Grassroots Activism and the Environment in Asia

Grassroots Activism and the Environment in Asia

Date: November 11 (Sat.), 2000
Place: ICU Administration Bld. 206At the outset of the twenty-first century we are forced to recognize that Asia (as is much of the world) is confronted by war, by poverty, by social injustice, and by environmental degradation. What went wrong? What can be done? What is being done? This symposium seeks to highlight the role grassroots movements in Asia play in working towards peace, justice, human dignity, and respect for the natural environment.
The process of modernization and especially the development of modern industry has caused significant disruption of the natural environment in Asia; it has also been the cause of much social and political unrest. In some cases the influence has been creative; in most cases, however, the disruption has meant the loss of forms of biological and cultural diversity and the disappearance of traditional patterns of human life. While governments and large corporations have often allied themselves with the forces of destruction, people in local areas, usually in conjunction with various non-governmental organizations, have assumed the lead in struggles everywhere in Asia to protect the environment and attempts to slow down the pace of change. This symposium examines several examples of grassroots activism in the Philippines, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, and Japan.Greetings from the Director
M. William SteeleEnvironmental Problems in the Philippines and NGO Interventions
Germelino BautistaLocal Responses to Agent Orange in Vietnam
Shaun MalarneyCambodia and the Problem of Pesticides
Tasaka Koa

Thai Village Industries Using Natural Dyes for Textile Production
Thanit Boodphetcharat

Japanese ODA and the Environment: Government and Peoples Response in a Philippine Coal Power Plant??
Temario Rivera

Environmental Destruction and Birds in Japan
Mika Mervio

Minamata Disease and Victims’ Movements (in Japanese)
Harada Masazumi

The Long Protest for the Long River:
The Protest Movement Against the Construction of the Estuary Dam in the Nagara River
Wilhelm Vosse

Returning to a Healthy Environment – Towards a Society without Dioxins (in Japanese)
Ishizawa Harumi

The Presenters:
Germelino Bautista
Professor of Economics, Ateneo de Manila University; Director, Institute of Philippine Culture; research fields include Philippine economic and environmental history.

Shaun Malarney
Assistant Professor of Anthropology, ICU, and member of the Institute of Asian Cultural Studies. Specialist on contemporary Vietnamese studies.

Tasaka Koa
Professor of Chemistry, ICU, and member of the Institute of Asian Cultural Studies. Research interests include environmental pollution in Asia.

Thanit Boodphetcharat
Head of Research and Evaluation Division, Payap Research and Development Institute, Payap University in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

Temario C. Rivera
Visiting Professor of Political Economy of Late Industialization, ICU, and member of the Institute of Asian Cultural Studies; ?Professor of Political Science, University of the Philippines

Mika Mervio
Professor of Political Science, The University of Shimane. Active in peace studies research, especially relating to environmental problems.

Harada Masazumi
Professor of Medical Sciences, Kumamoto Gakuen University and one of the first scholars to draw attention to the Minamata Disease. He is active in many NGOs working on behalf of a clean and healthy natural environment.

Wilhelm Vosse
Assistant Professor of Political Science, ICU, and member of the Institute of Asian Cultural Studies. Specialist in Peace Studies and citizen protest movements.

Ishizawa Harumi
Political activist and member of several NGOs such as the Stop Dioxin Movement and the Water Environment Study Group.