Environmental and Energy Business Resources

"The Nippon Foundation envisions a world in which we have transcended politics and ideology, religion and race, a world where we no longer suffer from hunger or disease. But there is a barrier at present, a wall that was created by human hands. This man-made wall prevents us from understanding the suffering of others, and blocks us from finding a solution to poverty and human misery. It is our belief that, by removing this wall, by enabling people who are now impoverished and socially handicapped to be the arbiter and creator of their own lives, we will make it possible to create a better world"

Early life / Work History

Yohei Sasakawa was born in Tokyo, Japan in 1939.From an early age, he has devoted his life for helping people going through hardship (people suffering from leprosy) and, in a broader sense, to social justice. Yohei Sasakawa joined The Nippon Foundation as a trustee in 1981 and served as its president from 1989 to 2005. He assumed the chairmanship of the foundation on July 1, 2005. Under Sasakawa's stewardship, The Nippon Foundation has grown into a philanthropic force to be reckoned with. The many programs that he has initiated and developed have each incorporated his vision of a united world.

Sasakawa's guiding principle is simple: "The world is one family, all mankind are brothers and sisters."

Since the beginning, Sasakawa has used his position at The Nippon Foundation as a tool for social development around the world, striving to improve public health and education, to alleviate poverty, eliminate hunger, and to help the disabled. In this work, he has focused specifically on helping people to achieve self-sufficiency.

Yohei Sasakawa and the Environment

Yohei Sasakawa has made tremendous contributions, globally and within the Asian region in several areas including Elimination of Leprosy, fight against hunger, Agricultural development in Africa, and Nurturing Future World Leaders,

He has also contributed to theAsian Public Intellectuals Fellowships, an International graduate Studies for graduate students of Peking University - Joint program between Waseda University, Japan and Perking University, China (fostering relationship between Japan and China), A program that brings doctors and medical specialists from China to Japan to study the most recent developments in medical technology. To date, nearly 2000 people have studied under this initiative fostering relationship between Japan and China); providing education for all - building elementary schools in places that cannot afford to build their own, or places that, for one reason or another, have been neglected (e.g. in the ex-Khmer Rouge areas of Cambodia and throughout Myanmar), providing Help for the Disabled; In Areas of Environment - e.g. Maritime development and safety (globally and regionally) - see more details below:

Nippon Foundation and Maritime Development & Safety Measures

Nippon Foundation has given a special focus to the development and protection of the world's maritime and marine resources. The oceans, with their inherently global nature, both tie our world together and possess unlimited potential for conflict. It is for this reason that Sasakawa has guided his foundation in efforts to strengthen the framework within which nations use the seas. Knowing that strong structures are built by people with an intimate understanding of the field, has extended his focus on global education to this area with the creation of major scholarships at the World Maritime University, the International Maritime Law Institute, and the United Nations Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea.

Regionally, Asian societies are benefiting directly from Nippon Foundation's Marine Safety initiatives. And as they grow more prosperous, the issue of regional trade and its attendant security comes more into the picture. Much of Asia is inherently reliant on the sea for trade and for resources. And yet, its myriad islands and complex coastal systems have the potential to make Asia's seas some of the most treacherous in the world. This is particularly true in the area between Indonesia and Malaysia, known as the Malacca-Singapore Straits. The straits, which connect Southeast Asia with Europe and Africa, are is vital to regional health. But with their shallowness, the complexity of their currents, and the ever-present danger of piracy, they present innumerable dangers.

For this reason, Sasakawa has devoted a large amount of effort to ensuring the safety of this area. Over the past few decades, his foundation has built more than 30 buoys and navigational aids along the straits. It has donated two ships, one to Indonesia and one to Malaysia, for the purpose of caring for these buoys. It has conducted underwater surveys and developed nautical charts to aid the thousands of ships that pass this way.

Equally importantly, it has conducted international meetings between high-level officials of the various Asian coast guards, in an attempt to reduce the number and severity of pirate attacks in the region. This effort has had a major impact, and in the past two years, regional piracy has fallen by 40%. All of this work has been done at Sasakawa's direction.

In March 2007, at Sasakawa's initiative, a Symposium on the Enhancement of Safety of Navigation and Environmental Protection of the Straits of Malacca and Singapore was held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. At this symposium, Sasakawa proposed a new voluntary fund for navigational safety and urged that users of the straits take the lead in donating funds.

UNEP Sasakawa Prize and Nippon Foundation

Under the chairmanship of Yohei Sasakawa, Nippon Foundation in partnership with UNEP administer the UNEP Sasakawa Prize - an award which was established in 1982 by Yohei's late father and former chairman of Nippon foundation, Ryoichi Sasakawa. The Prize is awarded to an individual or organization that presents a clear plan for implementing an innovative, groundbreaking and sustainable environmental project. The winners of the 2008 edition of this prize are: Sunlabob Rural Energy Limited from Laos and Practical Action from Peru.

The information on this page are obtained mainly from The Nippon Foundation's website. For further detailed information on Yohei Sasakawa, our readers are referred to Profile of Yohei Sasakawa on Nippon Foundation's website.