Blue Skies Above: An Anthology of Consumer Co-operatives in Protecting Environment

Abstract

Public attention has focused on environmental issues, especially global warming, when the Third Session of the Conference o f the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP3) was held in Kyoto in December 1997. The future of humanity essentially depends on the degree to which international measures for countering dangerous climatic changes can be strengthened. Therefore, 1997 has been dubbed, ‘the year of the global environment.’The Japanese co-ops, too, have shown concern for these issues by, for example, organizing an environment conservation campaign spanning all o f 1997. The JCCU collected signatures for a petition urging the government, which chaired COP3, to assume a leadership role and produce meaningful results. During this short campaign, which lasted less than a month, the movement resulted in 570,000 signatures collected. It held the ‘Co-op Global Environment Forum’ in Kyoto during the COP3 Session, in which 550 co-op members participated from 75 co-ops all over the country. The JCCU also participated in a Japanese NGOs’ networking organization called ‘Climate Forum 97’ and raised funds to invite NGO representatives from 32 developing countries to visit Japan.