Flanked by Diet members and educators, members of an environmental nonprofit group unveiled the outline of a law to systematically promote environmental education during a symposium in Tokyo on Saturday.
The legislation would call for the central and local governments to establish five-year action plans, allot a prescribed number of hours of environmental education for students as well as annually offer at least 24 hours of "environmental education" to local residents. The goal of the law would be to realize a more sustainable society.
"This draft is not perfect, the numbers of people and hours in it need to be debated, but it is a first step that we hope will help to spur discussion," said Konoe Fujimura, of the Japan Association of Environment and Society for the 21st Century, the driving force behind the legislation.