On January 17, 2020, "Environmental Issues Explained in Diagrams," a set of diagrams we made with the National Institute for Environmental Studies (NIES), was published on the site of the institute's Office for Social Dialogue and Co-production.
What the diagrams are
The set consists of 44 diagrams that draw, in a shared format, how environmental problems arise, progress and are brought under control. It has two layers.
- Common diagrams (19): a framework that applies to any environmental problem. It explains the structure with two loops: the "economic loop," in which economic activity places a burden on nature, and the "environmental measures loop," in which society recognizes the problem and acts on companies. The state of the environment is shown in traffic-light colors and followed through five phases: early, advancing, countermeasures, containment and resolution
- Issue-specific diagrams (8 each): the same framework applied to pollution (water, air and soil), climate change, and resource problems (forest resources)
Cases where measures fall short and the situation heads toward collapse, and "prevention," where action is taken before damage occurs, are drawn in the same format. Without reading a separate explanation for each problem, you can compare what is the same and what differs.
Free for anyone to use
The diagrams can be downloaded as PowerPoint and PDF files. They are published under a Creative Commons license and may be copied and adapted.
The thinking behind the diagrams is also introduced in our Environmental Issues framework.
Credits
- National Institute for Environmental Studies: Tomohiro Tasaki, Yasuko Kameyama, Rintaro Yamaguchi
- ZUKAI (then called Business Zukai Kenkyujo): Tetsuro Kondo, Makoto Okiyama, Bunsuke Oshita, Hiromi Takahashi, Saki Kogure
- Published: January 17, 2020 (partly revised June 15, 2020)