I would like to express my profound gratitude to all of you who have come to today's ceremony,held to commemorate the establishment of the new International EMECS Center.
Up to now, the International EMECS Center has functioned as an autonomous organization. This year, on March 3rd, a meeting was held to propose that the Center be turned into a foundation. Based on the decision made at that meeting, application for establishment as a foundation was made to the Environment Agency of Japan. Thanks to the dedicated efforts of people such as Mr.Yoshida, (TITLE??), who is with us today the International EMECS Center was reborn on April 1, 2000 as a foundation with the approval o f the Prime Minister of Japan. As the chairman of the board of directors of the new foundation, I will do my utmost to promote and expand the activities of the new International EMECS Center.
I am filled with deep emotion as I think back on some of the events that led to this day. As you know, the Seto Inland Sea is a place of great beauty, and it is said to rival even the Aegean Sea. The source of this saying apparently dates back to the beginning of the Meiji Era, more than a century ago. At that time, the German geographer, Richthofen,traveled from San Francisco to Shanghai in China. Along the way, he stopped in Yokohama and Kobe, and this statement is contained in the entry in his travel journal which he made when he spent a night on the Seto Inland Sea.In his journal, he wrote that he was deeply affected by the beauty of the Seto Inland Sea."I think," he wrote, "that this sea region may be even more beautiful than the Aegean."However, at the same time, he also wrote, "But if the beauty of the Seto Inland Sea is destroyed, it will probably be due to the march of civilization. I hope this will not come to pass."
In the 130 years since then, when we consider how we have treated the Seto Inland Sea, I feel we must conclude that, in the last 100 years, Richthofen's worst fears have come to pass. From the Meiji period through the Pacific War, the Seto Inland Sea was used as a base for Japan's invasion of the Asian continent. Following the end of the war, it became a seaside industrial zone that aided in Japan's rapid economic growth. And, as you know, in 1970 - exactly 100 years after Richthofen journeyed here - the Seto Inland Sea was described in the press with such expressions as "a dying sea." During this period, the deaths of many cultivated yellowtail due to frequent "red tides" and other events had begun to occur. In an effort to correct this situation, our predecessors formed the Governors' and Mayors' Conference on the Environmental Protection of the Seto Inland Sea. This was the beginning of efforts to stop the degradation of the environment and work for environmental preservation. With the assistance of the Environment Agency, legislation such as the Law on Special Measures to Preserve the Seto Inland Sea was established.
Up to now, a variety of efforts have been promoted. In the course of these efforts, a groupfrom the State of Maryland that included Dr.Ian Morris and state senators and other representatives of the state government made several trips to Japan, beginning about ten years ago, to observe the efforts being made to preserve the environment of the Seto Inland Sea. Their objective was to study joint effortson the part of several local governments working together to manage the ocean regions that they shared. In exchanging views with the members of the Maryland group, we learned of the great difficulty being experienced in coordinating joint activities in Chesapeake Bay, which is bordered by Maryland and several other states. For this reason, following several discussions by specialists on efforts underway in the Seto Inland Sea, it was proposed that working together would be to our mutual benefit.
In the course of these discussions, we also learned that other enclosed coastal seas throughout the world, including the Baltic Sea and the Mediterranean, were facing similar problems,and similar efforts were underway in these regions.At that point, the suggestion was made that we all work on these problems together, by holding an international conference. The result was the first International Conference on the Environmental Management of Enclosed Coastal Seas, EMECS'90, held in Kobe in 1990. This led to a secondEMECS conference held in 1993 in Baltimore,Maryland.
At the second EMECS conference, a motion was made, and subsequently adopted, to establ-ish an organization to carry on these international efforts on an ongoing basis. This was the birth of the International EMECS Center. The new International EMECS Center cosponsored the Third EMECS Conference, held in Stockholm as a joint conference with the Seventh Stockholm Water Symposium, and the Fourth EMECS conference, held last year in Antalya, Turkey as a joint conference with the Fourth International Conference on the Mediterranean Coastal Environment (MEDCOAST'99).
As a result of the steady growth and achievements of EMECS activities, it became necessary to provide a more stable foundation for EMECS activities in both financial and organizational terms, and the suggestion was made to establish a foundation for this purpose.The result is the new International EMECS Center foundation. Next year the new International EMECS Center foundation will sponsor its first EMECS conference on its home ground, as the fifth EMECS conference will be held once again in Kobe, where the very first EMECS conference was held, as well as on the nearby island of Awaji.
The International EMECS Center foundation will make use of the international network that has been built up, and will work to establish an even larger network of contacts in various places throughout the world, endeavoring to play an even greater role in improving the environments of enclosed coastal seas. It is for this reason that the foundation is delighted to sponsor the fifth EMECS Conference in Kobe and Awaji.The International EMECS Center has been fortunate to receive tremendoussupport from you all,and Iwould like to ask for your continuedsupport and assist-ance in the future as well.
Today we have come to commemorate the establishment of the new International EMECS Center, and many of you have come from far away to be here today. As you are no doubt already aware, the Japan Flora 2000 exposition iscurrently underway on this site.Japan Flora 2000 is an international gardening and landscaping exposition approved by the International Association of Horticultural Producers (AIPH).The themeoftheexpo is"Communication between People and Nature" and it is being held with the participation of more than 70 countries.
This year, three of the major international events taking place throughout the world are the Sydney Olympics,the Expo 2000 exposition in Hannover, Germany, and Japan Flora 2000 here in Asia. It is significant that in each case the theme of the event relates to nature and the environment. This would seem to be proof that the 21st century will be the "century of the environment" and that this has been recognized internationally.
The Japan Flora 2000 expo venue here on Awaji is an enormous site covering 100 million square meters. Although it may be hard to believe it now, ten years ago the site was an old quarry where enormous quantities of rock and soil had been removed to construct the nearby Akashi Kaikyo Bridge. It was a wasteland where nature had been destroyed. In an effort to restore the natural beauty of the area, we consulted specialists and utilized state-of-the-art technology in an attempt to restore the natural colors of Awaji. In the end, these efforts began to bear fruit. So we made a request to the Ministry of Construction and obtained agreement for the site to be turned into the Akashi Kaikyo National Government Park after the expo, thus paving the way for the exposition to be held.
In contrast to expositions held in the 20th century, in which the focus was on development, Japan Flora 2000 is being held to celebrate the restoration of the natural environment, and in this sense it can be seen as an exposition for the 21st century. For this reason, it gives me great pleasure to see the international recognition and the tremendous number of visitors that the exposition has attracted.
At the 5th EMECS Conference, we will strive to make such modest efforts on our part even more closely connected to the new century,working tomake itpossible to link efforts to preserve the environment of the Seto Inland Sea to the concept of "environmental creation" being promoted by the Environment Agency.I do not know whether we will be able to actually accomplish this. Nevertheless, with your understanding and support, we intend to do our very best.
Once again, I would like to thank you for the support that you have given up to now,and ask for your continued cooperation in the future as well.Thank you very much.