Contributions from academia are vital to tackle challenges of the global environmental problems such as climate change, which are related to the continued existence of all humanity.

The G8 University Summit aims to make international contributions representing academia, in order to achieve the sustainability^*1) of the global, social and human systems and their mutual relationship and to promote education for sustainable development^{*2) *3)} and construction of an international network through cooperation among universities.

For this G8 University Summit, the presidents of research universities that play leading roles in academia are invited from the G8 nations and other major developed countries as well as major emerging economies, to discuss how we take on the challenge of the global and human issues. We hope that the results of the discussion will be supported by the G8 and other international consensus-building processes to achieve global sustainability.

*1) Sustainability

Sustainability is a concept that focuses on the future maintenance and longevity of human well-being and security. It considers interaction within and between global, social, and human systems, including areas such as climatology and components of agriculture, industry, forestry and fisheries, and human communities in general, as well as the various systems on which they depend.
Sustainability is often viewed from the perspectives of the environment, resources and energy. Global sustainability is the term used when the concept is considered on a worldwide scale.

*2) SD：Sustainable Development

According to "Our Common Future," a 1987 report by the WCED (World Commission on Environment and Development), sustainable development is defined as "[meeting] the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs" (WCED, 1987 p. 43, http:// www.un-documents.net/ ocf-ov.htm#I.3).
Sustainable development is the process of making sure current interaction with the environment is pursued with a view to keeping it as pristine as possible for future generations by avoiding severe degradation.

*3) ESD: Education for Sustainable Development

In December 2002, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution to designate the ten-year period from 2005 to 2014 as the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development. The move was made in response to a recommendation by the Johannesburg Plan of Action adopted at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in 2002.
Pursuant to this resolution, Interministerial Meeting on the “United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development” of the Government of Japan established the Plan of Action for the Decade in March 2006.
ESD is introduced in the plan as follows:
"Sustainable development … can only be realized with everyone being aware of it and implementing it in his or her daily living and economic activities. To begin with, each one of us must realize that we are living in close association with the people of the world, future generations, and the environment, and must change our activities. ESD is the education for this purpose. Toward that end, providing literacy and basic education for all people is the precondition." Reference: Japan's Action Plan for the "United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development" (provisional translation)
http://www.unescobkk.org/fileadmin/user_upload/esd/ documents/ desd/ Japan_Action_Plan_for_DESD.pdf

*Because of the limited seating in the G8 summit,
the meeting is not open for public.
Thank you for your kind understanding and cooperation in advance.

Secretariat of the Organizing Committee are as follows: