The water environment and the social conflict in a drainage basin A case study of Lake Biwa and the Hebisuna river basin

• Published in: Journal of Environmental Conservation Engineering Vol. 11; no. 9; pp. 650 - 657
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English; Japanese
• Published: Society of Environmental Conservation Engineering 30.09.1982
• ISSN: 0388-9459; 1882-8590
• DOI: 10.5956/jriet.11.650

There are many types of social conflict associated with the struggle between conservation and development of an area. For example, the construction of new railroads, highways, or nuclear power plants often precipitate such problems. In this paper, a general concept is given covering the conflict often appearing during the development of a river basin. Furthermore the structure of this conflict is analyzed dynamically from an orderly functional standpoint. The result of this study reached the two following conclusions (1) Since the river-basin-type conflict is more subject to externality and mutuality in comparison to other types of conflict, its resolution requires community consciousness of the relational subjects. (2) Because of the characteristics just pointed out, the level of conflict tends to change from the local level to prefectural. Therefore the planning process to develop a river basin must include an individual system of mutual agreement suitable for each separate river-basin. This system should also possess environmental assessment, public hearings, and civil participation.