The COalition of Local Government for Environmental Initiative,(COLGEI) is a network of local governments which shares mutual information and policies, aiming to organize “Environmental Governments”, while environmental problems became more complicated and diversified.
Because of the local characteristics, the population size, and the region, each government faces different problems respectively. So the approaches toward the Environmental Government also differ among the member governments.
Being premised on such backgrounds, the COLGEI repeated discussions for several years on the following subject.
1, holding up the measure targets for every field which local governments should tackle at worst against environmental problems worsening day by day.
2, widely publishing the progress of measurements.
Then, on May 2000, at the 8th national convention of COLGEI in Minamata-city, we adopted the Common Targets that consist of 9 fields. (Minamata-city is famous for recovering historically serious environmental pollution and now famous as environmental city).
Towards the achievement of the Common Targets, we published the annual reports from 2000(1999 annual) which including the members achievement situations of the year. While the member local governments exchange each other about their policies and results, we are stepping up our efforts of the environmental improvements.
The contents of the first Common Targets(PDF Not translated yet)
Ten years have passed since the Minamata Convention in 2000, and the social situation and the policy concern have changed a lot.
Corresponding with this change, the Common Targets also needs radical revision, and since the COLGEI has to be a leading environmental group of Japan, we considered that the targets should foresaw further big societal change that may happen in next 10 years towards 2020. We have reconsidered the first Common Targets, and discussed about the second Common Targets.
The second Common Targets which consists of ten fields was adopted at the national convention in May 2011 (19th COLGEI Niihama Convention).
We continued discussion for one more year, and the numerical targets in each ten field, aiming next ten years was adopted in the national convention in May 2012 (20th COLGEI Katsuyama convention).
Besides this, we set up the “important measures” in 10 fields that we especially push to tackle in next ten years, and for this, we are also aiming to increase implementation rate among the whole member governments of COLGEI.
The contents of the second Common Targets
・COLGEI Niihama convention written resolution (PDF Not translated yet)
・Numerical Targets (PDF Not translated yet)
In the annual report, the achievement situation of the targets in each field is analyzed and released by two methods.
- Calculation and analysis of implementation situation of environment policies.
Toward the achievement of the Common Targets, we provide the policy menu for every field. Each local government reports every year on its implementation situations (carried out, has not carried out, under examination etc.) on each policy menu of every field. And we released the change in the number of implementation, etc. as compared with the previous year.
- Investigation and analysis of index values which measures environmental situations.
In order to recognize whether it connected with the environmental improvement of the area, it is insufficient just to analyze the implementation situations.
So, we have set the index which measure environmental situations for every field of Common Targets, and we grasp and release the achievement situation of the Common Targets along the years by analyzing the trend of a concrete numerical values.
The personnel in charge of each member local governments contributed a great amount of works every year for this Common Targets investigation to provide data to the COLGEI secretariat.
Please have a look on the website “only for a member local governments” for the results of the past Common Targets investigation.
If you are not the members, we appreciate if you purchase of “the Environmental Local Governments White Paper” which publishing the result of Common Targets investigation.