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Global Environment Forum-KANSAI 
Issued on March 20, 2003 |
"Human Life, Biodiversity and Water Environment" The Human Life, Biodiversity and Water Environment Session at the
3rd World Water Forum was held on March 19, 2003 at the Osaka International
Convention Center on the theme of "Clean Waters, Green Landscapes,
Abundant Life Forms." The session was opened by Tadashi Masuya, the Secretary-General of Global Environment Forum-KANSAI, the organizer of the session. Originally formed in June 1990, Global Environment Forum-KANSAI is an association that lists nine local authorities, 61 companies and 12 economic and other organizations among its members. It has played an active international role in promoting discussions between experts from a broad range of fields on numerous environment-related topics. During the course of his address, Masuya spoke about the history of Global Environment Forum-KANSAI, which has been pursuing a policy of stressing partnerships between different groups with the aim of working out solutions to a number of major environmental problems. He noted that "when the organization first came into being, nobody else was talking about partnership" between government, industry, academia and environmental organizations in the context of attempting to deal with such problems. The organization aims to conserve the global environment by gathering wisdom from various fields, conducting surveys and research into global environmental issues, and making an effective contribution towards identifying and implementing problems both in Japan and internationally. Masuya also spoke about a number of Yodo River Basin water issues and gave a brief introduction to the panelists. Today's session included a musical presentation by Ms. Yukiko Hasegawa, a musician and representative of Japan Ear Game Association, accompanied by Ms. Yoshiko Tanikado, who together played a three-part piece entitled Song of Water's Travel Flowing Downstream on a traditional Chinese instrument known in English as serial bells. A natural and artificial sound designer, Ms. Hasegawa composes and performs music on themes related to natural landscapes, dances of fireflies, songs of frogs, traditional festivals and ceremonies, etc. The music was followed by a panel discussion, question, and answer session. The panel discussion was coordinated by Dr. Hiroya Kawanabe, Director-General of Lake Biwa Museum and a member of Global Environment Forum-KANSAI's Global Environment 100 Members Committee. Water's Travel --- Flowing Downstream --- In keeping with the themes of the World Water Forum, today's session included a musical interlude entitled Song of Water's Travel - Flowing Downstream. The music, which had an ethereal ring to it, was played by Ms. Yukiko Hasegawa on the serial bells, an instrument produced in Japan but derived from traditional Chinese-style bells (Bian Zhong), accompanied by Ms Yoshiko Tanikado on a variety of percussion instruments including cymbals and a hand drum. The composition was performed in three pieces, representing respectively the headwaters, mid-reaches and lower reaches of the Kamo River/Yodo River system. The performance was complemented by still slides of the Kamo River and by a prerecorded soundtrack featuring sounds of flowing water, birds and, in the final section, people in the streets of downtown Osaka. This particular set of serial bells, featuring an arrangement of 16 bells suspended in two rows from a wooden frame, were reproduced recently with some modification from the original Chinese design by Toshiro Kido, a researcher of ancient court music. Ms. Hasegawa is a natural and artificial sound designer who has for many years been composing and performing music on a variety of natural themes. Based on her belief that children's sensitivities should be developed to promote environmental education, she developed the "Eargame" program, which is designed to develop children's five senses by training their ears.  Yukiko Hasegawa performs with her special musical instrument Panelists Give Presentations on Health Water Ecology Dr. Hiroya Kawanabe  Dr. Hiroya Kawanabe, Director-General
of Lake Biwa Museum opened the panel discussion by emphasizing that the goals
of tackling the water environment had to be dealt with by considering the
entire Yodogawa system, as opposed to local areas. He also called for
increased cooperation among academia, private companies and the government.
He stated that he felt a bridge could be built across the generations to
proceed with improving the water environment as a wide range of age groups
were represented on the panel.Dr. Machiko Nishino  Dr. Machiko Nishino of
the Lake Biwa Research Institute, gave a presentation on "Naiko",
or the inland lagoons within wetland areas. She explained a series of
statistics which showed the decreasing number of lagoons. In 1940 there were 33
wetlands in the Lake Biwa area, but because of development, the number has
dwindled to 23. Whereas there were once 3,000 hectares of lagoons, there are
now only 425. Dr. Nishino emphasized that a large amount of natural flora and
fauna exist within the Lake Biwa environment. For example, in the Lake Biwa
landscape 60% of the reed beds are found around the lagoons.Other vegetation includes willow coppices. The connection between the lagoon areas and the lake itself is important for biodiversity according to Dr. Nishino. Presently there are a variety of earthworms and several fish species in existence. There is a problem, however, of invasive fish entering the environment and becoming a threat to the native species. The large mouth bass is one fish, native to the USA, which has been introduced into the lake area. At the same time, the inlets to the lagoons don't seem to have the invasive species problem. Dr. Nishino believes this is an important situation which needs to be observed for the purpose of environmental restoration. The reclamation possibilities were discussed at the end of the presentation. In an experimental activity, coastline rice paddies were filled with water. The process helped revive several native species. There is hope that if this action is continued in the future, biodiversity conditions will be upgraded and conserved. Shigeo Muto  Shigeo Muto, the
Managing Director of Kansai Environmental Engineering Center, talked about
his company's projects to improve the water environment at both domestic and
international locations. He opened his lecture by explaining Kanso's symbol; that of the Earth, water and flora. The company, established in 1974, is determined to improve water, soil and air quality through engineering. Originally, Kanso was mainly concerned with power generation projects, but since the late 1980's has been focusing more on environmental improvement. An example of an overseas project was a mangrove planting project in Thailand. Another impressive project was the "Silvofishery" which maintains the coexistence of forestry and fishery to retain a permanent quasi-natural state. Muto also introduced visual evidence of the successful project in Japan which transformed a rocky, barren riverside into a lush grass-covered one. He also spoke about future plans that Kanso will be engaged in. These include the Biotope Network which will Shigeo Muto connect the entire river basin from the mountain area to the city and sea areas with an ecological corridor. Muto finished his presentation by pointing out that rehabilitation of the environment requires impact studies, and that cooperation is needed among civic groups, private entities and government agencies. Hiroshi Miyamoto  Hiroshi Miyamoto,
Director of the Yodo River Construction Office of the Ministry of Land,
Infrastructure and Transport, discussed the possibility of shifting emphasis
along the Yodo River from flood protection to environmental protection,
although he later added that these two goals are not mutually exclusive. He mentioned that restoration would require a reconnection of both horizontal and vertical environmental relations within the river ecosystem. He said that the horizontal river modification which made monotonous waterways, separated dry and wet areas of the river ecology. By losing the sense of seasonal flooding, the communities along the river have lost a connection to nature. In the actual physical environment, naturally-occurring water vegetation disappeared from the river banks. Instead, trees not native to the river system are introduced in some places. Miyamoto added that the widening of the rivers did not guarantee that flooding would not occur. As flooding has become less common, development has increased closer along the riverside. In the case of a massive flood, great damage and potential loss of life is possible. He explained that in the vertical separation condition, the use of dams and weirs separated those fish species that migrate to and from fresh water and sea water from being able to complete their natural migration. Additionally, the fluctuation in water flow volume often made it impossible for fish species to survive as they are often unable to pass through certain areas during the low-1evel conditions. Another important point made by Miyamoto was that the water quality of the Yodo River, which has been winning praise in recent years, is still much dirtier than during the Meiji Era about 100 years ago. This is at a time when over 16 million people are using the river as a source for daily water needs, while at the same time, it is being used as a liquid waste dump. Ms. Yuko Hosokawa  Ms. Yuko Hosokawa of
the Children's Association Protecting the Nature and Culture of the Ina River
described the 35 years of activity to protect and improve the environment in
and around the small urban forest near the Sonoda district of Amagasaki City,
Hyogo Prefecture. The interest in forest preservation began with Professor
Kinya Okano and was later taken up by a community children's group as an
easily-accessible natural area within which to play. The Ina River Environmental Conservation Organization won an award in 1983. Forum Hears Diverse Opinions on Water Management  The panelists at
today's session brought with them a wide range of perspectives on the issues;
but they expressed a common understanding of the importance of communication
and discussion in bringing people together. Dr. Hiroya Kawanabe spoke of the
need for everybody involved in water-related issues to work together and
respect each other's opinions, even when a wide gulf exists between
Proponents of different views. On the subject of the Naiko - the inland lagoons that stretch along the shoreline of Lake Biwa, Dr. Machiko Nishino emphasized that these natural waterbodies that are connected to the main via waterways are very important in supporting the cycle of water movement in Lake Biwa and maintaining biodiversity. Because so many of these lagoons have been reclaimed or modified over the past century, the overall environmental condition of Lake Biwa has declined. During the present century, Ms. Nishino believes it will be necessary to work on bringing back the Naiko, with the ultimate aim of restoring them to their original condition. Moving Toward a Paradigm Shift From the standpoint of a public official responsible for river construction, Hiroshi Miyamoto spoke of the importance of understanding our attitudes to water usage. Should we be emphasizing flood control or protecting the environment? People 
tend to think that the two must always be in conflict, but Miyamoto believes
that this needn't be the case. It isn't simply a choice between A or B.
According to Miyamoto, from now on we have to undergo a paradigm shift. We
have to move from the present either/or paradigm to a new way of looking at the
situation in which we can restore the continuity of water basins. This shift,
he is convinced, will benefit everybody.Responding that she was glad that the paradigm was shifting, Dr. Nishino nevertheless cautioned against adopting a single paradigm to rigidly, given that the past paradigm, which stressed efficiency at the expense of other considerations, has left us with a host of problems that are in urgent need of addressing. Ms. Hosokawa spoke about the difficulties of small non-government organizations such as her own group, the Children's Association Protecting the Nature and Culture of the Ina River, have in securing funding. She said that such associations don't usually have access to continuous subsidies and they have almost no opportunities to obtain grants to cover surveys, etc. Consequently, local environmental protection organizations tend to rely on funding from their own members, who also work as volunteers, with the result that they find it difficult to retain the services of talented individuals. Miyamoto stressed that it is unfair to lay the blame for river developments entirely at the door of the authorities, as in many cases construction projects are undertaken in response to appeals or requests from local communities. He also cautioned that large-scale infrastructure projects such as dams and embankments don't always deliver their expected benefits over the longer term. In the case of embankments, for example, while they prevent small floods from occurring, this tends to encourage more urban development in the floodplain areas they protect, so that in the event of an embankment being breached by a particularly large flood, the damage to property and life can be multiplied. Modernization Brings Mistakes and Benefits From the audience, Sakai of Kyoto emphasized the need to focus on children, the environment and river-dwelling species in particular. Modernization has brought people many benefits but mistakes have also been made on a huge scale. He said that dam projects intended for flood control have caused considerable environmental destruction in Japan without stopping floods. There is a limit to the amount of water available so we should be more conscious about how we use it. We need to move in a new direction, he declared. Responding to this rather forceful statement, Miyamoto declared that he doesn't want to do any more wasteful projects. But he defended the government's construction record by stressing that the weirs, for example, built in the past were not all wasteful. From the Meiji era through the high growth decades following World War II, Japan had a rapidly rising population and an even more rapidly growing demand for water and flat land. The Silent Majority Fujita, a student from the Kanto region, asked the panel how they would motivate the non-active people, the silent majority, to take part in environmental protection activities. In response, Shigeo Muto described the project his company is involved in at Katsu-ga-Ura on the Pacific Coast of Wakayama Prefecture. He said that he has found a great deal of environmental awareness among the local children. The situation in Osaka Bay and the lower reaches of the Yodo River is more difficult, Muto admitted, because the biodiversity is poorer and there are few trees. However, children's projects are also being conducted here. In reply to Fujita, Miyamoto felt that if people choose to be inactive, nobody can force them into taking part in environmental preservation. All we can do is raise the issues in public forums such as the media and encourage people to become involved.  The Environmental Session was held in Osaka on March 19, 2003. The Century of Water Dr. Hiroya Kawanabe, Director-General of the Lake Biwa Museum, wrapped up the presentation of the Human Life, Biodiversity and Water Environment Session. He stated that the 21st century is being called, "The Environmental Century." He said that he wishes to disagree with this concept because, lamentably, the human race should have done enough to protect the environment during the 20th century. He added that very great efforts would now be needed by people the world over to correct the damage done to the environment in the past and to begin to improve ecological conditions from now on. In his mind, he said, the 2lst century
should be called, "The Century of Water." He said that during the
present century the human race had a chance to think about and review our
relation to water. We will need to consider our daily use and misuse of this
precious natural resource. He said he believed Japan was in a
better position to tackle the problem of water because, unlike many other
nations where water resources are limited and causing serious social and
environmental problems, Japan had abundant water resources within its borders.
Locally, the Biwa-Yodo River system provided the Osaka area communities with
sufficient water supplies. However, he mentioned that the Japanese people
should not be complacent just because these sources were available. Up to
now, we have used water randomly and with abandon. He said that people must
come to realize that we use the water that is left over after nature has used
it. So, by taking the necessary precautions, we can be assured that there
will be enough water for us when nature is finished using it. |
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