This book is a part of the results of the "Initial" Resource and Environmental Policy Formation Process Study Group conducted by the Institute of Developing Economies from 2018 to 2019. From the spring of 2020, when the joint study group was completed and the final results were revised and edited, an emergency declaration was issued due to the spread of the new coronavirus (COVID-19) in Japan, and the work from home was expanded. Research activities were also severely restricted, such as the closure of public libraries, restrictions on use, and difficulty in field surveys. As of January 2021, a state of emergency has been issued again in many areas, including the four Kanto prefectures.

　The new coronavirus infectious disease that has spread to the world has unexpectedly provided an opportunity to bring out the systems and efforts of each country for public health policy, which is an important field of public policy, and the results side by side. Countermeasures against the new coronavirus are still uncertain, but international comparative research on infectious disease countermeasures will be an important research topic that many researchers around the world will work on in the future.

　The process of forming resource and environmental policies discussed in this book was deeply related to public health policies, especially in the "early stages". Currently, the field of public policy, called environmental policy, has various contents. In the process of policy formulation, there are multiple targets where some areas overlap, such as pollution problems such as air pollution, water pollution, waste, and noise, resource conservation problems such as forests, water resources, and energy, and ecosystem conservation. Was incorporated into the concept of "environment" and integrated. Since then, the area of ​​"environment" as a target of public policy has continued to expand.

　Pollution issues, which were important "early" policy issues, were initially focused on health hazards and by expanding environmental hygiene, which was part of public health policy for epidemics and disease control. A response was attempted. Industrial pollution problems that are directly related to economic activities are also regarded as the subject of industrial policy, and countermeasures using those policy measures have also been attempted. As its importance increased, pollution control became independent of public health policy and was treated as a new policy area. Furthermore, pollution control was merged with resource management, nature maintenance, etc., and integrated into the expanded policy area of ​​"environment".

　Overall, the concern has expanded from the urgent problem of health damage caused by industrial pollution to the problem of improper use of natural resources mediated by it, and surrounds the entire living environment and economic society of people from personal health. The scope of the policy has expanded to "environment", and the meaning of "environment" has expanded the space and time to the global environment that transcends national borders and the ultra-long-term permanent use that transcends generations.

　As described above, public health policy is the direct source of pollution control, and resource and environmental policy including pollution control has taken over the flow. The policy area has expanded from public health, a measure that excludes factors that cause health hazards to people, to a wider "environment." Today, the link between resource and environmental policies and public health policies is rarely considered. Resource and environmental policies are relatively "late public policies" as opposed to public health policies, which have a long history. It is not always sufficient what kind of process was the process in which resource and environmental policies were initially incorporated into existing public policies such as public health policies and industrial policies, started as part of them, and became independent as a field. It has not been clarified.

　There is growing interest in the impact of the political system on public health policy and the implications of the difference between authoritarianism and democracy over the global response to the new coronavirus infection. It is certainly not easy to implement epidemics, which often require strong government coercion, in a democratic system against the backdrop of social consensus or widespread political support. In fact, there are some cases where the epidemic was successfully prevented by strict control under the authoritarian system. Similar discussions have been held in recent years in resource and environmental policy. The "authoritarian environmentalism" discussed in Chapter 3 of this book is discussed against the backdrop of the recent Chinese government's willingness to tackle climate change. It could be contrasted with the US Trump administration's reluctance to take many environmental policies, including climate change, from 2017 to 2021. These debates were active during the oil crisis of the 1970s, but they were down because the authoritarian leaders at the time were not always enthusiastic about environmental policy. It was. Considering the water pollution control measures in Taiwan in the 1970s, which are discussed in Chapter 2, as the process of forming resource and environmental policies under the authoritarian system, it can be regarded as one of the few cases that have achieved certain results. In reality, neither the epidemic prevention of public health policies nor the resource and environmental policies, the introduction and success of intervention policies with strong coercion are more likely to be achieved in authoritarian regimes than in democratic regimes. The impact of the political system on the formation of public policy needs to be examined by accumulating individual case studies. By comparing and examining the formation process of public health policy and resource / environmental policy in each country, it may be possible to find out the characteristics and common issues of each public policy.

　Among the non-authoritarian countries, Taiwan and New Zealand, which are considered to be the most successful countermeasures against the new coronavirus infection at present, are small island nations and have favorable conditions for epidemic prevention, but at least that. Some also apply to Japan. The appearance of Taiwanese people who are living almost normal daily life seems to be shown as another present that was possible for us living in Japan. In Taiwan, where overseas travel has become difficult, domestic travel is booming unprecedentedly. There is a symmetry with Japan, which strongly promoted domestic travel without the end of infectious diseases. There are differences in the political systems of Taiwan and Japan today, but no decisive difference. It can be seen that the difference in epidemic prevention measures during this period needs to be seen not only in the current political system and system, but also in at least its historical background. I would like to reaffirm the necessity and importance of this joint research task, which is to trace the process of formation of resource and environmental policies and clarify the historical background.

　Another problem that has become apparent in the spread of the new coronavirus infection is the relationship between science and society, and the way in which scientific knowledge is reflected in political decision-making. This important issue raised by the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and the nuclear power plant accident reappeared before us, without being fully discussed and shared by society. As discussed in the introduction to this book, many of the important components of resource and environmental policy cannot be addressed as policy issues unless the causal relationship between cause and damage is identified by scientific knowledge. In addition, there were many difficulties in order for the scientific knowledge to be utilized in policy formation, especially in the "early stage" of the formation process. It is considered that it is becoming more important to take up the process of forming the "early stage" of resource / environmental policy as a research subject.

　This book is the result of joint research conducted from 2010 to 2011, edited by Tadayoshi Terao, "Process of Environmental Policy Formation-From the Viewpoint of" Development and Environment "" (Research Sosho No.605), 2012 and 2013. Tadayoshi Terao's "Politics of" Late "-The Process of Forming Resources and Environmental Policies-" (Research Sosho No. 614), which is the result of the joint research conducted in FY2015, and the joint research conducted in FY2015 and FY2016. Based on the results of joint research organized following Tadayoshi Terao's "Process of Formation of Resource and Environmental Policy-Focusing on" Early "Institutions and Organizations-" (Research Sosho No.638), which is the result of research. Tsuruyo Funatsu (Institute of Developing Economies, New Area Research Center), who initially contributed to the management and compilation of results as an observer at these study groups, also participated in the joint study group that was the basis of this book. He participated as an observer and contributed to the operation this time as well. In addition, Mr. Ichiro Adachi (Japan International Cooperation Agency, Sadako Ogata Institute for Peace Development) gave a lecture as an outside lecturer at the study group, and gave us important suggestions. In addition, those who were indebted to the field survey and data collection, those who were indebted to the planning and management of the joint study group at the Institute of Developing Economies, and those who received useful comments in the process of peer review and evaluation of the study group results. I would like to express my deep gratitude to the people in the editorial publishing department for their important advice in the process of editing and proofreading.

　Early spring 2021

　Editor