On February 27, I took office as President of the Japan Commission on Large Dams. Like my predecessor, I look forward to working with you.
Again, today, I would like to express my great pleasure at the fact that the Japan Commission on Large Dams will host the 12th East Asian Dam Conference (EADC) in Japan. The first conference was held in Xi’an, China, in 2004, followed by Yokohama, Japan, and then Daejeon, Korea, and this will be the last conference in the fourth round. Over the past 20 years, knowledge on dams and reservoirs in the East Asia region has been shared by more than 2,500 participants and through more than 400 papers.
Meanwhile, global warming has further advanced over this time, with increasing natural disasters causing tremendous damage in many countries around the world. Specifically, the localization of rainfall has led to floods caused by torrential rain and, on the other side of the balance, droughts caused by low rainfall, and damages caused by this have been reported in many countries around the world. To deal with these issues, we need measures addressing the fundamental cause, such as controlling the temperature rise by decarbonization, and measures addressing the symptoms, such as flattening the peaks in rainfall surface water runoff. Dams and reservoirs are expected to play a very important role in both.
The theme of this EADC symposium, “Sustainable Development and Management of Dams and Reservoirs for Future Generations”, was chosen in the light of this background. We also called for papers on the following five sub-themes:
1. Management of Reservoirs and Sediment in the Era of Climate Change
2. Dam Safety Assessment and Surveillance
3. New Technologies and Digital Transformation of Construction and Management for Dams
4. Environment and Biodiversity of Dams and Reservoirs
5. Promoting Renewable Energy with Dams
The organizing committee of the 12th EADC evaluated the content of the submitted papers and accepted 56 papers from 11 countries. The symposium will be held over two days. In addition to the presentation of accepted papers, it will include presentations on recent topics related to dams and reservoirs from the three EADC countries. Moreover, the former President of ICOLD, Professor Schleiss (Professor Emeritus, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology) will deliver a keynote speech, and Professor Hiroki (National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies) will deliver a special lecture on the activities of the United Nations.
Further, over two days and with the full support of the Chubu Regional Development Bureau of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, participants in the technical tour will visit the Shin-Maruyama Dam, where construction works are under way, and the existing Koshibu Dam. At the Shin-Maruyama Dam, we will observe the construction works for increasing the dam height to enhance flood control and power generation. At the Koshibu Dam, we will observe the operation of a sediment bypass tunnel for preventing sedimentation in the reservoir.
Please note that we are making every effort to conduct the conference in an eco-friendly manner. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and ask for your understanding.
When the event is held, Japan will be in early summer. We look forward to welcoming you in Nagoya, an area of fresh greenery.
 


Hideki HIRAI
President, Japan Commission on Large Dams


Message From The Vice President Of ICOLD

On behalf of the Asia and Australasia Zone of ICOLD, I would like to express sincere congratulations for the 12th East Asian Area Dam Conference. with the theme of “Sustainable Development and Management of Dams and Reservoirs for the Future Generations”. It is my great honor to be elected as the vice president of ICOLD and the chairman of Asia-Pacific Group (APG) at the 91st Annual Meeting in Gothenburg in June 2023. I would like to appreciate all National Committees who supported and am very much excited to work together with all members in order to respond to the drastically changing demands of society.
In Gothenburg, I proposed five important themes to be highlighted, including: 1) Sustainability and safety of dams considering both reservoir sedimentation and climate change, 2) Smart operation of dams under changing climate, 3) Upgrading of dams to enhance existing function for flood mitigation, water storage and hydropower, 4) Networking and coordinating among several dams in the river basin to implement the above missions, and 5) Knowledge transfer across Generations & the World.
In Asia-Pacific countries, we have developed almost half of dams in the world. Under changing climate conditions, we are now strongly requested to strengthen water resources management by increasing functions of existing dams (dam upgrading or enhancement) as well as new dam constructions. I suppose that the main purpose of the 12th EADC matches well with the above proposed directions. I believe with pride that the 3 NCs (CHINCOLD, KNCOLD and JCOLD) can strongly contribute to the ICOLD community in these fields by the collaboration with all APG countries.
In particular, we can create a unique data base to provide relevant projects from each country to enhance dam safety and sustainability as well as increasing available functions of existing. I hope our collaboration will be focused on what kind of challenges are available and what kind of key methodologies and technologies have been developed to fill the gaps. I hope sharing these lessons and discussions will foster younger professionals to be the next leaders of ICOLD. It would be greatly appreciated if you could actively participate and improve the discussions at the conference.
Finally, I would like to express my sincere appreciations to the organizing committee of JCOLD for the significant effort they have made and wish to see you soon in the very beautiful city of Nagoya, Japan.
 
With warm regards,



 
Tetsuya SUMI
Vice President and Chairman of Asia Pacific Group of ICOLD