Although the situation has changed significantly in recent years, it was pointed out for many years that Japanese NGOs seldom attended international conferences on environmental issues. Many Japanese attended the UN-sponsored Earth Summit in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, in 1992. However, linguistic, technical and financial problems made it difficult for Japanese participants to perform effective follow up. The purpose of our Earth Summit Follow-up program was to monitor activities of the UN Committee on Sustainable Development, which was created for the express purpose of monitoring the progress of environmental issues and commitments made at the Earth Summit, and to stimulate activity in Japanese through the publication and distribution, to Japanese citizens and NGOs, of reports on key topics and issues being discussed in international arenas.

This program was discontinued in 1997, when it was judged that many Japanese NGOs had gained sufficient linguistic expertise and forged effective networks to perform their own follow-up. This has made it possible for JACSES' resources to be directed to new programs.

Contact Person: Koyu FURUSAWA/Yuki TANABE