Kunitoshi Sakurai

Professor, University of Okinawa
(555 Kokuba, Naha City, 902-8521 Japan)

Abstract

Improvement of municipal solid waste management (MSWM) is one of the key factors for the urgently needed alleviation of poverty and environmental health problems in developing countries. Considering the unlikely increase of Japanese Official Development Assistance (ODA) in the near future, it is of an utmost importance for Japanese waste management experts to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of Japanese international cooperation in the field of MSWM. Waste problems in developing countries are different from those in Japan reflecting natural, socio-economic and cultural conditions of the societies in concern. As such, it is requested to carry out international cooperation activities taking into account these local conditions. This article tries to extract common features of MSWM problems in developing countries, summarize the methodologies so far developed to overcome such problems and indicate issues to be dealt with for better international cooperation.

Key words: developing countries, municipal solid waste management (MSWM), official development assistance (ODA), appropriate technology, technical cooperation among developing countries (TCDC)