Environmental impact assessments
According to Kyodo, the Environment Ministry has drafted guidelines on conducting strategic assessments of the environmental impact from the initial planning stage of road construction, waste disposal and other projects:
Ministry officials said they plan to implement them as early as within fiscal 2007, which starts April 1, to improve Japan's environment assessment system which has lagged far behind the strategic systems already implemented in many advanced economies.
Great idea, and something Japan will benefit greatly from. Let's make a beautiful country... In Europe, Environmental Impact Assessment was first introduced in 1985 and was amended several times, to include the 1998 signature by the EU of the Aarhus Convention on public participation in environmental matters. The Japanese NGO called Aarhus Net Japan is convinced that those environmental rights are basic requirements for the public to promote sustainable and environmental development.
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