The Legal System of Nature Conservation in Japan: From the Viewpoint of Biodiversity

Abstract

One of the most important problems in the contemporary society is the

conservation of biodiversity. The Convention on Biological Diversity, which

acknowledged the conservation of biological diversity as a crucial matter in the international society, was adopted in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. Japan signed the document on this occasion and accepted it the following year. In 1995 the Japanese government decided on the State Strategy on Biological Diversity. In 2002 it was revised and its name was changed to the New State Strategy on Biological Diversity. The New State Strategy divided the crisis of biodiversity into three phases.1) The first crisis is the destruction of the natural environment by a flood of development projects. The second crisis means that the surrounding nature, which has been maintained by the daily use of local people, is diminishing rapidly as people abandon their traditional life style. An example of this is copses. Lastly, the third crisis relates to the preservation of natural spaces, as they are becoming contaminated with chemical substances.