Mark Elder

Policy Considerations for Establishing an Environmentally Sound Regional Material Flow in East Asia

This article argues that waste management and recycling have become regional or international issues; they can no longer be considered only in a national context. The regionalization or internationalization of waste and recycling issues is caused in large part by the steady advance of economic integration, especially increasing trade and investment flows resulting from trade and investment liberalization. Just as economic integration has separated the location of consumption from the location of most efficient production, it has also separated the most efficient and effective location of recycling from the location of production and consumption. This makes it difficult to operate domestically oriented recycling schemes, as demonstrated by the case of Japan. Therefore, national policies, although still important, are now insufficient, and this article will propose policy recommendations to address this, including the development of national recycling systems and capacity linked to regional recycling zones, regionally coordinated extended producers responsibility, and regional certification schemes for recyclers and traders.

The Surprising Role of Local Governments in International Environmental Cooperation: The Case of Japanese Collaboration with Developing Countries

This study shows that some Japanese local governments, at both the prefecture and city levels, have engaged in international cooperation with local governments in developing countries in Asia to improve environmental management and explains their motivations to do so even if international cooperation is not usually considered part of local governments’ mandate, and despite fiscal constraints. Forms of cooperation include training officials from developing countries in Japan, dispatch of Japanese local government expert officials to developing countries, partnering with and providing assistance to international organizations, establishing organizations for international environmental cooperation, and hosting international intercity network programs. This cooperation can be explained by a combination of environment-related factors and degree of local area’s international orientation. Environment-related factors include desire to make a contribution based on local experience and human capital, promotion of international environmental business, response to trans-boundary pollution issues, and conservation of natural assets. Collaboration with the national government is an important facilitating though not determining factor since local governments respond differently to national policies. Other facilitating factors include local governments’ fiscal capacity. The cases in this study can promote consideration of the potential motivations and ways that local governments in industrialized countries can contribute to international environmental development.

A Regional Perspective on Biofuels in Asia

This chapter explores the potential for a regional perspective on biofuels in Asia. In the late 2000s, there were high expectations in many Asian countries that biofuels could be produced and consumed on a large scale, and enhance energy security, provide jobs, and reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. There were also high expectations of significant biofuel trade, particularly of exports from Southeast Asia to the EU and Japan. Several Asian countries have biofuel blending mandates and produce modest quantities of biofuels. Current levels of biofuel use in Asian countries may be feasible, but it is likely to be difficult for biofuels to account for a large share of transport fuel use. Overall, this chapter concludes that large-scale increases in production are probably not realistic without large-scale diversion of land from other uses such as food production, and without further pressure on the environment and other resources necessary for production, particularly water. It is not always clear where large amounts of land might be available, so there is no clear source of large-scale sustainable biofuel exports. Encouragement of smaller scale production tailored to local conditions as a way to promote rural development, poverty reduction, and management of certain kinds of waste may be more realistic. However, without large economies of scale, it will be difficult to reduce costs. In addition, there are various other challenges to the promotion of small-scale biofuels such as capacity of farmers, availability and cost of land, water, labor, and other inputs, and availability of markets for final outputs. If the main goal is to increase rural employment rather than energy security or GHG emissions reduction, then there may be other ways to accomplish this besides biofuels. Sustainability standards and certification systems are one possible way to encourage the development of biofuels in a positive direction. However, while they may enable sustainable incremental production, they cannot create new land for biofuels, and if they are to be effective, they should restrain the availability of new land by preventing excessive land use change from forests or food crops.

Socioeconomic Impacts of Biofuels in East Asia

This chapter examines the social and economic impacts of biofuels in East Asia by analyzing four country case studies, Indonesia, India, China, and Japan. These impacts vary widely depending on specific country conditions. Analysis of the main policies and market conditions in these countries showed that they all emphasized rural development, and Japan prioritized GHG emissions reductions, while the others prioritized energy security. The biofuel promotion targets of India and Indonesia were initially overambitious while Japan’s and China’s were more conservative. All four countries investigated alternative feedstocks and second generation biofuels. Regarding impacts, all four countries have recognized the limitations of biofuels for energy security. Biofuels may have some potential to contribute to rural development, even in Japan, but this is likely to be modest. The idea of growing non-food crops on wastelands is not very realistic, due to the need for significant inputs of fertilizer and water. In any case it is not always clear how much wasteland actually exists, and often it is actually being used for some other economically valuable purpose or providing ecosystem services. Biofuels do seem useful for recycling waste materials, especially in Japan. The main policy implication is that caution is desirable, and high unrealistic targets should be avoided due to risks of food-fuel conflict and limited supplies of land, water, and labor, and because the extent of the impacts and social benefits of biofuels is still unclear. Modest targets, near current utilization rates, may be more sustainable. Finally, it is suggested to promote the use of sustainability standards, which could enable biofuel stakeholders to demonstrate the sustainability of particular production methods in particular circumstances.