Citizen Participation and Partnership in River Basin Planning

Abstract

The Japanese River Bureau of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transportation and Tourism (MLIT) manages the network of main rivers, which consists of 109 river basins. Before the amendment of 1997, the Japanese River Law had two major purposes, namely, flood control and water resource management. The old law had been criticized because it could not deal with environmental problems and make people commit to the management of the river basin area. The amendment of the River Law in 1997 added environmental protection in the purpose clause and enacted river basin development planning that requires citizen participation in the planning procedure. Since 1997, 88 river basin areas have had been assigned the master plan of the river basin area, while the development program of 36 rivers has been completed based on the master plan. In this planning process, we can find public involvement and the improvement of the environment. Moreover, there are many public and private partnerships in the river basin area that include the management of embankments and flood plains along the river. Although such participation and partnerships appear to be successful, the quality and quantity of citizen participation and partnerships are not always sufficient. The local people cannot formally influence the decision making of the master plan and development program of rivers, while the river bureau of the central government continues to have complete control over river management. We are facing problems with regard to the redistribution of public and private powers and the empowerment of local people so that they can participate in the entire process of river basin management. In this article, we attempt to discuss the history of Japanese river administration in brief, explore the amendment of the River Law in Japan, and evaluate the results of citizen participation and public and private partnership that would accompany the protection of the natural environment in the river basin areas. We then project the future of Japanese river management that resolves the deficit of the government and market through citizen participation and partnerships.