福島コミュニティパワー宣言

2014年2月1〜2日に開催された「コミュニティパワー国際会議2014 in 福島」にて「福島コミュニティパワー宣言」が採択されました。

巨大な原発事故が起こった。
いま、怖るべきモラルハザードが始まっている。
われわれは、人智が制御しえぬモノに、われわれの未来を委ねることを拒絶するか、それとも思考停止のままに受容し続けるのか、という分岐点に立たされている。
福島の人々はすでに早く、原発事故の三カ月後には、原発に依存せずに持続的に発展してゆく将来へのシナリオを選択し、それを宣言した。
しかし、この福島の意志は無視され、黙殺されてきた。

いま、福島に踏みとどまり、そこで生きてゆくことは、見えない生存の不安のなかで、まったく新しい暮らしと生業のスタイルを創造してゆく努力なしには不可能である。
傷付き、足掻いている福島は、あくまで前向きにみずからの将来を創造してゆく、そのための始まりの土地になりたいと願う。

再生可能エネルギーとは、風土とテクノロジーの結婚である。
それはわれわれにとって、地域社会の自治と自立のための大切な拠り所であり、方法である。
われわれは原発事故によって深く傷付いた福島の地に拠るがゆえに、原子力エネルギーという人智が制御しえぬ荒ぶる神の火を捨てようとしている。
そうして、風や陽光や水の流れ、大地の熱や森の間伐材などからエネルギーを贈与していただく再生可能エネルギーへの転換を進めてゆくことを願う。
人と自然との境界が引き直されねばならない。

福島はいま、再生可能エネルギーを携えて、始まりの土地になろうとしている。
そして、福島が率先して変化を起こすことで、日本各地が変わり、世界が大きく変わってゆくにちがいない。

そのために私たちは、今日この福島の地で、以下の３つの行動を約束する；

このネットワークを活かして「21世紀の電事連」（こちら側の電事連）を立ち上げる
福島からの変革を支援するための「福島コミュニティパワー基金」を立ち上げる
いま、ここから歴史を変える

2014年2月2日喜多方

コミュニティパワー国際会議2014 in 福島

Fukushima Community Power Declaration

From 31 January till 2 February, delegates from Fukushima, Japan and further Asian countries, America, Australia and Europe gathered in Fukushima for the International Community Power Conference. After three days of inspiring, encouraging and very interactive exchange of ideas and experiences, they have agreed on the following declaration:

Three years ago, the world was shocked by the triple, devastating catastrophe of earthquake, tsunami and nuclear meltdown. The nuclear disaster of Daiichi and its hazardous impact on the life of million of people in Fukushima prefecture and in whole Japan has opened the eyes of people around the world and demonstrated in an impressive way that the risks of nuclear power are too big and cannot be controlled and are irresponsible. As a highly centralized energy source, nuclear power is generating profit for few big corporations while many citizens have to bear the risks and suffer from the impact of a nuclear accident.

In this sense, we express our deep solidarity with the people of Fukushima, in particular in those areas which were and are still heavily affected by the devastating tsunami and nuclear disaster. The people of Fukushima, many of which were forced or are still forced to live away from their homes, are suffering most from the terrible accident.

The whole world knows Fukushima now for the nuclear disaster and its name has almost become synonymous for nuclear catastrophe, ignoring the beauty of the area and the gentleness of its citizens.
We applaud Fukushima prefecture for its decision to become a 100% renewable energy region by 2040 at the latest. This decision can revise the current image and even turn it into the opposite, by making Fukushima a world leader in renewable energy and a model for the world.

To some, the 100% renewable energy goal as adopted by Fukushima prefecture may sound like a dream. But we know today communities around the world, where such dream has already become a concrete vision and in some places 100% renewable energy is already a reality today. Renewable energy has helped communities around the world to keep their dignity, their independence and healthiness.

Renewable energies are offered by nature in a decentralized manner and, different from nuclear of fossil resources, cannot become monopolized. Nobody can control the wind or the sun, but everybody can harvest them, without doing any damage to its neighbors.
Renewable energies offer opportunities for all human beings. Harvesting renewable energies like sun, wind, hydropower, geothermal energy or bioenergy, will strengthen local communities by creating new opportunities for income and wealth.
Renewable energies strengthens essentially self-governance, local autonomy, and democratic structures, and they provide energy in a truly sustainable, environmental friendly and not hazardous way.

Of course renewable energies need to be harvested with the consent of the local citizens. This is why community power initiatives have to play a vital role in a renewable energy strategy. Communities can even play a driving role in a bottom-up process, as it has occurred in several European countries, like Denmark or Germany.

While we have seen encouraging steps in many municipalities and prefectures around Japan, we are worried about the recent developments on the national level. We are also worried about similar developments in other parts of the world, where the strong nuclear lobby seems to get an increasing influence on political decisions, against the interest of the general public.

Japan has made some initial steps towards a renewable energy future, e.g. by introducing a feed-in tariff for electricity from renewable sources. In solar energy, some progress can be observed, although the pace is still slow. At the same time, Japan has slowed down wind energy deployment and even dropped out of the top ten countries worldwide in terms of installed wind capacity. Therefore we call upon the government of Japan, the Japanese prefectures, municipalities and legislators on all levels to seriously support the deployment of all kinds of renewable energy with appropriate legislation and policies. We offer our advice on identifying such tools, based on the international experience.

However, it is obvious that the influence of nuclear and fossil fuel lobby groups on political decision makers is still very strong. Hence it will be essential that communities that aim at becoming 100% renewable energy communities strengthen their political impact by cooperating closely and extending their networks.

We highly welcome the launch of the Fukushima Community Power Fund and call on community power proponents in Japan to support the fund so that it can soon become fully operational and support community power groups in investing in renewable energy projects.

On the international and global level, renewable energy communities need to intensify their cooperation as well, either by joining existing networks (such as for wind the WWEA Community Power Working Group) or by creating new networks.
We warmly welcome the recently launched Global 100% Renewable Energies campaign and call upon community power proponents in Japan and all over the world to support this campaign.

Renewable energy communities are also wiling to work with the International Renewable Energy Agency on strengthening the social support for renewable energy.

In order to do so, we promise each other to start collective actions below;

To launch “community power alliance for 21th century”, based on this lively network
To launch “Fukushima community power fund” to support and accelerate social innovation in Fukushima through community power
To change our history from today and now

Fukushima, 2 February 2014

Community Power Conference 2014 in Fukushima