I. Introduction
During October 4th and 5th, 2001, a special meeting took place in Tokyo, Japan. Participants from 34 countries from various regions of the world, deeply concerned with the rapidly deteriorating natural environment of Earth, actively exchanged their views, and jointly declared their belief in what should be done and by which means. This booklet is one of the concrete outcomes of that meeting, and intended to be an essential contribution to this "Century of Environment."
A. About the Global Forum on Education for a Sustainable Future: Promoting Earth Ethics
The Global Forum on Education for a Sustainable Future: Promoting Earth Ethics was co-organized by a total of six international organizations, including three UN programs--the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)--plus UN's Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), the Global Environment Facility (GEF), and the Organization for Industrial, Spiritual and Cultural Advancement (OISCA) - International (the sole NGO winner of UN "Earth Summit Award Toward Global Sustainability" [1993] and currently the Coordinator of the Informal NGO Regional Network for Asia and the Pacific as designated by the UN NGO Section). Among the fifty-three co-sponsors, who provided moral and/or material support, were nine ministries of the Government of Japan (Ministries of Foreign Affairs, of Environment, of Education, Culture, Sports, Sciences and Technology, etc.).
The organizers of the Global Forum were deeply concerned about the phenomenon that although there has been a growing realization about the vital and urgent need to protect and restore our environment for human welfare and survival, we continue to further damage the ecological systems of the Earth on which our well-being depends. In response to this crisis of inertia, we intended to make the Global Forum a practical and constructive response. Specifically, we hoped to invite the attention of the international community to the need to cultivate environmental ethics in the hearts of world citizens, and to the unique merits of participatory and experiential types of environmental learning as answers to this urgent issue.
Thus, the set of seven sessions described below were developed and held during October 4th and 5th, under the leadership of distinguished co-chairs: Dr. Emil Salim, Chairperson of the Preparatory Committee of the World Summit on Sustainable Development ("Earth Summit 2002"), to be held in Johannesburg, South Africa, in September 2002; and Dr. Ryokichi Hirono, Professor Emeritus of the Seikei University and a renowned Japanese scholar active in the sphere of international cooperation.
Session I: Overview of the Human Orientation to the Natural Environment featured presentations by leading scholars from India and Japan that broadened the participants' knowledge, understanding, and imagination in regard to the human orientation toward the environment through an exploration into various intellectual traditions and actual practices.
Session II: Developing the Concept of "Earth Ethics, " in which representatives of three co-organizers delineated "Earth Ethics" as a concept that represents a moral perspective best suited to the goal of our planet's sustainability.
Session III: Environmental Education in Practice--I turned attention to environmental learning that is participatory and experiential in nature. Presentations were made by the leaders of three NGOs having headquarters in North America, Europe and Asia respectively (as well as by the representative of the Japan Committee for UNICEF ).
Session IV: Environmental Education in Practice-- II continued the exploration into the world of participatory-experiential program. Presentations were made by representatives of another set of NGOs from America, Europe, and Asia, plus the leaders of an award-winning team of elementary school pupils.
Session V: Lessons Learned & Designs for Future Action--I, in which a truly diverse set of six well-qualified panelists, each a different nationality--representing an international funding agency, national government, research institution, in addition to two minors involved in environmentalism--discussed various approaches to environmental education.
Session VI: Lessons Learned & Designs for Future Action--II moved on to the pragmatic issue of how to disseminate environmental education programs. Four panelists, representing an NGO, government, and international organizations expressed their ideas and then answered specific questions made by Japan's leading environmental journalist.
Session VII. Drafting of the "2001 Tokyo Declaration for Earth Ethics, " in which a representative of the Drafting Committee introduced the prepared draft to the participants, the floor discussed various points and made a number of contributions, and a co-chair formally presided over the adoption of the Declaration.
The 2001 Tokyo Declaration for Earth Ethics and the officially scheduled speakers of the Global Forum are respectively introduced in Appendix A and Appendix B.
