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Environment-Themed World Expo a First for the Millennium |
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By Suvendrini Kakuchi*
Beginning
Mar. 25, pavilions will represent the messages of 122 countries
at the World Expo in Japan as they laud ''Nature's Wisdom''.
TOKYO - With attractions ranging from humanoid
robots to mammoth fossils, the World Exposition in Aichi, Japan,
the first of the millennium, opens its doors on Mar. 25 with the
intention of promoting economic development in harmony with nature,
say organizers.
Under the theme ''Nature's Wisdom'', the Expo has drawn presenters
from 122 countries and territories, grouped by region in six ''global
commons'' in several cities of Japan's central Aichi province.
There are also representatives from the private sector, the United
Nations and 200 non-governmental organizations with exhibits that
feature their own unique national environmental themes. The event
lasts through Sep. 25.
''The Expo marks the beginning of a new movement because we have
worked closely with citizens groups to bring forward the message
of economic development that is in harmony with environment. Humanity
has reached a turning point,'' said Toshio Nakamura, secretary general
of the Japan Association for the 2005 World Exposition.
The event's theme was chosen to emphasize sustainable development
over the current global trend of mass consumption that is blamed
for destroying the environment and causing global warming and desertification.
Each participant will present a viewpoint on environmental issues.
For example the Chinese pavilion represents harmony between nature
and urban areas achieved through technology. The site includes a
video room with lotus-shaped seats where visitors can watch a circular
plasma screen displaying traditional calligraphy and paintings.
The Russian pavilion features a life-size model of a leisure spaceship
that is expected to be in operation within a few years. ''Passengers''
at the Expo will be able to experience simulated space travel.
The African pavilion is a joint effort of 29 countries. The large
structure is designed so visitors can experience the ''African Odyssey'',
which focuses on the continent as the birthplace of humanity.
Central America will also have a joint pavilion, while Mexico will
have the largest site of the Latin American countries, covering
nearly 1,000 square meters. With the theme of ''Weaving Diversity'',
the Mexican pavilion underscores the importance of ecosystems like
the Mexican Caribbean reef, indigenous cultures and the situation
of threatened species like sea turtles and the gray whale.
But it is the host country that has the largest pavilion of the
Expo, the Japan Pavilion Nagakute, a giant ''cocoon'' made from
bamboo. Experiments exhibited on the site will focus on energy conservation,
including the highly touted technology of eliminating the use of
air conditioning in summer, which includes the bamboo material,
photocatlaytic tiles and diffused water.
Among the special attractions of the Japanese exhibit are 63 prototype
robots, including live-looking and life-sized humanoid robots who
could one day play the role of caregivers for children or the elderly
-- the latter a growing proportion of the country's population.
Alongside the technological breakthroughs, Japan will display the
remains of a perfectly preserved mammoth unearthed from the permafrost
in Russia's Siberia region.
But according to organizers, rather than being a showcase for advanced
Japanese technology, the Expo in Aichi serves as a platform to emphasize
the country's
commitment to the global environment.
''Aichi is a landmark for Japan because it carries the message that
we can play the role of being the center in solving the world's
environmental problems," Ayumi Okamoto, an Expo organizer, told
Tierramérica.
A quarter of the Expo area is forests and lakes, and even transportation
is environmentally friendly, with the ''Intelligent Multimode Transit
System'', made up of low-emission buses and fuel-cell hybrid vehicles
using compressed natural gas that will ferry visitors throughout
the event locations.
The message of harmony in living with nature will also be conveyed
through new energy systems based on recycling and the use of alternative
natural sources.
More than 15 million people are expected to visit the World Expo,
including such luminaries as Russian president, Vladimir Putin,
and French president, Jacques Chirac, as well as Cedza Dlamini,
grandson of former South African president Nelson Mandela. Dlamini
is a youth spokesman for the United Nations Millennium Development
Goals.
Despite the theme of protecting nature, organizing the Expo was
not free of environmental conflict. Aichi organizers had to reduce
the scale of the site as a result of protests that the construction
plan would destroy forests and threaten the already endangered nesting
goshawk, a bird species native to the local ecosystem.
Aichi residents also complained about the construction of a aerial
gondola system, citing environment destruction and loss of privacy.
But Nakamura defended the gondola, saying that more than 200 environmental
assessments by the government proved otherwise.
* Suvendrini Kakuchi is an IPS correspondent.
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