The Basic Environment Plan -- Japan's 5-year-old master plan for a more environmentally sustainable society -- is in the middle of a seismic revision.
Environment Agency officials and activists hope that when the shakeup subsides and the dust settles, they will have a plan that will expedite the introduction of economic measures, such as "green taxes," to ease environmental ills.
The Central Environment Council, the agency's top advisory panel, is now deliberating on the revisions to compile an interim report early next month. The revisions are to be finalized by the end of 2000.