22 June 2011 | Interviews | 40th Anniversary Friend of the Earth International | Resisting neoliberalism | Climate Justice and Energy
Internationalists
Friends of the Earth Japan and the challenges of sustainability
Download: MP3 (4.1 Mb)
Friends of the Earth Japan has been a member of the environmentalist federation since its creation, thirty years ago. During these three decades, the organization has carried out many different struggles, summarized by FoE Japan Executive Director, Junichi Mishiba in this interview.
From 1980 to 1990, Friends of the Earth Japan focused on tropical forest conservation campaigns. Then, from 1990 to 2000, the organization dealt with Japanese government funds aimed to international development aid. Finally, in this past decade, the group has been focusing on credit agencies.
Mishiba also said that Japan was very dependent on overseas natural resources, which caused problems due to the high levels of consumption in the country. For this reason, Mishiba said that it is the responsibility of Friends of the Earth to reduce the impacts on the countries that supply Japan, mostly developing countries. This is why he thinks that networking with other FoEI groups is extremely important.
“I think FoEI is a very unique international NGO network where the voices of Southern country members are very strong” and this gives weight to values such as equality and justice, Mishiba said.
