A Study on the Agricultural Environmental Policy of the Local Government on Japan : from a Viewpoint of Biodiversity Conservation

The purpose of this paper is to point outt clearly three defferent aspects related to the current Agricultural Environmental Policy of the Local Government in Japan. The first one reflects upon the history of promoting an environmentally-friendly agriculture, and also touches upon the definition and type of an existing environmentally friendly agriculture in Japan. The second one explains the direction the local Japanese Government pursues in its agricultural environmental policy. It further is related to the third aspect of this paper, which emphasizes the problems of an environmentally friendly agriculture looking at it from a biodiversity conservation concerned viewpoint. The problems, which arise as a consequence of the agricultural environmental policy of the local government, are as follows. First, this paper concludes that environmental problems from agrivulture are often not probably being realized by the local government of each area . Secondly, a reduction of possible environment damages caused by agriculture is often valued higher thana an increase of environmental benefit effects. Finally, a concern for consernation of the biodiverdity is also being neglected by the Agricultural Environmental Polivy of the Local Government. In order to maintain the direct payment policy of the Japanese government, which is linked to a multi-functional agriculture. The EU, however, has already taken this path by enfoecing an agricultural environmental policy, which accounts for biodiversity conservation