CIA The World Factbook

YI: Am I correct in saying this mechanism will be like a toll system, except instead of applying it to highways it will be for sea routes?

Yohei Sasakawa: It's a little bit different because we are thinking that it should be on a totally voluntary basis. For example, there is no charge per ship toll. What we will be doing, together with global maritime organizations and the littoral state governments, is to discuss what sort of budget will be needed to achieve certain navigational procedures in the Malacca Strait. That burden should then be passed down to users through maritime organizations.

YI: Thank you for your clarification. I would now like to bring your attention the problem of environmental pollution on the seas. What can be done about this problem, which is global, not just in the regions?

Yohei Sasakawa:In 1972, the Stockholm Declaration on the environment was made and 10 years after that, in 1982, I attended the Nairobi conference after UNEP was established and there I met a Norwegian adventurer and the two of us decided that we would visit all the ports in the world to tell people about this terrible sea pollution. Unfortunately, this plan of ours was not realized but many people don't realize how serious this problem has become. The seas all over the world have been polluted since the 1980s. Even today, people still throw their waste into rivers, so all the litter that people discard eventually reaches the sea. This happens in developing countries on a daily basis. So what should we do as we look toward 2050 when the world population is projected to reach six billion? It is not just a pollution issue. It is really about the survival of humankind. I think that is what is at stake, unless we change and stop discarding waste in the waters around us.

YI: This seems to be a problem of education. Developing countries need to emphasize on educating their younger generation. Perhaps it's too late for the older generation but certainly the younger generation need to know the seriousness of this problem. It's a problem of survival, would you agree?

Yohei Sasakawa: Indeed, it's very important, as you say, to educate the people. When we talk about education, we need political leaders, scholars, teachers and academicians to be involved, to really be aware of the seriousness of the situation we have on our hands. For each of the people in our lives, we need to be able to convey the correct information about the seriousness of the problem, to establish some sort of policy mechanism that we can spread to different countries.

YI: So, in other words, we also need the political will to make it happen.

Yohei Sasakawa: You are 100 percent correct. But, but unfortunately, educational issues don't get politicians elected or win them votes. So the priority given to education is very low, which is another very serious problem.

YI:Another issue close to your heart is the elimination of leprosy. How did you first get interest in the problem?

Yohei Sasakawa: My father lived in a village in which a young lady, whom I think he liked, disappeared from her home. In Japan during those days, the law required leprosy patients to be forcibly taken away and put in a special place. My father later learnt that this young girl developed leprosy and that is when he started to fight this disease and help those who were affected. I used to travel with him to visit the different leprosy hospitals in the world, where he would donate funds. He also wanted to find a way to cure leprosy patients. Unfortunately he was not able to complete his work of ridding the world of leprosy because he passed away in the middle of the task. I felt that I should continue with the mission and find out how we can help leprosy-affected people and free the world of this disease. Of course, I needed a strategy, a good policy to achieve that. And thanks to the cooperation of many people, I think we are almost at the end of the road.