Home > Statistics > Japan Statistical Yearbook > Chapter 26 Environment, Disasters and Accidents > Explanations
Main contents start here
This chapter covers environment, disasters and accidents.
The section of environment contains statistics on greenhouse gases, atmospheric pollution, waste disposal, public hazards, water and sewage, and the ecosystems. The main sources of data are "Report of Survey on Discharge and Disposal of Industrial Waste" and "Disposal of Waste in Japan" by the Ministry of the Environment and "Survey on Complaints against Environmental Pollution" by the Environmental Dispute Coordination Commission.
The section of disasters contains statistics on natural disasters such as typhoons, heavy rain, earthquakes, etc., fires and industrial injuries. The principal sources of data for "White Paper on Fire Fighting" by the Fire and Disaster Management Agency, "Crop Survey" by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries; for damage by fires, are "Annual Report on Fires" and "Annual Report on Fire Fighting" by the Fire and Disaster Management Agency; and for industrial injuries, are "Report on Industrial Accidents" and "Survey on Industrial Injuries" by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare and " Monthly Report of Statistics on Mine Safety" by the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency.
The section of accidents contains statistics on road traffic accidents, railway accidents, shipping accidents, and electric and gas accidents. The principal sources of data are "Traffic Statistics" and "Annual Statistics on Road Traffic Accident" compiled by the National Police Agency, "Yearbook of Railway Statistics" by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, and "Handbook of Gas Utility Industry" by the Japan Gas Association, "Statistics on Electric Accidents" by the Agency for Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency.
At present, the United Nations and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), among others, are developing environmental indicators. The "PSR framework", which is proposed by OECD, is widely used by other international organizations and countries as the basis for developing their environmental indicators. The same framework is also used by the Comprehensive Environment Policy Bureau, Ministry of the Environment of Japan, for compiling "Environmental Statistics".
OECD has developed the "PSR framework" to be used as a conceptual scheme to arrange the environmental information and put it together into indicators. The framework is aimed at grasping the relationship between human activities and the environment through a flow of processes, PSR, namely, "Pressure on environment", "State of environment as a consequence" and "Social responses for it". And the environmental indicators of OECD, which are based on this PSR model, use the "core set" as the basic tool to comprehend the structure of environmental problems (see Diagram 1). The elements of the "PSR framework" are as follows.
<1> Pressure on environment The indicators to measure the environmental pressure represent the pressure of human activities on the environment including natural resources. Here, the "pressure" includes underlying or indirect pressures (activities themselves and environmental fluctuations, etc.) as well as proximate or direct (use of resources, discharge of pollutants and wastes, etc.).
<2> State of environment The indicators for the state of the environment are related to the quality of the environment and the qualitative and quantitative aspects of natural resources, reflecting the purpose of environmental policies. Moreover, the environmental indicators are designed to reveal the overall state of the environment and its change over time. Examples are the density of pollutants and the state of wild animals and natural resources.
<3> Social response The social policy indicators show the degree with which society responds to the environmental problems. For example, they refer to environmental expenditure, environmental tax, recycle of waste, etc.
Data source is "On the discharge of greenhouse gases" which is compiled by the Ministry of the Environment as an administrative material. The artificial discharge of greenhouse gases has potential effects to raise earth's surface temperature, which may carry consequences on climate, the rise of sea level and on agriculture. The rise of earth's temperature is mostly caused by carbon dioxide, chlorofluorocarbons (Freon), nitrogen oxide (NOx), and methane gas, among which the carbon dioxide plays the major role. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change was adopted in May 1992, aiming at ultimately stabilizing the density of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, and it came into effect in March 1994. In December 1997, member countries of the Convention held COP3 or the Third Conference of the Parties, in Kyoto and adopted the Kyoto Protocol, which came into effect in February 2005. It stipulates a legally binding promise with numerical targets on the discharge of greenhouse gases among developed countries and provides an international mechanism to achieve the targets. The promise of Japan for the greenhouse gas reduction as agreed upon in the Kyoto convention is a 6 percent reduction in total amount by 2008--2012 against the 1990 benchmark for carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide, and against the 1995 benchmark for chlorofluorocarbons substitute.
This survey has been conducted by the Ministry of the Environment (formerly Ministry of Health and Welfare) every 5 years since fiscal 1975, and every year since fiscal 1990 with a purpose to investigate the discharge and disposal of industrial wastes. This survey clarifies amount of output, midway disposal, and final disposal of industrial wastes by prefecture. Covered industries are 16 categories of businesses selected from Japan Standard Industrial Classification (12th revision) in which industrial wastes are presumably produced. And, covered wastes are 19 categories of waste as specified by the Waste Management and Public Cleansing Act.
This survey is conducted every year by the Ministry of the Environment to obtain basic data concerning general waste disposal services and general waste disposal facilities, such as the volume of discharged waste, by municipality (shi (city), machi (town) and mura (village)). The survey covers prefectures, municipalities and administrative associations.
This is conducted every year by the Central Pollution Investigation Commission to obtain the data on the reception and disposition of pollution complaints received at the pollution complaint consultation window of local governments.This survey was started in fiscal 1994 combining two precedent surveys; the Survey of Number of Pollution Complaint Cases and the Survey of Pollution Complaint Treatments by Local Governments.
The Survey of Number of Pollution Complaint Cases had been conducted by the Central Pollution Investigation Commission (now, the Environmental Disputes Coordination Commission) of the Prime Minister's Office from fiscal 1970 to fiscal 1993, taking over the Survey of Number of Pollution Complaints and Petitions by the Ministry of Home Affairs (now, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications) which was started in fiscal 1966.
Data are based on "Endangered Species of Wild Animals and Plants in Japan (species listed in the Red Data Book and the Red List)" compiled by the Ministry of the Environment for administrative purposes. The Red Data Book, which put together surviving conditions of endangered wild animals and plants based on the list of the endangered species, was firstly published by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) in 1966. In December 1994, the IUCN adopted the new red-list categories (with numerical criteria to be used in ranking the degree of endangerment for each species) and revised the list. The revised Red List based on the new categories, which was published in October 1996, adopted more objective standards based on extinction probabilities rather than qualitative evaluations in the past. In Japan, the Environment Agency (currently Ministry of Environment) prepared a red data book named "Endangered Wild Animals in Japan" in 1991. The Environment Agency (currently Ministry of Environment) began to review the red data book in 1995 based on the revised IUCN list. However, as there are many species in Japan for which sufficient data are not available for numerical evaluation, new categories were established using both the "qualitative conditions" as before and the "quantitative conditions". The new red list which is based on the review was prepared and published for all classification groups of animals and plants in April 2000. Based on the new red list, the red data book was revised and the complete set was published by August 2006. The second review of the red list was started in 2002. The list for birds, reptiles, amphibians, and other invertebrates was released in December 2006, and the list for mammals, fish in fresh or brackish water, shellfish, category I and II of plants was released in August 2007. At the moment, there is no plan for editing a red data book on these lists.
Fire and Disaster Management Agency collects data on natural disasters from prefectures, etc, and compiles a white paper. The white paper contains statistics on damages caused by stormy winds, heavy rain, flood, storm surges, earthquakes (including volcanic activities) and tidal waves.
National Police Agency also compiles, as administrative materials, the damages caused by natural disasters and the police activities against principal disasters. However, there is some disagreement between the two materials due to the difference in the coverage of natural disasters and in the survey method, etc.
Data on the facilities for fire fighting and the call frequency for fire services are obtained from "Annual Report on Fire Defence" compiled by the Fire and Disaster Management Agency based on the result of annual inquiries on the condition of the fire and disaster prevention administration in all prefectures. Data on number of fires and damage are obtained from "Annual Report on Fires" compiled from the fire reports prepared by shi (cities), machi (towns) and mura (villages) and submitted through prefectures pursuant to the manual of the fire reports under the Act Concerning Fire Defence Organization.
Fire damage refers to direct damage caused by fires and comprises burnt damage, fire fighting damage, explosion damage and personal damage. The burnt damage refers to the value of properties burnt down by fires or broken down by heat, etc., while the fire fighting damage refers to the damage caused by water, dilapidation and spoilage, etc. resulted from fighting fires. And the explosion damage refers to the damage caused by the destructive effects of explosions, but excludes fire and fire fighting damage resulted from explosions. Fire damage excludes indirect expenses such as expenses required for fire fighting, expenses for cleaning up debris, and the loss caused by suspension of business on account of fires, etc. The value of damage is calculated on the basis of the current market prices, and does not include bodily damage.
This report is compiled by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare to obtain the data on the cases of industrial accidents, such as those involving death and injury (death and injury demanding absence of 4 days or more), those involving death, and serious accidents (3 or more workers are injured or contract disease at the same time).
This survey has been conducted annually by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare since 1952 with an aim to clarify the situation of the occurrence of industrial injuries.
Industrial injuries refer to death, bodily injury or illness (excluding delayed illness, food poisoning and infectious diseases) of workers caused by their duty while working, except for injuries caused by accidents while commuting.
This survey is a sample survey on a sample of about 33,000 establishments selected from private, national and public establishments (for forestry, private establishments only) of the under stated industries employing 10 or more regular workers. Establishments with managerial and clerical workers only and establishments of mining and quarrying of stone and gravel covered by the Mine Safety Act are excluded.
Industry Industries (by Japan Standard Industrial Classification (Rev.12)) covered are, A-Agriculture and forestry (forestry only), C-Mining and quarrying of stone and gravel, D-Construction (excluding general construction work), E-Manufacturing, F-Electricity, gas, heat supply and water, G-Information and communications (communications, newspapers and publishers only), H-Transport and postal activities, I-Wholesale and retail trade, M-Accommodations, eating and drinking services (hotels only), N-Living-related and personal services and amusement services (laundries, travel agency and golf courses only), P-Medical, health care and welfare (hospitals, clinics of medical practitioners, public health centres, health consultation offices, child welfare services, welfare services for the aged and care services, welfare services for disabled persons, miscellaneous social insurance, social welfare and care services only), R-Services, n.e.c. (domestic waste disposal business, industrial waste disposal business, automobile maintenance services, machine repair shops, electrical machinery, apparatus, appliances and supplies repair shops, and building maintenance services only).
With regard to the establishments with 10 to 29 regular workers, however, covered are private establishments under the specified subdivision of Manufacturing industry.
Surveyed are 4,600 construction sites selected by the specified method from the sites for which approximate premium of the Worker's Accident Compensation Insurance is 1,600,000 yen or more or contract amount for the work is 190 million yen or more.
This report was initiated in 1949 when the Mine Safety Act was enforced in order to surely grasp the occurrence of accidents at each mine and their statistics by region and country. This is compiled monthly and addressed to the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. Sufferers refer to persons killed or injured on duty (except diseases resulted from duty). Among the sufferers, the seriously injured refer to persons severely wounded (demanding absence of 4 weeks or more) or persons absent from work for 2 weeks or more but less than 4 weeks, and the slightly injured refer to persons absent from work for three days or more but less than 2 weeks.
Data are tabulated by the National Police Agency based on the original statistical reports on traffic accident submitted by police stations. Road traffic accidents refer to accidents involving deaths or injuries that occurred to persons by the traffic of vehicles (including light vehicles such as bicycles), streetcars and trains, on the roads prescribed by the Road Traffic Act, and do not include accidents with property damages only. Accordingly, they include accidents at the railway crossing, but exclude other railway accidents. Persons killed refer to those who died within 24 hours after the occurrence of the road traffic accidents. Persons injured refer to those injured by road traffic accidents; the seriously injured to those who need medical treatment for 30 days or more, and the slightly injured, to those who need medical treatment for less than 30 days.
Data are compiled by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport based on the reports submitted in accordance with the Regulations Concerning the Report of Railway Accidents and the Regulations Concerning the Report of Street Railway Accidents. Operation accidents refer to train collisions, train derailments, train fires, crossing accidents, road accidents, personal accidents, and property damage of 5 million yen or more occurred due to the operation of trains or rolling stock. Persons killed refer to those who died within 24 hours after the accident occurred.
Marine accidents refer to recognized accidents as defined in the Article 2 of the Act on Marine Accident Inquiry. Covered are accidents of Japanese vessels occurred in any water area in the world including rivers and lakes. Since the enforcement of the Act on Marine Accident Inquiry in 1948, the Marine Accident Inquiry Agency was in charge of inquiry of the cause and disciplinary action for marine accidents until the reorganization on October 1, 2008. Since then, the newly established Marine Accident Tribunal is responsible for the accusation against sailors through marine accident investigation, and Japan Transport Safety Board is in charge of the inquiry of the cause.
