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Aoyagi-Usui, Midori

Lee, Yok-shiu F.

Nickum, James E.

Otsuka, Takashi

Rambo, A. Terry

Kyoto University Research Information Repository

TitlePreface(<Special Issue>Environmental Consciousness inSoutheast and East Asia: Comparative Studies of PublicPerceptions of Environmental Problems in Hong Kong(China),Japan, Thailand, and Vietnam)Author(s)Rambo, A. Terry; Aoyagi-Usui, Midori; Lee, Yok-shiu F.;Nickum, James E.; Otsuka, TakashiCitation東南アジア研究 (2003), 41(1): 3-4Issue Date2003-06URL http://hdl.handle.net/2433/53751RightType Journal ArticleTextversionpublisherKyoto UniversityEnvironmental Consciousness in Southeast and East Asia:Comparative Studies of Public Perceptions ofEnvironmental Problems in Hong Kong (China),Japan, Thailand, and VietnamPrefaceA. Terry R6B7D, ADN6<>-UHJ> Midori, Yok-shiu F. L::,James E. N>8@JB, and OIHJ@6 TakashiGiven the generally deteriorating state of the environment, both locally and globally, thequestion of the extent of popular concern about environmental problems in Asiancountries has considerable importance. Government leaders often assume that the publicis unaware of environmental problems and little concerned with their solution. Environ-mental NGOs, on the other hand, often assert that common people are deeply concernedabout the state of their environment, reflecting traditional beliefs that people should livein harmony with nature. Empirical information on popular attitudes toward the environ-ment in the countries of Southeast and East Asia is in short supply, however, so that noone really knows what the level of popular environmental consciousness actually is.There is, of course, abundant anecdotal evidence that Asians care about en-vironmental issues. For example, the rebellion that toppled Field Marshall Thanom frompower in Thailand in the s was triggered by popular outrage over media revelationsthat he and his cronies had been shooting wildlife in a national park from militaryhelicopters. More recently, Thai farmers protesting against construction of dams havemobilized considerable public support, at least in part because of their argument thatdams destroy the environment. Even in Japan, where people tend to avoid engaging in* Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Kyoto University, and Adjunct Senior Fellow, East-West Center, Honolulu, e-mail: rambotcseas.kyoto-u.ac.jp**  Social and Environmental Systems Division, National Institute for Environ-mental Studies,  Onogawa, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 	, Japan, e-mail: aoyaginies.go.jp*** Department of Geography, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong,e-mail: leeyhkucc.hku.hk Department of International Studies, Tokyo Jogakkan College,  Tsuruma, Machida,Tokyo ~~, Japan, e-mail: nickumm.tjk.ac.jp 	 Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES), 	 Kamiyamaguchi,Hayama, Kanagawa , Japan, e-mail: otsukaiges.or.jpSoutheast Asian Studies, Vol. , No. , June ~~3public controversies, voters in Nagano Prefecture recently overwhelming re-elected amaverick governor who had been forced out of office by the powers-that-be because hehad ordered a halt to construction of more dams. Thus, we know that at least somemembers of the public in Asian countries do care about the state of the environment. Buthow people conceptualize the environment, what their attitudes are towards nature, andwhat measures they feel should be taken to protect the environment have all remainedmatters of speculation. It was to help fill this gap in our knowledge that the researchreported in the following papers was undertaken.The papers in this special issue of Southeast Asian Studies are the products of thesecond phase of a long-term multinational research project.) The project was designedand managed by a steering committee composed of the authors of this preface. A. TerryRambo served as a project coordinator and Otsuka Takashi was responsible for ad-ministering the project for IGES.In the first and preceding phase of the project, we did a broad survey of en-vironmental consciousness and factors affecting it in a number of localities in Asia andthe Pacific, including Hong Kong, Indonesia, India, Japan, Malaysia, Palau, and Taiwan.The results were published as a special issue of Asian Geographer (Vol. , Nos.  and ,). These studies did not use a common methodology, however, and relied largely onsources other than the people in whose consciousness we were interested. We thereforedecided to do a more intensive, interview-based study of attitudes at the cultural modelsthey reflect in the four localities presented here, using a single methodology that hadbeen used successfully in the United States.Data collection for this portion of the project was carried-out in Hong Kong andJapan in  and in Thailand and Vietnam during . Initial reports of findings werepresented by each of the national teams at an international seminar held at MahidolUniversity in Bangkok, Thailand in January . Revised versions of these reports werethen presented at a panel of the Kyoto Environmental Sociology Congress in October. These papers were reviewed by the project steering committee at a meeting at theNational Institute for Environmental Studies in Tsukuba, Japan, in February  andsuggestions for revisions made to their authors. Thanks to the wonders of the Internetand the enthusiastic cooperation of the authors responsible for the individual papers, wehave been able to prepare this special issue.  This research was conducted as a sub-project of the ECO ASIA Long-term PerspectiveProject which was designed to provide information inputs to the Environment Congress forAsia and the Pacific (ECO ASIA), a ministerial-level policy forum organized by the Ministryof the Environment of Japan. This research was initially funded by the National Institutefor Environmental Studies. Subsequently, additional funding was provided by the Ministryof the Environment of Japan and was managed by the Institute for Global EnvironmentalStrategies (IGES) and Mahidol University, Thailand.  	4

Preface(<Special Issue>Environmental Consciousness in Southeast and East Asia: Comparative Studies of Public Perceptions of Environmental Problems in Hong Kong(China), Japan, Thailand, and Vietnam)

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Preface(<Special Issue>Environmental Consciousness in Southeast and East Asia: Comparative Studies of Public Perceptions of Environmental Problems in Hong Kong(China), Japan, Thailand, and Vietnam)

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