The Asian River Restoration Network was established in Nov. 2006 to support the exchange of information relating to environmental restoration of rivers and watersheds. JRRN has a role of ARRN secretariat currently.
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< World's WATERFRONT:JAPAN Category： Bay and lake restoration >
Shinji Lake is located in the eastern area of Shimane Prefecture. It is a typical brackish lake in Japan together with Nakaumi. Its rich nature and excellent landscape are used for fishery, sightseeing and recreation.
However, the conditions surrounding the water environment are severe due to socioeconomic activities and the changes in lifestyle in the peripheral basin, thus water quality conservation is an important issue to be solved.
Under the circumstances, a “lake water quality conservation plan” to conserve the water quality has been drawn up and various water quality improvement programs are being conducted. In addition, activities to plant and grow reeds have been promoted by industry - government - academia - private collaboration including local elementary school students and the pollution load in the basin is steadily decreasing.
By JRRN-secre | Category: Bay and lake restoration,Chugoku | Comment(0) | Trackback(0) |
Date: 2011.09.10 18:11
The lakeside area behind Kasumigaura Bay used to have a diverse natural environment including wetlands and vegetation zones. Today, however, the natural environment around the lakeside and the biodiversity of the inhabitants have been greatly damaged.
In particular, because the population of nymphoides peltata, an endangered plant species, has rapidly diminished, urgent maintenance measures for the Kasumigaura lakeside vegetation zone have been taken to conserve and regenerate the vegetation zone in cooperation with NGO organizations closely connected with the local communities since 1996.
Also, a natural restoration project is being conducted in the Tamura, Okijuku and Tozaki districts located on the middle lakeside of Kasumigaura (Nishiura) to conserve and regenerate the lakeside zone that forms a connection point between the back hill and the lake, where a huge variety of animals and plants can grow and live.
By JRRN-secre | Category: Bay and lake restoration,Kanto | Comment(0) | Trackback(0) |
Date: 2011.09.10 17:57
In Dokai Bay, located in the northwest part of Kitakyushu City, harmful substances discharged by concentrated heavy chemical factories accumulated. It was once called "a dead sea".
However, as a result of dredging of Dokai Bay through citizens' movements by women's associations and activities by Kitakyushu district labor unions, it has been regenerated as a treasure trove of fishery products. Although there are still some heavy chemical factories in the coastal area, the water quality has been dramatically improved and it is planned to construct Dokai Bio Park and Dohoku and Okudoukai green spaces. In this way, an environment where many wild birds and animals and plants can live is being regenerated.
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By JRRN-secre | Category: Bay and lake restoration,Kyushu | Comment(0) | Trackback(0) |
Date: 2011.03.31 18:09
In the mouth of Fushino River running through Yamaguchi City, a vast tidal flat spreads, which is one of the greatest tidal flats in the West Setouchi region. It attracts migrant birds and it was selected as one of the 500 important wetlands in Japan.
However, due to the floating mud flowing in from the middle and upstream basins and the delay in taking domestic sewage countermeasures, oystershells were built up, the muddy tidal flat area was expanded and the biomass of fish, crabs and wild birds was decreased. To address this problem of the tidal flat ecosystem alteration a “framework to create a rich basin of Yamaguchi (Fushino River model)” was drawn up through collaboration between industry, educational institutions and the administration in March 2003. Today, the organizations concerned are cooperating to regenerate the tidal flats and create Zostera beds on a trial basis and wild bird research and beach cleaning is being performed.
By JRRN-secre | Category: Nature oriented restoration,Bay and lake restoration,Chugoku | Comment(0) | Trackback(0) |
Date: 2010.09.10 18:12
Inland lakes have diversified functions represented by natural ecosystem maintenance and water quality improvement. Hayazaki Inland Lake, which contacts Biwa Lake, was once the largest spawning ground of endemic carassius cuvieri in Biwa Lake, where precious plants including vallisneria natans and brambles were grown and aquatic birds such as tachybaptus ruficollis and resident birds lived. However, the area has been shrunk by agricultural land reclamation. Also the disappearing waterfront ecotone due to the construction of the dike on the lakeside is affecting the growth of various indigenous organisms.
For this reason, Hayazaki Inland Lake Restoration Project was inaugurated as a leading-edge project to conserve the Biwa Lake ecosystem. Since 2001, regeneration of the inland lake by flooding an area of 17 ha out of the 89 ha reclaimed agricultural land has been studied.
By JRRN-secre | Category: Bay and lake restoration,Kinki | Comment(0) | Trackback(0) |
Date: 2010.09.10 18:08
Concerning Sanban Shallows spreading off the coast of Funabashi and Ichikawa Cities of Chiba Prefecture in the inner part of Tokyo Bay, problems such as a decrease of the brackish environment, a decrease of the marine area and an increase of the shallow sea area by lowering of the ground elevation occurred because the connection between Sanban Shallows and the rivers flowing in was weakened as a result of the postwar large-scaled land reclamation and the urbanization of the backland.
For this reason, Sanban Shallows restoration plan meeting (round-table conference) was established and many residents participated in it to regenerate the nature of Sanban Shallows. Efforts are being made to restore the tidal flats that once existed, secure the biotic diversity, provide rich and stable fishing grounds with an advanced water purification function to nurture tapes philippinarum, flounder, sea weeds, etc. and create a stopping point for aquatic birds and waterfront spaces where people can commune with nature.
By JRRN-secre | Category: Bay and lake restoration,Kanto | Comment(0) | Trackback(0) |
Date: 2010.09.10 18:01
Utonai Lake located near the confluence of Bibi River and Yufutsu River was registered under the Ramsar Convention in 1991. On the periphery of the lake, a rich natural environment including wildernesses and wetlands has formed. It is also a treasury of animals and plants and a wild paradise to which migrant birds such as swans arrive in flocks.
However, the valuable natural environment and the ecosystem is vanishing due to the land development around the basin, causing a reduction of the volume of the spring in Bibi River, dryness of the marginal environment, outflow of soil, water quality deterioration, a decrease of the wetland area, vegetation change, etc.
Today, a natural regeneration project is being conducted to restore the state of Bibi River and Utonai Lake seen in the 1960s and 70s based on four pillars: recovery of the volume of the spring in Bibi River, improvement of the spring quality, recovery of the current speed and river channel and recovery of the wetland environment around Utonai Lake.
By JRRN-secre | Category: Nature oriented restoration,Bay and lake restoration,Hokkaido | Comment(0) | Trackback(0) |
Date: 2010.09.10 17:53
