Japan eyes 1st G-8 meeting of science ministers on global warming
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TOKYO, Dec. 25 — The Japanese government has decided to hold the first Group of Eight meeting of science and technology ministers in mid-June in Okinawa to discuss technological assistance to developing nations for measures to reduce emissions of greenhouse gasses, government sources said Monday.
The government has begun finalizing arrangements with the seven other nations — Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Russia and the United States — for the meeting, which will be one of a number of ministerial gatherings in Japan in the run-up to the G-8 summit in July in the Lake Toya hot spring resort area of Hokkaido.
The move is aimed at demonstrating both at home and abroad the leading role Japan is playing in the promotion of measures to deal with global warming, which will be high on the agenda of the G-8 summit.
Science and technology policy minister Fumio Kishida will announce the decision at a meeting Tuesday of the Council for Science and Technology Policy which will be attended by Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda.
The ministerial meeting will be held at Bankoku Shinryokan in Nago, where Japan previously hosted the Okinawa G-8 summit in 2000.
By holding the meeting in Okinawa, the government also wants to highlight the southernmost island prefecture’s role as one of Japan’s science and technology bases.
In order to encourage developing countries to join a post-Kyoto Protocol framework to combat global warming starting in 2013, the government has determined that it is necessary to build a consensus on technical cooperation among G-8 countries.
Under Japan’s initiative announced earlier this year to halve greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, Tokyo stressed the importance of developing innovative technologies to eliminate emissions of carbon dioxide from thermal power plants and to realize advanced nuclear power generation.
During the envisioned meeting in Okinawa, the ministers will also discuss measures to combat drought and epidemics such as West Nile fever and dengue fever, which it is feared could spread due to global warming, the sources said.
The ministers will also take up cooperation between governmental, industrial and academic institutions, and action plans to foster leadership with respect to environmental issues in developing countries, the sources said.
Boosting technology transfers to developing countries was clearly stated in the Bali road map adopted at the 13th session of the Conference of the Parties to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change in Bali, Indonesia, which was attended by about 190 countries.
Filed by under The Environment, Climate Change