I do not know what will happen to the people in our planet. This is a very difficult question to answer. As a member of the community of mankind, however, I wish everyone could enjoy a happy and peaceful life.

At present, one-third of earth’s soil is covered by desert, which is not very productive. Consequently people encounter conflict, including war, because of the shortage of food.

In Japan, there is no desert. Hence, I suspect that the Japanese may not know about deserts. Since I have known deserts, my desire for mankind has been to convert the desert into green soil. This has been my life’s purpose as a Japanese, and I offer my life to this work.

As you may well know, anything can be accomplished with great effort. For instance, we have successfully rehabilitated one part of the Kubuqi Desert in China, an area that used to be a no man’s land destroyed by massive floods. Today, the Kubuqi Desert is considered to be a model case of desert development, because of it has become an impressive patch of green. It taught us that we could convert desert to green, productive land with a little more effort.

I am celebrating my 97th birthday soon, and I am getting weaker and weaker, especially my legs. Therefore I have to leave my mission to younger people, though I still wish to visit deserts a few times a year, as long as my health allows. This idea makes me sad, and because of this I would like to beg your permission and forgiveness. However, I believe there are still so many things to do in Japan with regards to greening of the desert. I am now just planning to keep a little distance from the frontlines of our work of greening the desert.

For me, the 21st century will be the age of the desert. Why? At present, not only is one- third of our land covered by desert, but this area is getting wider and wider every year.

Let us examine some basic data. The total area of the earth’s surface is 500 million square kilometers. Only about 30% of that is land, which is one hundred and thirty-six million (136,000,000) square kilometers. As I mentioned earlier, the ratio of desert to the total land area is now already about 30%, or forty-eight million (48,000,000) square kilometers. Consequently there are countless desert areas all over the world: in Africa, there is the Sahara Desert, Libyan Desert and Kalahari Desert. In Asia, there is the Gobi Desert, Taklamakan Desert, Arabian Desert, and the Kara Kum Desert. Moreover, in the Australian continent, there are the Great Sandy and Great Victoria deserts; in the American continent, the Atacama, Chihuahuan, and the Death Valley deserts. We really do not know the end of this list.

According to research conducted by the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP), about six million (6,000,000) hectares turn into new desert areas every year, and the rate of expansion is increasing more rapidly. On the other hand, the earth’s population increases at a rate of 2% a year, meaning about ninety-seven million people are born every year. At this rate, the human population is expected to be more than 10 billion (10,000,000,000) by the middle of this century. Given this scenario, it is believed that food shortage will be inevitable.

We do not have deserts in Japan. Hence, I can confidently say that the ordinary Japanese is ignorant of deserts. I believe, however, that we as a people have to confront the challenge of greening deserts, because we have a mission as witnesses to an endless series of wars in countries where there are large desert areas—in the Gulf War, the wars between Israel and Palestine, in Afghanistan, and so on.

I personally witnessed the roots of such conflicts in desert zones, then arrived at a conclusion: that, generally speaking, people in the deserts suffer from poverty, and because they cannot depend on anything else, they are united only by strict religious beliefs. I guess this is the only way for these people to survive in desert areas.

I believe, however, that mankind has to transcend diversities arising from nationalities, religion and physical boundaries in order to achieve a common mission of co-existence and co-prosperity. To me, the first step towards such a dream is greening the desert and creating productive soil full of plants. I therefore committed myself to this mission, and spent more than half a century for development projects in desert areas.

At this point, kindly allow me to share my background so that you may understand why I chose this field of work.

I was born to a poor family in December 1906. For some time, I lived in a Buddhist temple in Taishoji, Fuji-Yoshida City, Yamanashi Prefecture, very close to Mt. Fuji. I am the third among seven siblings. Because we were a big family and we didn’t have enough to eat, I was sent to a foster family. After finishing my elementary education, I wanted to proceed to secondary school. But because we did not have the means, my desire for higher education was a headache for my mother.

In order to search for greener pasture, I was eager to go to mainland China. My mother said: "Because I gave birth to you, I have an obligation to you. Wait for your turn, my dear; I promise you that we will send you to school, even if I eat only once a day." Consequently I was able to enter junior high school, while my younger brother took my place in my foster home.

Despite our poverty and my struggles, however, I successfully graduated from high school in Sendai, and later obtained my bachelor’s degree from the Faculty of Agriculture of the Kyoto Imperial University.

After graduation, I was sent to China for two years as a researcher with the Cultural Department of the Foreign Affairs Ministry of Japan. I conducted research in the Yellow River area in China. This was the first time I saw a desert. I stood on the high point of the desert, and facing Japan, proclaimed my gratitude to my parents: "Thank you very much, father and mother!"

My mother promised to have me educated, even if she will scrimp and save by eating only once a day. This opened my eyes to the value of education. Education really starts in the home, in the family. My mother is my role model.

As professor at the Faculty of Agriculture at Tottori University, I worked for development projects in desert areas. After my retirement in June 1979, in order to seek methods for the development of desert areas, I participated in the Western China Academic Investigation Team. The following year, I organized a program called the Concerned Japanese for the Development of Deserts in China, then dispatched the First Japanese Cooperative for the Development of Desert in China. This stimulated a volunteer sprit for greening the desert. Following the expansion of such projects, we established The Japanese Association for Greening Deserts in 1991, in Tokyo.

I believe that mere existence is meaningless, and that human beings must serve society in order for their lives to have meaning. I therefore believe that I must work for society, even if I have to take personal sacrifices. Otherwise, mine will be a meaningless life.

A former teacher taught me this lesson: "There is no slavery and no caste system in Japan, because of Buddhism. In order to prove our goodwill we must serve society until we are completely exhausted." Based on that principle, I am now working for China to be a good place to live in, where people can enjoy an equal quality of life.

I am now working for greening the Kubuqi desert, which is nearly half the area of Taiwan. I am patiently developing a plan for the Mu Us desert, which has an area about twice that of Taiwan.

A dream must not end only as a dream. My personal belief is best expressed this way: We can achieve something only if we start doing; nothing is done until we start moving.

It was said that people could not live in desert areas because it is barren ground desert. Under the surface however, there are amazing natural resources such as natural gas, coal, petroleum, iron ore, and ten kinds of rare metals. It is estimated that 80 % of world’s total rare metal deposits can be found under the deserts. Without such rare metals, we cannot produce semiconductors, high-tech porcelain, and other similar products.

It does not rain in the desert; the sunrays are so strong. There is hope that automobiles in the world of the future will run on solar power. Such an ambition can only be attained in the deserts.

This is the reason why I said that the 21st century will be the age of deserts.

In closing, allow me to share my views about the significance of my life.

There are vast deserts on earth, in Asia, in Africa and everywhere else. These deserts are expanding at every moment. The result is an environment that gets worse and worse. It is getting worse even as I speak.

My aim in life is to prevent desertification, because it is an obstacle to the survival of mankind on earth. I want to transform the desert to green soil. Having been born in this universe, I want to leave something—a meaningful legacy—to society and the earth.

Although we have no desert in Japan, I believe that we Japanese have an obligation to work for greening the desert. The earth is not for any one individual. It is for everybody; thus we inhabitants of this planet have to help each other. We have to support one another with a united effort. I believe that the mission of mankind on earth is to live with others in friendship and in peace.

This award is significant in that it tells me: "Stand on the frontline of greening the desert way beyond your hundredth birthday, and guide us to a new way for human history in the world."

I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude for this award. I accept this award with the knowledge that our work would not have been accomplished without the cooperation of my colleagues. I am honored to accept this award on their behalf, and want to express my deepest gratitude. We are going to continue our efforts in greening the desert as long as we live.