Lessons from the international comparison of contaminated land policies with risk governance in Japan, The Netherlands, and the UK

Abstract

After the Great East Japan Earthquake and Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, decontamination has been undertaken primarily to remediate residential areas. Therefore, it is necessary to consider risk governance in decontamination process. This paper aims to examine contaminated land policies by comparing Japan, the Netherlands, and the UK by literature reviews from the aspects of risk governance towards sustainable decontamination process. The results clarified that policies in Japan is disintegrated and sectionalised by separate acts. Contrastingly, integrated contaminated land regimes are practiced in the Netherlands and the UK on contaminated risks from current land uses. In terms of risk governance in contaminated land policies, although the Netherlands has a limited application, Japan and the UK have a certain degree of community participation in recent policies. Thus, recent contaminated land policy frameworks are adapting to promote risk governance in decontamination process by introducing statutory requirements. However, there is a limitation to ensure risk governance by statutory actions and more support to voluntary actions is needed.