The Promise of Tidal Wave: The Revocation of Sanbanse Landfill and the Road to Tidal Flat Restoration 2001

The Promise of Tidal Wave: The Revocation of Sanbanse Landfill and the Road to Tidal Flat Restoration 2001

In the early 1990s, Chiba Prefecture envisioned a large-scale reclamation project that would include the second phase of Ichikawa and the second phase of Keiyo Port. In 1999, the prefectural government proposed to reduce the size of the project to 101 hectares, but this included plans for a sewage treatment plant and a road, and concerns about the impact on the natural environment and landscape remained unresolved. Experts, residents, and fishermen were highly critical of the plan, and no consensus was reached.

In 2001, Akiko Domoto, who had campaigned for the "suspension of landfill" in the gubernatorial election, was elected, and in September of the same year, she officially announced at the prefectural assembly that she would withdraw the plan. This marked a major turning point from land reclamation to restoration, and a new policy based on the preservation and restoration of tidal flats was launched. Learning from the example of the restoration of San Francisco Bay, the plan emphasizes citizen participation. Protecting the few natural tidal flats in Tokyo Bay was not just an environmental policy, but also an attempt to rebuild local pride and livelihood.

After the withdrawal of the plan, the prefecture established the Sanbanse Restoration Plan Study Council in 2002, compiled recommendations in 2004, and formulated a basic plan in 2006. The plan set goals for biodiversity, restoration of land/sea connectivity, restoration of fishing grounds, and coexistence between people and nature, and introduced the concept of adaptive management. A system that balances conservation and utilization in stages was incorporated, based on the experience of the U.S. Gulf Coast Restoration Project.

The withdrawal of the Sanbanse landfill was a symbolic event that restored the lost memories of the tidal flats and their future. It was an opportunity to break the half-century-long trend toward land reclamation and to promote the restoration of the tidal flats as a social consensus, thus laying the foundation for today's tidal flat conservation.