Kyoto Prefecture to Promote Eco-Friendly Public Works

Kyoto Prefecture in Japan finalized its guidelines for public works projects, translated as the "'Wa' Action Plan on Public Works Projects," in December 2003. "Wa" means surroundings, circulation, and environment in Japanese. The guidelines aim at making public works projects in the prefecture as environmentally friendly as possible, creating the most suitable environment for each community through the projects, and developing systems to support sound energy and resource cycles.

Public works projects are often larger in scale than private-sector projects, and potentially have more impacts on the environment and local ecosystems. Kyoto is concerned about these impacts, such as spoiling its unique landscapes, and interactions between communities and the environment. After establishing a working group on nature- and environment-friendly public works in July 2003, the prefecture drafted the action plan and asked for public comments.

Kyoto seeks better ways of carrying out public projects from four points of view: area, time, resources/regional environment, and project operators. Three major approaches were incorporated into the guidelines, with the ideal of having local communities in which humans and nature co-exist in harmony: (1) eco-friendly projects, (2) environment-creating projects and (3) circulation-supporting projects. In the title of the action plan, the Japanese word "Wa" shows a common concept of "eco-friendliness" in these three pillars.

Kyoto plans to further study the following measures: (1) adopting a bidding system that incorporates comprehensive evaluations in terms of environment-friendliness, (2) evaluating projects at the planning stage with strategic environmental assessments, (3) restoring rivers that provide habitat for wild ayu fish (sweetfish), (4) using natural wind effectively in town planning, (5) aiming to achieve zero emissions in public works by using recycled materials in the area, based on the idea of local production for local consumption, (6) examining the possibilities for the practical use of wood biomass, and (7) sharing methods for ecosystem conservation in mountain streams.



Posted: 2004/05/14 10:02:08 AM
Japanese version