Sustainable Development Disciplines for Society

This chapter will consider Goal 11. In particular, Target 11.2 focuses on Inclusive and Sustainable Urbanization. By 2030, it aims to enhance the capacity for participatory, integrated, and sustainable human settlement planning and management. Target 4.7 in SDGs Goal 4 is Education for Sustainable Development and Global Citizenship, which educates people about sustainable lifestyles, global citizenship, and the contribution that culture makes to sustainable development. However, the outcomes of education require a long time. Education changes people’s minds, local cultures, and socioeconomic systems. This process requires knowledge integration from diverse sectors, especially for historically accumulated knowledge. It is necessary to develop new theoretical and practical skills for building local context. The case study describes several good practices in Japan.

This chapter examines the “Balancing Reconstruction with Decommissioning” problem of reviving Fukushima from a double disaster called the Great East Japan Earthquake and the 1F (Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant) nuclear disaster. This issue is a typical case of sustainability and resilience in the twenty-first century in the century of the disaster. First, this paper discusses that it is the reconstruction policy of the declining and aging population with the creative reconstruction in a century, the twenty-first century of the disaster in Japan. This paper then examines the reconstruction policy from the Great East Japan Earthquake and the way of the Fukushima nuclear accident processing before establishing “incompleteness of the nuclear crisis response and surplus of the Great Earthquake disaster reconstruction policy.” Finally, this paper clarifies the difficulty of the issue called “Balancing Reconstruction with Decommissioning” in Fukushima based on the analysis of 1F decommissioning policy, and Fukushima lectures possibly falling into a state such as “Mutual Destruction of Reconstruction and Decommissioning” without altering 1F decommissioning governance. This chapter contributes to SDGs 11; Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable.

In this chapter, I will give an overview of the development of rural areas in Japan and then refer to the problems that they currently face, such as the weakening of the community, deterioration of the management function of the local environment, deterioration of the function of agricultural producers, damage caused by wildlife birds and beasts, and response to climate change and disasters. Thereafter, I shall discuss the rebuilding of communities through exchanges with cities, establishing next-generation agriculture by utilizing information and communication technology (ICT), developing renewable energy by utilizing local resources, and establishing new connections that complement each other’s roles within the region, as necessary, for sustainable rural development in the future. Hence, this chapter is related to all 17 goals because it describes the sustainable development of rural areas and, in particular, contributes to the “Sustainable Cities and Communities” of SDG 11.

In this chapter, I present a novel way to examine the historical background of the issues discussed in sustainable development goals (SDGs) using historical photographs. Considering the 17 SDGs, and Japan’s occupation period (1945–52) to construct a case study, I demonstrate how to interpret the gaps and connections between the situations observed during the occupation period and the present. Finally, I refer to SDGs 7 and 11 in detail; however, this is not a summary for a particular SDG, but a way to think about the background of the issue for all SDGs.

This chapter fits Goal 15 of the SDGs and analyzes the protection and sustainable use of territorial ecosystems in Japan, focusing on sustainable agriculture and forestry. The beautiful natural landscape and pristine nature in Japan are protected in nature parks. After the Earth Summit in 1992, the government committed to protecting socio-ecological landscapes referred to as “satoyama.” They include farmland, pastureland, and forests for logging. They are deteriorating because the population of farmers and forestry workers is declining and aging. The Natural Parks Act introduced a scheme to ensure that environmental NGOs maintain these areas on behalf of the farmers and forest workers. Modernization of agriculture has caused the loss of biodiversity in farmlands. Restoration projects have been implemented to restore biodiversity in rural areas. To reduce farmland abandonment, the government grants subsidies to help encourage eco-friendly agriculture. The government is encouraging active farmers to scale-up agricultural management to be competitive in the marketplace. Solar sharing is one way to help farmers. Ecologically sustainable development is thus interwoven with social and economic factors.

This chapter covers sustainability issues from the industrial development and international trade perspectives. Issues covered can be broadly regarded as Goal 12: “Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns” but touches upon various goals. In pursuing the goal of sustainability in economic activities, the society can take two different approaches. One is based on laws (including international agreements), de jure approach. The other is based more on the market force, such as based on Voluntary Sustainability Standards (VSS), de facto approach. Within the de jure approach, the chapter will cover efforts at global level (international agreements) and efforts at domestic levels. At the international levels, the chapter introduces some of the key areas and the motivations behind these agreements. For the discussions on the domestic levels, the chapter introduces the differences between the production-based environmental regulations and the product-related environmental regulations, and how this has influenced the industrial activities and international trade. In the part for VSS, the chapter will focus mainly on private standards with third-party certification schemes and how these diffuse across countries through trade linkages and implications to producers especially in developing countries. Finally, the chapter touches upon the governance issues related to regulations and private standards.

Industry has undertaken mass production and consumed resources to optimize only economic efficiency. Most products are discarded or disposed at the end of their lifetimes. Therefore, most companies should design and manage their production system for sustainability. One of the most important factors to develop a sustainable production system is the environmental aspect. Environmentally conscious operations management makes some contributions to sustainable development goals (SDGs) #9 and #12. This chapter deals with production and quality management systems for SDGs. Firstly, representative operations management systems such as inventory management and total quality management (TQM) are introduced. These systems are useful to control the production processes efficiently. Secondly, we explain the Just-in-Time (JIT) production system which is based on the two key concepts, JIT and JIDOKA. Some advantages of the JIT production system include its simplicity in production scheduling, reduced burden on operators, ease of identification of parts by the two kinds of kanbans attached to the containers, and substantial reduction in the process work. Finally, we consider environmentally conscious manufacturing and describe a closed loop supply chain which includes activities necessary to acquire end-of-life products from customers to recover value.

This chapter presents the economic conditions for achieving sustainable development and the mechanism by which rational people choose an anti-sustainable path. These are theoretical results derived from the standard economic model. However, the model has faced controversy regarding the concept of sustainable development. This chapter introduces these controversies. By doing so, the implications and limitations of the theoretical results can be well-understood. One controversy concerns what should be sustained in sustainable development, and the other intergenerational equity. For illustration, this chapter often refers to the climate change issue, which raised and fired these controversies. Since the topic is sustainable development, this chapter relates to Sustainable Development Goals as a whole, and it contributes to SDGs 8 (economic growth) and 13 (climate action), among others.

Sustainable economic growth is one of the main goals of SDGs. To achieve this goal, we need to know what drives the long-run dynamics of the wealth of nations. In this chapter, we first learn how to measure the level of a country’s wealth and its growth from data, as well as some widely observed facts such as steady growth in some developed countries, the huge international difference in economic growth, and so forth. Next, we develop theoretical models to explain those observations. We present a basic theory of growth with capital accumulation as the driving force and check the consistency with the observed data. Further, we consider firms’ investments into research and development (R &D) and see how innovations drive economic growth. It also tells us the effects of growth policies. Lastly, we discuss other factors that create international difference in economic growth such as education, institution, and misallocation of resources. This chapter contributes to Goal 8 (economic growth) and 9 (innovation) in SDGs.

The construction of a smart society utilizing information and communication technology (ICT) is attracting attention to simultaneously achieve various Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Using input–output analysis, this chapter elucidates the economic structure of a smart society. This content is an extension of Leontief’s “Structure of Development” study of the 20th-century industrial society. Here, a smart society enables waste to be eliminated and the utility of people to be increased by strengthening management in all fields of society using ICT. It is shown that a smart society will achieve an industrial structure with a lighter environmental load and sustain moderate economic growth. Therefore, the movement aiming to build a smart society in Asia and other regions of the world is deemed beneficial and expected to contribute to achieving the SDGs. Additionally, Japan is a developed country with advanced ICT in Asia, and improving the efficiency of Japan’s ICT has been found to profoundly affect the entire Asian region. Japan plays a key role in building a smart society in the Asian region. This chapter is not only directly related to SDG9, but also to SDGs2, 5, 7, 8, 11, 12, and 13.

SDG 8’s goal is to promote sustained, inclusive, and sustainable economic growth; full and productive employment; and decent work for all. This chapter examines the experiences of East Asian developing countries in achieving rapid and inclusive economic growth by focusing on the role of international trade and foreign direct investment nexus created through global value chains (GVCs) by multinational corporations (MNCs). GVCs enabled participating companies and countries to improve productivity, contributing to economic growth. The factors attributable to the participation in GVCs include high competitiveness of local companies and open business environment created by the Asian government. Moreover, construction and maintaining well-functioning soft (e.g., education and legal systems) and hard (e.g., transportation and communication systems) infrastructure by the government and international donors contributed to the creation of business-friendly environment. Faced with growing protectionism and the threats of growing US-China rivalry, infectious diseases, climate change, etc., maintaining an open and transparent rules-based business environment is crucially important to further achieving sustained, inclusive, and sustainable economic growth. In the light of absence of effective global economic order, exemplified by ineffectiveness of the World Trade Organization in trade liberalization as well as dispute settlement, regional economic frameworks such as the CPTPP and RCEP in the Asia and Pacific region would be proven to be effective to achieve the goal.

Pessimism about the effects of official development assistance (ODA) on the poorest countries (base of the pyramid; BoP) has raised expectations of social business by multinational corporations (MNCs) since the end of the twentieth century. First, this chapter summarizes the historical developments focused on the role of MNCs in alleviating poverty at the BoP (Sustainable Development Goals [SDGs] 1, 3, and 6) through delivery of affordable products and services, following activities of non-governmental organizations, growing awareness of corporate social responsibility, and framing of development goals by United Nations agencies. Next, it discusses BoP’s shift from its role as a marketplace to a production base or source of innovation, as MNCs have established global production networks. We argue that this has changed the BoP business toward contributing to the achievement of SDGs 5, 8, and 9. Finally, MNCs are required to address not only social challenges at the BoP, but also environmental challenges (SDGs 13) in both emerging and developed countries. To balance these overall SDG-related challenges with MNCs’ own interests, BoP business is further evolving into SDG business management, and MNCs will be increasingly required to redefine their role from a sustainability perspective.

This chapter aims to present factors affecting global food demand and supply conditions and to find potential solutions to global food security problems. First, the factors determining the supply and demand conditions of food are detailed in relation to the linkages among food, agriculture, and rural development. Second, Japan's success in securing food in the early stage of economic growth as a developing country is presented as example. Discussions on supply and demand determinants in the first part are needed to understand the reasons for success in achieving Japan’s food security objectives. Policy implications are derived for developing countries that struggle to ensure global food security. Reading this chapter will assist the readers in discussing potential solutions to global food security problems. Climate change issues are also discussed in relation to global food and energy security. We examine the effectiveness of crop-based energy production and potential conflicts with food production using examples from Japan and the United States of America.

How should we divide a resource among a group of agents who have conflicting claims for it? A typical example is the bankruptcy problem: The liquidation value of a bankrupt firm must be divided among creditors. An alternative example with the same mathematical structure is the taxation problem: The cost of some public projects must be collected by a government through taxing incomes. An awards vector determines the division of the resource among the agents. An allocation rule, or simply a rule, is a function that associates an awards vector to each problem of this kind. Our goal is to construct “good” rules. By that, we intend to learn how to achieve one of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) (Goal 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions). In our study of rules, we follow the axiomatic approach. That is, we (i) formulate rules (mathematically), (ii) introduce “desirable” properties of rules (called axioms), and (iii) study those implications (e.g., identify rules that satisfy those properties). We present some well-known characterization results based on the properties analyzed.