Statement by Mr. Kazuya Otsuka
Delegation of Japan
Interlinkages and Cross-cutting issues
Inter-governmental Preparatory Meeting
19th Session of the Commission of Sustainable Development
3 March 2011
Thank you, Mr. Chairman,
I would also like to thank the three panelists for their presentations.
(Cross-cutting, SCP)
After hearing rich discussions on the interlinkages among the current themes of CSD-19,
I would like to stress the importance of the sustainable consumption and production
(SCP) as a cross-cutting issue which relates to all other themes; tran sport, chemicals,
waste management and mining. As we face the limitation of natural resources and
limited carbon space, we must share the sense of urgency for immediate actions not
only for climate change, biodiversity and desertification, but also for the transition to a
low carbon and resource efficient society with sustainable consumption and production
patterns.
SCP is a very useful and important tool to realize three pillars of sustainable
development. De-coupling economic growth from environmental degradation is a huge
challenge for us, but it is not impossible as past experiences of Japan demonstrate.
Japan is dependent on other countries for its energy resources, and ever since the First
Oil Crisis, Japan has been committed as a nation to energy conservation. Over the last
30 years, we have succeeded in doubling our real GDP without increasing the overall
energy consumption of the industry sector. This demonstrates that increasing energy
efficiency is a very good tool for promoting sustainable development.
Mr. Chairman,
(Green Economy)
As we expect that CSD-19 will make a significant contribution to Rio+20, I would like to
emphasize the importance of a ?green economy? as a cross-cutting issue. It is essential
to share the idea of Green Economy globally and come up with a set of
recommendations that can be applicable to various countries with variety of
development stages and socio-economic circumstances to achieve this goal.
We should recognize the importance of Green Economy not only as an environmentally
friendly policy tool, but rather as an economic policy which create new jobs and thus
stimulate economy. In case of Japan, we set a goal to create 1.4 million new
environmental related employments through green innovation. My Government decided
?New Growth Strategy? last year and is going to take policies such as increasing
environmental investment and eco-business opportunities, enhancing renewable
energy and shifting to low-carbon economy by utilizing information and communication
technologies.
Mr. Chairman,
(Conclusion)
Transformation of society would not be possible without support by citizens. I would like
to emphasize the importance of involving civil society, businesses and NGOs in our
discussions on how we can transform our daily life to one that is sustainable. We should
be conscious that we are now embarking on a very long journey that will outlive the
current generation. In such a long perspective, education will play a key role in raising
the next generation?s awareness. In this context, I would like to remind you of the United
Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (2005 -2014). Since my
Government proposed this Decade, we are supporting UNESCO as its coordinator. We
would welcome further close cooperation between CSD and UNESCO.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
