Abstract
With the recent environmental issues such as global warming and illegal dumping of waste, people are getting more concerned with the impacts of household activities on the environment. Environmental conservation activities conducted voluntarily by citizens may reduce these impacts. Citizens can be encouraged by the assessment of their activities for further undertakings. In this article, as necessary tools for such assessment, new statistics measuring the size of citizens’ activities in the environmental conservation are presented along with the outline of environmental governance in Japan. In concluding, several strategies for effective involvement of citizens in the environmental governance are suggested.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
This study was conducted with the financial assistance from the Japan Securities Scholarship Foundation. The author would like to express her gratitude for the Foundation
The SEEA is the guideline for compiling a set of statistical data describing the inter-relationships between the natural environment and the economy. It was firstly published in 1993 (SEEA 1998; United Nations 1993) and revised in 2003 (SEEA 2003; United Nations et al. 2003). The SEEA 2003 will be the statistical standard for environmental-economic accounting as the System of National Accounts is the statistical standard for economic accounts. Additional works will be conducted in order that the UN Statistics Commission adopts the SEEA 2003 as an international statistical standard.
A neighborhood association is a community-based organization whose membership is open to every household living in a certain neighborhood. Membership is not compulsory but every household is expected to become a member of the association. Especially in the local area, all the households are involved in the association.
The Population Census is carried out every five years by the Statistics Bureau of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications. It covers entire population in Japan.
The Survey on Time Use and Leisure Activities was firstly conducted in 1976 and has been conducted every five years by the Statistics Bureau of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications. The survey aims at obtaining comprehensive data on daily patterns of time allocation and on leisure activities
The Basic Survey on Wage Structure is conducted by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare every year. The survey aims at obtaining a clear picture of the wage structure of employees in major industries i.e., wage distribution by type of employment, type of work, occupation, sex, age, school career, length of service and occupational career, etc.
References
Clean Yokosuka Friendship Association. (2005). Progress of Clean Yokosuka Movement for 30 years.
Clean Yokosuka Friendship Association. (2007). Annual Report of Activities under the Clean Yokosuka Movement.
Economic Planning Agency, Prime Minister’s Office, Government of Japan. (1997). Monetary Valuation of Unpaid Labor. http://www5.cao.go.jp/j-j/doc/unpaid-j-j.html.
Environment Agency, Prime Minister’s Office, Government of Japan. (1969–1971). White Paper on Environmental Pollutions.
Environment Agency, Prime Minister’s Office, Government of Japan. (1972–2000). White Paper on the Environment.
EUROSTAT. (2003). Household Production and Consumption — Proposal for a Methodology of Household Satellite Accounts — Task force report for Eurostat, Unit E1. http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page?_pageid=1073,46587259&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL&p_product_code=KS-CC-03-003.
Ministry of the Environment, Government of Japan. (2001–2006). White Paper on the Environment. http://www.env.go.jp/en/wpaper/.
Ministry of the Environment, Government of Japan. (2007). Annual Report on the Environment and the Sound Material-Cycle Society in Japan. http://www.env.go.jp/en/wpaper/2007/index.html.
UK Office for National Statistics. (2002). Household Satellite Account (Experimental) Methodology. http://www.statistics.gov.uk/hhsa/downloads.
United Nations. (1993). Handbook of National Accounting Integrated Environmental and Economic Accounting. Series F. No.61. http://unstats.un.org/unsd/pubs/gesgrid.asp?ID=55.
United Nations, European Commission, IMF, OECD and World Bank. (2003). Handbbok of National Accounting Integrated Environmental and Economic Accounting 2003. Final draft. http://unstats.un.org/unsd/envaccounting/seea.asp.
Yokosuka City Government. (2008). Annual report on the progress of the Basic Environment Plan. Fiscal 2007 version.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Kaneko, Y. Role of Citizens in Environmental Conservation: The Case of the Yokosuka City; A Statistical Analysis. Public Organ Rev 10, 17–30 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11115-009-0086-7
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11115-009-0086-7