

‫ە‬Messages from Departments and Centers of NILIM

Towards sustainable national land and urban
environments to hand on to the nextgeneration
KISHIDA Hiroyuki,
Director of the Environment Department(Key words) National land and urban environments, sustainability, biodiversity, global environment
1. Introduction
Surrounded completely by the sea, Japan is blessedwith abundant and beautiful nature throughout itschanging seasons. On the other hand, it is exposed toharsh natural conditions and constantly faces the threatof disasters. For example, located on the main courseof typhoons, Japan is susceptible to storm surges andfrequent floods and sediment disasters. Moreover,located above tectonic plate boundaries, it isvulnerable to earthquakes and is frequently struck by
tsunami and volcanic eruptions. Standing on national
land with these conditions, we must find ways tomanage our land as we face and seek harmony with anenvironment in which we coexist with nature.
On our small national land with its limited living
space, a society has been formed which offers apopulation of approximately 130 million people thecomfortable cultural life and efficient amenities we allnow enjoy. However, the population has begun to fall
and we are facing the steadily advancing aging ofsociety. Therefore, to hand on a sound environment tothe coming generation, we need methodologies tocreate a sustainable environment while we can, and toconstruct systems to develop these methodologies. 
2. Directions in environment research
We face the urgent challenge of forming sustainable
national land harmonized with nature under thelimitation of the finitude of the environment.
Because today’s environmental problems are, as
shown by the global warming problem, becoming
more complex and widespread, it is becoming more
important for us to identify their position in the overall
scope of the problems, and thus to implement
comprehensive and strategic technical policies andresearch and development.
Environment Department considers environmental
issues to be an important administrative challenge for
the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport andTourism and our research mission to be developing
and managing public infrastructures such as roads,
rivers, parks and green space, which directly
contribute to livelihood and economic activities inJapan in the midst of fast-moving activities by otherson the environment, by conserving, restoring, andimproving quality of national land and urbanenvironments.
Our research strategy is to target both global
environmental issues such as “global warming”,“sustainability”, and “biodiversity” and immediate
environmental issues such as “beautiful, abundant, andactive livelihood” , and focus on research in theseareas (see Fig. 1).River Environment Division䕔 River environment management and assessment system䕔 River basin management technology policies䕔 River environment assessment methodNational
landGlobal
environment
Natural environment
Livingand ecosystems
environment
Nationalland
RiversRoadsParks/greenbeltsRoadEnvironment Division
Landscape and Ecology Division䕔 Roadside environment (noise, atmospheric䕔 Plant and animal environment assessmentpollution)
prediction and evaluation policies
methods䕔 Evaluating global warming prevention
䕔 Restoring urban water, greenery andmeasuresin the transportation fieldenvironmental beauty䕔 Road environmental assessment policy䕔 Proving space for contact with lifemanagement
Figure 1. Outline of Research by theEnvironment Department
Our research is based on not only the naturalscience approach but the social sciences approachnecessary for our policy research. It is also based on
the empirical approach in corroboration withconcerned organizations and local entities.
Our approach to research includes actively
collaborating with concerned government ministries,
independent administrative corporations, privatecorporations, universities and research institutes

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‫ە‬Messages from Departments and Centers of NILIM

including those overseas through coordination under avariety of circumstances, because environmental
research encompasses a variety of interests and is very
complicated. 
3. Research principles
Environment Department has set the following threeresearch principles.
The first is “visualization” of processes ofenvironment research on infrastructures. For example,“research project on the conservation and restorationof brackish water area environments” puts emphasis
on innovative ways to display the behavior of brackish
water environments in an easily understood form, andon public symposiums. The “Research project on
developmentofenvironmental
assessment
technologies for the life cycle of infrastructures”
involves broad groups concerned with technologicaldevelopment. This visualization principle is applied toother research projects.
The second is harmonization of the natural sciences
and social sciences. History tells us a great deal
concerning the environment, so in the environmental
field, it is particularly important to understandhistorical changes in society. The relationship of thechange of coastlines with land use and social systems
is also linked to the construction of the current
comprehensivecoastmanagement1).
Strongerpartnership with social sciences will be increasinglyneeded.
The third is “data archive.” Research is based on alarge quantity of data, but once conclusions aredelivered, data sometimes gathers dust and is unused.
Throughenvironmentalstudies,particularlycomplicated data are newly obtained, so data is much
more significant than ones in other fields.
Some environmental research needs a trial and error
process. Notwithstanding past common theory,
Environment Department shall explore newtechnologies applicable to infrastructure management,
and also be challenged by fundamental research.
4. ConclusionsFigure 2 shows change over time in the top threeanswers, “beautiful nature”, “long history andtradition”, and “superior culture and arts”, given inresponse to the question, “What is the pride of Japan?”in a recent public opinion survey conducted by theCabinet Office. The figure shows a gradual increase in
the percentages for these answers. Environment
Department shall make efforts to perform research anddevelopment to contribute to a splendid national land
and urban environments where we will coexist withbeautiful nature and enjoy traditions and culture, andonce again a future generation will declare that theseare “the pride of Japan.”, although increased benefit
from infrastructures related to rivers, roads, and parks
become commonplace and may be unrecognizable tothe public. In addition, modern society is flooded witha variety of information, but Environment Department
shall stick to the research principles to achieve themissions through processes of trial and error andself-questioning, and closely watching environmental
movement.
[Source]
1. Practice and directions of new coastal systems
from the perspective of change of coastline
management, NILIM Technical Note No. 619,January 2011 (in Japanese)
http://www.nilim.go.jp/lab/bcg/siryou/tnn/tnn0619.htm
Beautiful nature⨾䛧䛔⮬↛

䠄%䠅
50Long history and traditions㛗䛔Ṕྐ䛸ఏ⤫Superiorculture and arts䛩䛠䜜䛯ᩥ໬䜔ⱁ⾡

49.4
47.9
46.3

40
36.7
34.6

30 29.7

38.6
38.0
32.3

20
December1991
ᖹᡂ䠏ᖺ㻝㻞᭶

December1996
ᖹᡂ䠔ᖺ㻝㻞᭶

37.4
36.2

39.9
39.1
38.4

34.1

December 2000ᖹᡂ㻝㻞ᖺ㻝㻞᭶

February 2005ᖹᡂ㻝㻣ᖺ䠎᭶

January2010ᖹᡂ㻞㻞ᖺ䠍᭶

Reorganized by the author based on the results ofan opinion survey by the Cabinet OfficeFigure 2. Changes of the Top “Three Prides of Japan” inan Opinion Survey of Social Consciousness by theCabinet Office㻌- 2 -