Report on Asahata anti-flood pond Area, Shizuoka Prefecture

Hiroshi Tanaka and Hama of the Adaptation Promotion Office accompanied Nishihiro, Director of the Climate Change Impact Research Laboratory, on a field trip and an exchange of opinions on the topic of Ecosystem-based Adaptation (EbA).

Asahata anti-flood pond Area　Distant view of third construction area

■About the Asahata anti-flood pond Area
The Asahata anti-flood pond Area is located about 5 km north of Shizuoka Station in the middle reaches of the Tomoe River, a second class river, and was originally a place of rich nature with swamps scattered throughout. The Tomoe River joins the Nagao River and the Shioda River downstream of the Asahata anti-flood pond Area, and then flows through the city into Shimizu Port. In the past, the swampy land was developed as rice paddies through land improvement projects, but it was converted into a anti-flood pond Area after the city area in the basin was severely flooded by the Tanabata torrential rains in 1974.
With the participation of Shizuoka Prefecture, Shizuoka City, local residents, NPOs, experts, and cooperating companies, various efforts are being made to revitalize the region and support the independence of the physically challenged and elderly through the restoration and utilization of the natural environment.

■In terms of climate change adaptation
In Asahata, after the tragic floods of the past, disaster mitigation and disaster prevention became possible through the development of anti-flood pond Areas that take advantage of the original river channels and topography of the land. As the frequency and intensity of heavy rainfall is expected to increase due to climate change in Japan, the conversion of the land into a anti-flood pond Area that utilizes the characteristics of the original marshland will attract more and more attention as a good example of nature based solutions (NbS) for climate change adaptation. On the other hand, there is a vast amount of land that is not used in normal times. At the same time, we are constantly searching for ways to maximize the use of vast areas of land for local people in normal times, and to make it permanent.

Vegetation landscape of the third construction area.
The brown thing in the foreground is an endangered Penthorum chinense.

Persicaria odorata subsp, one of the few flowers in this season.
The flower resembles a cherry blossom, hence the name.

View of the third construction area

Pond in the third construction area. There is a flock of Fulica atra on the far bank.

Distant view of the first construction area.
There was a playground on the other side, and children were playing on the playground equipment.

Construction Area 1 Polygonum thunbergii.

At the edge of the pond in the first construction area

Exhibition corner in the center house.
This is a great place to learn about the plants and animals that live in the playground.

After the tour of the green space, we participated in an opinion exchange meeting between the Conservation and Utilization Promotion Council and experts at the Center House.
In the opinion exchange meeting, the management expressed their desire to make the health benefits of the green space visible. In addition, there is an increasing need for environmental education at nearby schools, but in order to continue stable maintenance and management of the park in the future, there was a desire to increase the number of visitors from distant places by promoting the unique appeal of Asahata and attracting investment from companies that understand the importance of the park.
The development of the Asahata anti-flood pond Area is still in its infancy, and there is still a long way to go before it can be permanently maintained and managed, but I can feel the love that the members of the Promotion Council have for the area. A desirable form of coexistence between people and nature has already been born here, and it may be growing nicely.

Are you practicing your bicycle? A child practicing bicycling. He ran past us, looking comfortable.