Japan's Landscape and Public Works Projects & World Water Resources Conference
Dates: 1997 September 13 (Saturday)
Japan's Land and Public Works Projects
1997 September 14 (Sunday)
World Water Resources Conference
Location:
Waju-no-sato Hall, Nagashima-cho, Kuwana-gun, Mie Prefecture
Sponsors:
DAMPWR (Dietmembers' Association for a Mechanism for Public
Works Review)
NGO Association for Public Works Review (NAPWR)
Nagara River Inspection Committee
Cooperation:
National Wildlife Federation
Support by
World Wide Fund for Nature Japan (WWF Japan)
Nature Conservation Society of Japan (NACS-J)
Wild Bird Society of Japan
Shukan Kinyobi Magazine
Iwanami Sekai Magazine
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Japan's Landscape and Public Works Projects
Saturday, September 13
The public works project policy of Japan is now at the turning point. The Nag
ara River Estuary Dam Project by the Ministry of Construction and the Isahaya
Bay Reclamation Project by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries
have been the subject of wide criticism by media and citizens.
This criticism reflects a change in people's attitude and values in Japan. Pe
ople--who now seek balancing development and environmental protection--now cho
ose preservation over degradation of nature caused by public works projects wh
ich have constantly destroyed the nation's forests, rivers, and the ocean unde
r the guise of "economic development and improved life standard."
Business has also started raising its voice, seeking public works policy refor
m, as the return from the public works investment has diminished and as the na
tional economy has declined to the point where it can no longer support expens
ive public works.
However, the "development bureaucracy" continues to control the public works p
rojects and plans, once developed, are never reviewed, and become goals in and
of themselves. This is all because the public works projects are the "hotbed
" of the concession profits for the bureaucrats, Dietmembers with special inte
rests, and construction industries.
We seek to review the public works projects that have been constructed in the
forests, rivers, and seas of Japan, explore the desirable picture of 21st Cent
ury Japan, and design mechanisms that brings public works back to the hands of
citizens.
＊＊＊
General Moderator: Yasuko Takemura, Director, Dietmember's Association for a
Mechanisms for Public Works Review [DAMPWR];
Member of the House of Councillors
First Session
"Reviewing Unneeded and Environmentally Destructive Public Works"
Keynote Speeches from Forests, Rivers, and Oceans:
-From Ocean
Hirofumi Yamashita, Director, Japan Wetlands Action Network [JAWAN]
"The Isahaya Bay Reclamation Project and the Ministry of Agriculture,
Forestry, and Fisheries"
-From Rivers
Megumi Fujita, Kito Village Mayor
"The Hosogouchi Dam and the Ministry of Construction"
Soichi Murase, a plaintiff, The Nagara River Estuary Dam Construction
Injunction Trial
"The Nagara River Estuary Dam and the Ministry of Construction"
Yugo Ono, Professor, Environmental Earth Science, Hokkaido University
"The Chitose River Diversion Channel and the Hokkaido Development Agency"
-From Forests
Makoto Fujiwara, Professor, Agriculture Department, Utsunomiya University
"Large Scale Forest Roads and the Forestry Agency"
-From Lakes
Takehiko Hobo, Professor, Shimane University
"Nakaumi Reclamation Project and the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry
and Fisheries"
Second Session
Panel Discussion:
Moderator: Takehiko Hobo, Professor, Shimane University
Panelists
Atsushi Miyawaki, Professor, Law Department, Hokkaido University
Takayoshi Igarasahi, Professor, Law Department, Hosei University
Hideyuki Suzuki, Director, Political Affairs Department, Jichiro-Rengo
Atsushi Okamoto, Chief Editor, Iwanami Sekai Magazine
Reiko Amano, Representative, NGO Association
------------------
World Water Resources Conference
Sunday, September 14
Last June, the Special Session of the United Nations General Assembly
elected protection of freshwater supplies as a central subject for the
1988 session of the Commission on Sustainable Development.
A report by the United Nations pointed out that eight percent of the
global population is suffering from extreme water shortage today and if
trends such as population growth continues at their current rate, two
thirds of the population will come to suffer from some level of water
shortage within the next thirty years. The Worldwatch Institute warns
that ,although nations have traditionally gone into wars over gold and
oil, water is the factor that has the highest potential to trigger wars in
today's world. Finding solutions to the water problems is the top
priority issue of the global scale.
The dam construction community in Japan claims that the construction of
dams is imperative for the water problems to be solved and further argues
that hydro power is "clean energy" which does not contribute to the
global warming. Their intention is to justify continuous dam construction
domestically --which has become a symbol of widely criticized public works
projects -- as well as to promote "exports"of dams to the developing
countries through the official development assistance (ODA) and other
means. Following the world class Three Gorges Dam project in China, Japan
is trying to take a leading role in plans for large-scale dam projects
that span several countries are being laid out in the Indochina peninsula;
the region recovering from the turmoil caused by various warfare such as
the Vietnam War and civil wars in Cambodia.
On the other hand, Ismail Serageldin, the Vice President of the World
Bank, the institution that has led dam construction in the world over the
last fifty years, said that the World Bank is not likely to be active in
funding dam construction in the next half century. In most countries, the
cause of water problems will not be water shortages, but inefficient and
non-sustainable water use. Worldwatch Institute, in State of the World
1996, states, Because agriculture accounts for two-thirds of total
water use worldwide, even small percentage reductions can free up
substantial quantities of water for cities, the environment, or other
farmers.
What is the real solution to the water issue? We invite the experts from
the World Bank, Worldwatch, and other organizations, to grasp the core of
the water problems, explore the solutions, and reflect the findings to the
public works and foreign aid policies of Japan.
＊＊＊
General Moderator:
Richard Forrest, Eastern Asia Representative, National Wildlife Federation
Opening Remarks
Hiroya Kawanabe, President, Ecological Society of Japan
Director General, Lake Biwa Museum
First Session "Water Resource Issues of the World"
Keynote Speeches
Robert Goodland, Special Environmental Advisor, World Bank
"World Bank and the Big Dams Debate: what is environmental sustainability
applied to water projects; recent lessons learned"
Janet Abramovitz, Senior Researcher, Worldwatch Institute
on global water resources issues
Second Session "Japanese Foreign Aid and Dam Construction"
Speeches
Patrick McCully, U.S., Campaigns Director, International Rivers Network [IRN];
the author of Silenced Rivers
on foreign aid to developed countries and dam construction
Witoon Permpongsacharoen, Thailand, Director, Towards Ecological Recovery
and Regional Alliance [TERRA]
on development of the Mekong river region
Hiroshi Kanda, Japan, Researcher, Institute for Alternative Community
Development [IACOD]
on domestic development and ODA
Third Session:
"Towards Sound Decisionmaking on Water Resources in the 21st century"
Panel Discussion
Panelist:
Tadatoshi Akiba, Executive Director, Dietmember's Association for a
Mechanisms for Public Works Review [DAMPWR];
Member of the House of Representative
Robert Goodland
Janet Abramovitz
Patrick McCully
Witoon Permpongsacharoen
Hiroshi Kanda
Closing Remarks
C.W. Nicol, Naturalist and Author
＊＊＊＊＊
Related Events
A separate organization, the Society Against the Nagara River Estuary Dam Cons
truction, will host an out-door conference rally.
Sunday, September 14 ,
6:00 PM -
"Kako-zeki Un'you Hayaku TomeNIGHT"
-- "To Stop the operation of the Nagara Estuary Dam"
Music, Talk Show, etc.
Monday, September 15,
9:00 AM - Noon
"Out Door Action DAY"
Rally and Canoe Demonstration