UNEP Special Envoy Ms. Tokiko Kato Tour of China

At the invitation of the CPAFFC, Ms. Tokiko Kato, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) special envoy and well-known Japanese professional vocalist, paid a visit to China together with relevant personages of the Global Environment Centre Foundation under the Japanese Ministry of Environment, the organization that sent the delegation. They visited Beijing, Datong, Guiyang and Shanghai from July 19 to 28. Ms. Kato gave an interview on the topic “Under the Same Sky” at the Sino-Japanese Friendship Centre for Environmental Protection in Beijing on July 22, which was followed by a concert, and attended the opening ceremony of the Asia-Pacific Leadership Programme on Environment and Sustainable Development at Tongji University in Shanghai on July 25.

Songs Ms. Kato sings such as Red Balloons, Lullaby Sung in Solitude, The Journey of Shiretoko, etc. have made her known to every household. Born in Harbin of China, she cherishes profound friendly feelings towards China. She is also a social activist who is devoted to the protection of environment. Since October 2000 when she became special envoy of UNEP, she has visited countries in Asia including ASEAN countries and publicized the environmental conditions and crises she has seen through the media and her singing and appealed to the public for environmental protection.

Ms. Kato and her party called on the local governments, enterprises, villages and nongovernmental organizations, and had discussions and exchanges on environmental protection with people engaged in this field and with farmers, students, and reporters wherever they went.

As a singer, she participates in the environmental protection activities with the aim of promoting a healthy way of life with her own example, not seeking the sensational effects that benefit performances usually bring about. With the agricultural ecological garden in Chiba, a prefecture next to Tokyo, as the base she, together with some young people, tries to build a recycling society. Wherever she goes, she always tries to find the unique local characteristics. While respecting the wisdom accumulated in the local people’s traditional way of life, she would work out ways to conserve nature according to the specific local conditions. She advocates that everybody should try to prolong the life of every building, every computer and every TV set to reduce waste and make the best use of everything in the world today when replacement of old things with new ones has been continuously accelerated.

When asked to give her suggestions on the holding of green Olympics in Beijing, she said, more lawns added to the city and beautiful environment are “visible green”. The “invisible green”, for instance, the sewage and garbage disposal, economizing on water and electricity, the control of automobile exhaustion, the ecological balance of the city, etc. all need our attention.