日本の公害経験とガバナンスの視点

抄録

This short note introduces the concept of governance and then shows lessons learned from Japanese experience in combating environmental pollution from the viewpoint of risk governance in order to consider the role of governance in resource development in Asian countries. Japan experienced serious environmental degradations during the course of economic development. It was definitely a failure for Japan. It is pointed out that ex post remedial actions have been much more expensive than ex ante hypothetical pollution abatements. In contrast, it is also said that policies for pollution control were very effective in reducing pollution. Several governance factors functioned well in the course of overcoming environmental degradation. In the final part of this note, environmental assessment and risk approach are introduced as effective tools for promoting good governance.