The 29th China-Japan River Engineering and Water Resources Seminar was held in an online -offline combined manner on December 15, 2020. Officials and experts from the hosts—the Ministry of Water Resources of China and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism of Japan addressed the seminar and delivered presentations. Over 100 participants from IWHR (the organizer) and seven river basin authorities in China participated in the meeting at respective off-line venues.
The 29th China-Japan River Engineering and Water Resources Seminar was held via internet
IWHR off-line venue for the meeting
In their opening addresses, Deputy Director General LI Ge from China and Director General NOBUYUKI Wakabayashi from Japan took stock of the long-standing friendship and effective exchanges between the water communities of the two countries. The year 2020 saw flood disasters of varying degrees wreaking havoc with both China and Japan, and many other countries across the world. We need to step up cooperation and exchange in water governance, disasters and technologies more than ever. The 29th seminar was held despite the difficulties due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was a clear manifestation of the bilateral commitment to deeper exchanges and cooperation in the post-COVID era.
The seminar focused on three themes: water resources policy, flood management and control, and monitoring, forecast and early warning technologies and systems. Two reports from China and Japan were made on each of the three themes.
The Chinese speakers offered detailed introduction on how China rectified groundwater over-abstraction and restored the environmental flow in rivers and lakes in North China; the floods that hit the Yangtze River basin in 2020 and flood defense projects and management system in China; and the latest development and application of hydrological and flood forecasting systems in China.
The Japanese speakers introduced the transformation of Japanese water policy from demand-prioritized to risk-based; the plan of a dam-less water diversion and flood control project on Kumagawa River; and flood risk forecast and early warning for large, medium and small rivers in Japan.
The participants from IWHR, Changjiang Water Resources Commission, and other participating organizations discussed with their Japanese counterparts on issues such as environmental flow, challenges regarding the forecast of flash floods in mountain areas and subsequent evacuation, and the flood control capacity of dams in major river basins, etc.
