Nagara River Estuary Barrage Conflict

Abstract

This case study is an application of IRGC' s risk governance framework to an actual water resources management problem which challenged the disaster risk governance system in Japan, the construction of the Nagara River Estuary Barrage. It represents an example of a problem in which decision-makers were faced with difficult tradeoffs between protection of public safety and important water resources on the one hand, and concerns about adverse socio-economic and environmental impacts of the barrage on the other. This problem also illustrates the evolving nature of conflicts over time, where the values that dominated the decisions in the early planning stages were not those that drove public opinion toward the end. The Nagara River Estuary Barrage was planned at the mouth of the Nagara River by the Ministry of Construction of the Japanese Government in order to develop water resources and mitigate flood disasters. The Nagara river runs through the Nagoya metropolitan region which is the third largest metropolitan area in population and a very important industrial area for Japanese economy, especially, automobile and machinery industries. However, local fishermen and eventually became opposed to the plan, and were joined in their opposition by an emerging new group of environmentalists. Crucial conflicts occurred among government officials, local people and societal groups holding diverse values. The conflicts have become compounded, evolved and lasted from 1968 to now, though some tentative resolution seems to have been reached.