2019 年 28 巻 4 号 p. 4_44-51
There are eight countries in the world that have enacted the Environmental Education Acts (hereinafter referred to as “EEAs”) as of 2019. Of these, three countries in East Asia―Japan, Taiwan, and Korea―established the EEAs and they conduct pioneering efforts around the world. In Japan, the EEAs was enacted in 2003 and revised in 2011. In Korea, it was enacted in 2008 and revised in 2015. In Taiwan, it was promulgated in 2010 and put into effect in 2011.
When we look at trends in previous studies in Japan, international comparative studies of the management of environmental administrations and the EEAs are not really investigated in the previous studies. We think this is because the contents and characteristics of specific systems indicated in the individual articles of the EEAs are not provided in these international comparative studies.
The purpose of this study is to compare the EEAs in Japan, Taiwan, and Korea, to clarify the institutional issues of the EEAs in the three countries. In this paper, as a first step, we would like to clarify the similarities and differences in the management of the systems for the promotion, support, and provision of participation opportunities in environmental education in each country.
We organized the similarities and differences of the EEAs in the three countries. We found that the similarities included the fact that participation and collaboration by various actors were emphasized in the purpose,the definition of environmental education, and the basic policies and plans of nations and municipalities. On the other hand, differences could be found in the legally binding nature of the EEAs. We therefore propose a hypothesis that there are differences among the three countries in the roles of administrations in promoting environmental education. Based on this, we offer further areas of study to clarify the comparative studies.
