- Youth Center. The committee is intended as a forum
for experts in industries which use tropical plywood, such as
construction, civil engineering and furniture making, as well as local
government officials, lawyers, forestry experts, domestic forestry
workers, and citizens concerned about forest conservation to conduct
research/analysis and formulate methods and policy proposals for
reducing use of tropical timber, finding alternative materials and
methods, and contributing to the achievement of sustainability in
forestry. Working groups on 1) civil engineering and large-scale
construction (and the local government campaign), 2) housing and 3)
furniture, are due to be formed to pursue these objectives. Some 100
people from all walks of life attended the inaugural meeting of the
committee.
April 1995 The Yamanashi Tropical Forest Protection Group conducted a
survey of all 64 local government bodies in Yamanashi Prefecture
regarding measures to protect tropical forests. Out of 25 respondents,
6 said that they had undertaken some measures to protect tropical
forests, and 11 others said they were willing to consider such measures
in the future.
April 1995 The citizens' group MOK (Kanagawa) had meetings with officials
of the cities Kamakura, Fujisawa, Chigasaki, and Zushi, to discuss about
tropical forest protection. They also sent letters of appeal to all 37
local government bodies in the prefecture, to which 10 responded in
writing.
April 1995The citizens' group "Protect The Tropical Forests-Chiba"
submitted a letter of appeal to the governor of Chiba Prefecture.
April 1995The citizens' group JATAN-Ehime mailed letters of appeal for
tropical forest conservation to 70 local governments in Ehime
Prefecture. As of 25 Sept. '95, 17 had responded. Five said that they
were making efforts to reduce tropical timber use or promote use of
local timber in punblic construction, while a number of others said they
were encouraging private companies to do the same, or that they were
promoting use of furniture made of local timber.
Dec. 1994The citizens' group "Tropical Forests-Kyoto" met with officials
of Kyoto City to discuss its tropical forest protection policy.
Oct. 1994A Sarawak native spokesperson and a staff member of a Malaysian
environmental organization visited Japan to meet with rainforest
activists, members of SCC, Japanese Diet members, and other concerned
people. (See p. )
Sept. 1994Mr. Takanori Ushijima, member of the municipal council of
Yamato Koriyama City (Nara Prefecture) questioned the city
administration regarding measures to protect tropical forests during a
regular session of the council.
Aug 1994The Sarawak Campaign Committee (SCC) met with the Environmental
Conservation Bureau of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government to discuss
progress in implementation of the tropical timber use reduction policy
adopted by Tokyo in June 1993, which called for reduction of tropical
timber use to 50% of 1993 levels by 1996, and to 30% by 1998. The
Bureau informed SCC that 52.5% of the plywood panels used for molding
concrete in public construction by Tokyo were 100% tropical timber, and
that these panels were used an average of 1.8 times. These figures were
tabulated only for small scale projects conducted in July 1993. Total
statistics including those for large scale projects were said to not yet
be available. It also stated that the Governor of Tokyo had sent a
letter to 49 organizations representing construction companies and
plywood manufacturers on 7 July 1993 to request their cooperation with
the tropical timber policy and to encourage similar measures in the
private sector as well.
Aug. 1994"Protect the Tropical Forests-Chiba" conducted a survey of all
80 local governments in Chiba Prefecture. Of 40 respondents, only two
(Chiba City and Urayasu City) stated that they were taking specific
measures to reduce tropical timber use, while 11 said they planned to
take such measures in the future.
July 1994SCC sent a questionnaire regarding tropical forest protection
to all 761 Japanese Diet members. As of 20 Sept. '94, 170 had
responded, of whom 85.3% said they "intended to take action for tropical
forest conservation," and 83.5% said that if a non-partisan legislators'
league for tropical forest conservation were formed in the future, they
would like to join it.
Government Policy Announcements / Actions
Oct. 1995The Housing Bureau of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government
announced that it will revise its specifications for construction of
public housing, to allow the use of conifer plywood and composite
plywood in interior finish work. This is the first time for a local
government in Japan to announce that it will make efforts to reduce use
of tropical timber in interior finish. (See p.)
March 1995Chiba City adopted a "Basic Environment Plan" in which it
announced that it would reduce its use of tropical timber konpan (panels
for molding concrete) in public construction 70% from 1990 levels by the
year 2010. The plan was adopted in order to implement the City's "Basic
Ordinance on the Environment," passed in Dec. '94. The plan also
declared numerical targets in 14 other categories, such as CO2
emissions, water quality, etc.
March 1995The Election Management Committee of Kawasaki City (Kanagawa
Prefecture) decided to use water-resistant recycled paper boards as
election poster panels during joint regional elections in March, instead
of tropical plywood which is used nationwide for this purpose. The
panels were set up at 1220 sites throughout the city. The wasteful use
of these panels, which are generally discarded after one use, has
recently come under criticism. (See p.)
Dec. 1994Mr. T. Morita, mayor of Yonago City (Tottori Prefecture)
announced at a regular session of the city council that metal mesh molds
have been used to substitute for 20% of the tropical plywood panels for
molding concrete (known as "konpan") used in public construction by the
city.
Summer 1994The Tokyo Metropolitan Council adopted a clause to implement
"policies and institutional measures to promote use of domestic
plantation timber." The clause was part of a petition which SCC
submitted to the Council in Nov. 1993. A decision has not been made
regarding other clauses of the petition. (See Mori no Koe Issue No. 6,
p. 2).
May 1994Higashi Kurume City adopted a policy to reduce use of tropical
timber in public construction by a) requiring non-use of tropical timber
in specifications for public construction; b) making efforts to also
reduce all use of plywood (tropical & non-tropical) for molding
concrete; and c) using gypsum board for underlayment, rather than
plywood. The policy paper states that the city will also conduct PR to
inform citizens about the need to protect tropical forests, encourage
construction companies to reduce tropical timber use, and promote use of
domestic timber.
April 1994The Housing Bureau of the Tokyo Municipal Government added new
wording to its specificatons for public construction requiring use of
alternatives to tropical timber konpan (panels for molding concrete):
"When plywood is to be used to mold concrete, conifer plywood or
composite plywood* shall be used as a rule. The plywood shall be type 1
or type 2 plywood for molding of concrete as specified in the Japan
Agricultural Standards, and shall have surface coating. Efforts shall
be made to increase the rate of reuse of the plywood." *[editor's note:
composite plywood has alternating plies of tropical timber and softwood.
Emphases added.]
February 1994Kawasaki City (Kanagawa Prefecture) announced a new "Basic
Environmental Plan" in which it declares that the city will try to
achieve a 70% reduction in use of tropical timber in konpan (plywood
forms for molding concrete) in public projects by 1995 (as compared to
use levels of 1990), and to restrict overall use of tropical timber
within the city as much as possible.
January 1994 The Japanese Ministry of Construction published the paper
General Principles of Environmental Policy outlining the Ministry's
guidelines for addressing environmental concerns in public
administration pertaining to construction. For the first time ever, the
Ministry clearly states reduction in the use of tropical timber as a
policy objective, and calls for the adoption of explicit reduction
goals. This is the first such environmental policy paper to be
announced by a central government ministry in the wake of passage of the
new Basic Law on the Environment last year, and the strongest commitment
to reduce tropical timber use ever made by the central government. The
paper is also noteworthy in that it emphasizes cooperation between
government and citizens, promising to "make efforts to provide" citizens
with information on policies and projects affecting the environment, and
to apply useful proposals from local residents and citizens' groups.
However, it does not outline any specific reduction goals or measures,
and most problematically, fails to make information disclosure
obligatory. Nonetheless, it is hoped to add leverage to efforts to
convince local governments of the need for reduction.
February 1994A statement of opinion calling for reduced use of tropical
timber (submitted by the Shizuoka Prefectural Assembly) was adopted by
the Conference of Speakers of the Prefectural Assemblies of the Tokai
and Hokuriku Regions.
January 1994A statement of opinion calling on the central government to
reduce tropical timber use (submitted by the Shizuoka Prefectural
Assembly) was adopted by the Conference of Speakers of the 10
Prefectural/Metropolitan Assemblies in Tokyo and Environs.
December 1993The Edogawa Ward Council (Tokyo) "adopted in principle" a
petition calling for enactment of an ordinance banning the use of
tropical timber in public construction. The petition had been submitted
in 1991 by the "Executive Committee to Make Earth Green." "Adoption in
principle" (shushi saitaku) means approval of the purport of a
particular proposal, the implementation of which is considered
unfeasible at the present time. Though many local governments in Japan
have adopted policies to reduce tropical timber use, none have passed
total tropical timber bansPthis is the first time that one has at least
stated that it agrees with the purport of such a ban.
December 1993A "Statement of Opinion Regarding Tropical Forest
Conservation" submitted by the Mushozoku Club was unanimously adopted by
the Shizuoka Prefectural Assembly during its plenary session.