By Industrial revolution that occurred in England in the mid-18th century, people's living environment had improved dramatically, and they got material wealth. On the other hand, Atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration increased rapidly, it brought about global warming that one of the most important issues in modern times.
Global warming is said to cause various natural environment problems such as extreme weather, ozone layer destruction, animal and plant decline, and sea level rise, etc. Therefore, it's necessary to tackle global warming countermeasures around the world.
In Japan after the period of high economic growth in the 1960s, the natural environment has changed greatly due to large-scale development. As a result, The Natural Environment Conservation Law (Basic survey on natural environment conservation, alias "Green Census") was enacted in 1972. The Ministry of the Environment of Japan has grasped the current state of the natural environment and how it has been modified, and has been conducting basic surveys necessary to formulate natural environment conservation measures since 1973 approximately every five years.
Japan is a lush country that about two thirds of it is covered with vegetated area such as mountains. However, the current natural environment is likely to become impaired, there are also research reports showing that potentially hundreds of plants can eventually become extinct.
Our mission to live in the present age is to inherit a better natural environment to future children. I hope that this work will be an opportunity for each person to think about environmental issues.
*Reference: "Basic survey on natural environment conservation (6th & 7th)", Biodiversity Center of Japan
(http://www.biodic.go.jp/copyright/terms_of_service.html, ref Date: 30th August, 2019)
*This Work is using the 1/25,000 vegetation map GIS data (Biodiversity Center of Japan), and was created and processed by Artist: Masahiro Ito.
緑の国勢調査
18世紀半頃にイギリスで起こった産業革命によって,人々の生活環境は劇的に利便性に富み,人々は物質的な豊かさを手に入れた.しかしその一方で,大気中の二酸化炭素濃度は急激に増加し,現代における最重要課題のひとつである地球温暖化をもたらした転機といわれている.
地球温暖化は,異常気象(ゲリラ豪雨など)やオゾン層破壊,動植物の減少や海水面の上昇など,現代に抱える様々な自然環境問題を引き起こすとされており,全世界が一丸となって早急に対策すべき事案であるといっても過言ではない.
日本では1960年代の高度経済成長期以降,大規模開発などによって自然環境は大きく変容していった.そこで,1972年に制定された自然環境保全法に基づき,自然環境保全基礎調査(別名「緑の国勢調査」)のもと,自然環境の現況および改変状況を把握し,自然環境保全施策の策定に必要となる基礎調査を1973年度からおおよそ5年おきに実施している.
国土のおよそ2/3が山地などの植生地で覆われる緑豊かな国,日本.しかしながら,いずれ絶滅する恐れがある植物は数百種にものぼる可能性があるとの研究報告があるように,現状のままでは現在の自然環境が損なわれる可能性が極めて高い.
未来の子供たちにより良い環境を受け継いでいけるかは,現代を生きる我々に課せられた使命である.本作品を通じて,環境問題に対して一人ひとりが考えるきっかけになることを願う.
*出典:「第6回・第7回自然環境保全基礎調査」(環境省生物多様性センター)
(http://www.biodic.go.jp/copyright/terms_of_service.html, 参照:2019/08/30)
*本作品は,1/25,000植生図GISデータ(環境省生物多様性センター)を使用し,アーティスト:伊藤雅浩が作成・加工したものである.