Abstract
In 1990, the Construction Ministry notified each Regional Construction Bureau of its unique promotion of “nature-oriented river work.” That was a bold move for the ministry, as it was an unprecedented project that propounded environment-conscious river development. This policy was included in the amended River Act of 1997 and remains in effect to this day after partial revision in 2006. A variety of structures were constructed under this policy in and around rivers throughout Japan. This article describes sample cases of environment-conscious river improvement over the last 20 years. A reality check was performed on those cases to grasp the total picture of the progress of nature-oriented river work, which caused a great deal of confusion among those involved in river improvement.
