The Collective River Management Based on Water Transportation Culture: A Case of Hozugawa River, Kyoto, Japan

Abstract

"Whose is the river? In Japan, rivers are regarded as common resources (By the River act, Article 2). In other words, rivers don’t belong to anyone else and they serve for public purposes under the governmental management. Then are the administrative agencies such as nation or local governments able to manage the rivers sufficiently?

In this report, I would like to consider the possibility of citizen’s participation in river managements and basin area cooperation through transition of legitimacy on the river use and new value creations as environmental conservation and water transportation culture tradition with a case of an environmental conservation effort for Hozugawa River1 which flows through central Kyoto Prefecture, which I’ve also joined as a member."