The Scandinavian Tourist Board has cooperated with our Laboratory of Regional Design with Ecology in Sponsoring the below described symposium:

Norway Seminar: "Challenges Facing the 'Sustainable Society'"

Date： Date: 20 May 2005 (Friday) 14:00-17:00
Place: Edo Room, Hotel New Otani, Tokyo

Norway's Vision and Strategy for Sustainable Development
Burge Brende
Minister of Trade and Industry (one-time Minister of Environment, former chairman of Commission on Sustainable Development of UN)

There has been a long history of friendship between Japan and Norway. Norway had attained independence in 1995, for which Japan had given the approval with other countries. Although 100 years has passed, the friendship has continued until now.
Norway also has strong trading ties with Japan; and Japan is the largest exportation country in Asia for Norway. Generally, it is thought that economic growth and sustainability are compatible in Norway. I met with Minister for International Trade and Industry and Minister for Environment in Japan and found out that we share many common topics such as science technology, research, trade, etc. Norway has been on an underlying growth trend for recent 100 years, and its GDP has been increasing. Although Norway is as large as Japan, the populations are completely different between the two; Norway has a population of 4.6 million, which is thirtieth part of Japan. Norway keeps high GDP in spite of such respectively small population, based on the rich natural resources, industriousness of the people, and social and political stability. Natural resources are effectively utilized for industries, avoiding overexploitation. Such resource utilization can be the way to protect environment, which will also be the background of the concept, common in Norwegean people: protecting the environment and encouraging economic growth can go hand in hand. Although stable production and consumption are important for economic growth, they should be based on sustainability.
Fiords of Norway were selected No.1 tourist spot among 150 world-wide natural sceneries by "Natural Geographic". This magazine admired our clean environment and activities developed in fiords which contribute to environmental sustainability. The environmental regulation should not simply be made for next generations, but should be based on incentives.
The most important thing here is to provide effective competition among companies rather than bind them through a regulation. The regulation should prepare the system to promote innovation, preventing harmful manufactures to arrive on the market. One of the examples may be a hybrid car. When tighter emission controls had been imposed in California, the car makers successfully developed vehicles in compliance with the regulation. The case suggests that not only the environmental regulation could cut the volume of CO2 emissions, but also promote new businesses, which can lead to improvement of the manufacturer's share in the market.
When visiting Aichi Expo 2005, Prince of Norway was interested in the outstanding technology of Japanese companies, especially of the car makes. Wafer and solar panels for renewal energy have been developed in Norway and Japan is developing similar products, which may be important from the viewpoint of the balance between ecology and economy. The theme of the Expo 2005, Nature's Wisdom shows that Japanese share the interest on environments and sustainable development.
We need to proceed to the future in more cautious manner guided by nature. Both Norway and Japan are required to earnestly address the issues. We share values in sustainability in spite of our difference in culture and the way of thinking. The important concepts are "clearly", "purely" and "simply".
Again, I want to emphasize the common value for achieving sustainability. I appreciate your continuing interests in Norway, especially on beautiful nature and way of life.

Oslo's Efforts for Sustainable Society
Guttorm Grundt
Environment Coordinator, Department of Environmental Affairs and Transport, City of Oslo

Oslo received the honor of European Sustainable City Award and participates in European Sustainable Citizen Town Campaign, which links 2000 cities in Europe. In this campaign, the cities that entered the competition on sustainability were rated; Oslo won the first prize among 65 cities. We will sustain our efforts.

(1) Green Municipality
For the sustainable development, the eco-efficiency is emphasized in Oslo. The administrative commission of Oslo established a system for eco-efficiency and its management for any administrative activities and is promoting the acquisition of environmental certification. The city of Oslo is divided into 15 districts; the certification was acquired by 25 kindergartens out of 350, 3 aged care facilities out of 45, 2 schools out of 150, and 7 government departments out of 60. The city hall will be certified in summer this year.
40,000 officials will involve with the activities for the certification. The city hall includes departments such as ports, waste control, and transportation. Such larger departments are promoting the acquisition of ISO14001. On the other hand, smaller departments are promoting the acquisition of "Eco-Lighthouse", which is the original standard of Oslo. The Eco-Lighthouse Program is for kindergartens, schools, and small shops; the certification covers employees or members. The Eco-Lighthouse is subsidized by the Ministry of Environment of Norway. The city aims at the independent management in the future.
EU has been interested in the Eco-Lighthouse Program, and the program may expand into EU. It is possible that the program will increase eco-efficiency, resulting to cost reduction, as well as to raise environmental awareness. For these aims, the process of the system is required to be simple, at the same time logical.
The certification should be given through the processes of status evaluation, preparation of improvement plan, implementation, and inspection. Oslo is also engaged in fostering of personnel responsible for the inspection.
Each family is recommended to sign up the "Green Family Action Sheet". This sheet is for self-checking of the impact on the environment brought by each family's lifestyle. The followings are included as the evaluation items: waste reduction, trash separation, utilization of a bicycle instead of a car, car sharing, purchasing greens, etc. The organization called "Green Living" prepared the checklist subsidized by the national government.
(2) Oslo Toll Ring
The "Oslo Toll Ring" is the toll system; the similar system has already been introduced in London and in process of planning in Stockholm. Oslo is receiving attention because of the political factor. The toll system has come to be widely recognized, and politicians have no good reason to oppose the implementation of the system. The traffic was heavy in Oslo of 20 years ago, especially in the city core. Neither the national government nor the Bureau of Public Roads could implement effective measures. The most congested lines included the main artery stretching to the city core, and the road in front of the city hall always caused a major traffic jam.
At present, the tunnel is under construction, and the detour to the underground has been completed. The financial resource for the road maintenance and improvement are provided through the toll ring. The tunnels have contributed to improve the congestion in the city. Half of the people in Oslo lives in the city core and citizens seem to realize the improvement. 3 dollars toll paying in advance allows you to pass all 19 toll booths within the city without stopping.
The advantages of the tunnels are as follows: the first is to resolve congestion problems, and to allow comfortable drives; the second is to decrease car accidents; and the third is to alleviate air pollution and engine noises.
20% of the income from the toll is provided to public transportations. By the improvement of subway lines, the enhanced network has also increased the users of public transportations.
In 1989, immediately before the implementation of the toll-ring system, 2 citizens out of 3 opposed to the system. However, the opposed opinions have gradually decreased, rather than the favorable opinions have increased. At present, for and against opinions are almost the same. The politicians decided a 5-year extension of the system to improve public transportation. The toll has been increased in 2001. The income from the toll ring has been used for the improvement of the subway as described above, and will be for the construction of new station of tram or the improvement of headway (each 5 minutes, etc.)
(3) Fjord City
A fjord is formed when a glacier retreats and some are found in Oslo. The port facilities have become concentrated on the area along the sea, where citizens could not come close. "Fjord City" is the concept to return the area to the citizens. The Akershus Palace is found on the right of the city hall as one faces. This castle is the symbol of Oslo, used often for the official event of Norway. The city hall was opened in 1950 in the style of functionalism which was dominated architectural style at that time. The old shipbuilding area, Aker Brygge is located on the other side of the sea facing the castle. The old shipbuilding site is now being changed to the area for residences, restaurants, cultural facilities and offices where a lot of tourists visit in summer. The area is planned to be expanded. The development is just started; containers and tracks have been replaced by leisure facilities, art galleries, etc. The improvement of accessibility and extension of barrier-free will be next issue of the area. In the future, the area for port facilities will be reduced to the south-east side of the Akershus castle. The utilization of the empty lot is the subject to be examined in the future. The requirements of the development include eco-friendly and openness to citizens. From this viewpoint, the redevelopment plan of the port is called Eco Performance Program. The program requires eco-consciousness in contracts of urban planning or the ones concluded by building contractors for each district. For example, the utilization of high-quality insulation and renewable materials are required for a building.
Based on workshops, the planning of Fjord City is being examined. The workshop member consists of architects, city planners, etc. The workshop prepared competitions to collect various ideas. The exhibitions, and hearings offer materials for planning. These processes will lead to the adoption at the council. The program includes the following subjects under discussion: (1) planning for linking 3 or 4 port districts using trams or ships; (2)Development of green zones, emphasizing blue (sea) and green (forest) with more vivid contrast as the symbols of the city; (3) diffusion of building standards.