Hands-on
Action Proposals to Enhance the Traditional Daiju Weir on the Yoshino
River and Leverage Citizen Power |
| Since 2001, we have participated in the process of developing alternatives for watershed management for the Yoshino River in Tokushima, Japan. The Japanese central government seeks to replace a 250-year old traditional rock weir on the river with a big movable-gate dam. A citizen anti-dam movement known as Mina-no-Kai (Everyone’s Group) has so far succeeded in preventing construction of the new dam. After winning a citizen referendum against the dam three years ago, the citizen activists have been supporting a study of two issues – how to increase upriver soil water retention capacity by revitalizing neglected watershed forests, and how to preserve the traditional weir. They asked 12 scholars from different disciplines to participate in this research effort known as Vision 21. We have been assisting this expert panel as facilitators and have simultaneously conducted our own research. Since the Hong Kong Pacific Rim Conference, we have conducted site analysis around the old weir through observation mapping of human activity on the weir and interview surveys with local residents who live around the weir. These two research approaches have allowed us to not only understand the diversity of both activities and the physical characteristics of the weir, but also to understand the relationships between these activities and spaces. In fact, the diversity of spaces sustains activities that are dependent on the relationships between spaces as well. In this paper, we suggest some points that should be considered before undertaking any changes to the weir and propose hands-on projects that would stimulate citizen use and understanding of the weir. We also consider the meaning of hands-on projects in the context of the anti-dam movement. |