A landscape-ecological approach

Framework, concepts, and methods of Environmental Management Planning (EMP) are discussed. A landscape-ecological approach was taken to integrate the environmental indices. EMP focuses on regional factors natural, social, amenity related and becomes more sensitive as the scale of study increases. The processes of EMP include a vertical aspect, dealing with pollution, conservation, and amenities, and a more general horizontal component which involves zoning and land use planning. Environmental impacts may be assessed by modeling exercises using all available data and considering all land use options. To keep up with the rapid change of environment and its perception, EMP should be process-oriented rather than purpose-oriented. The concepts of EMP were applied to the middle basin of the Tamagawa River and it was shown that multivariate analysis is useful for the regional subdivision and environmental modeling. The significance of Environmental Management Planning (EMP) and the role of landscape science During the 1970s Japanese environmental policy concentrated on ‘pollution control’. This focus was diversified by incorporating methods for ‘creating amenities’ in the 1980s. This trend in diversification appears most obviously in a form of planning called ‘Environmental Management Planning (EMP)’ . In this type of planning, importance is placed not only on environmental conservation but on how to create an ‘amenity environment’. The purpose of this paper is (1) to present an idealized framework for EMP, and (2) to explain the concepts and methods of EMP. EMP has been used in Japan for the conservation of the natural environment and the creation of amenity environments in Japan (Utsunomiya 1987). EMP is formally called ‘Regional Environmental Management Planning’. People’s expectations of EMP are changing and this is a major factor supporting recent Japanese environmental policy. A feature of EMP is that regions are identified as a core, from which to take countermeasures against various environmental problems. The name ‘Regional Environmental Management Planning’ implies that regions are the focus of this planning method (Takeuchi Kei 1987). At the stage of the actual decision-making process, as the name of each region is added, different EMP schemes have emerged, such as ‘Tokyo Metropolis Environmental Management Planning (TMEMP)’ and ‘Koshigaya City Environmental Management Planning’. The area subject to EMP is mostly an administrative area, but may also include natural regions such as river basins, lakes, marshes or seashores, which could involve different prefectures, cities, or towns. As EMP sounds somewhat stiff-mannered, a name that people feel more comfortable with is often used. For example, Kanagawa Prefecture uses the name ‘Kanagawa Environmental Plan’ (Himi 1987) while Shiga Prefecture uses the name ‘Lake Country Environmental Plan’ (Okajima 1987). Tokyo Metropolitan Government softens the overall tone by using ‘For the creation of an amenity environment’ as the main title and the name ‘TMEMP’ as a subtitle for planning documents. As regions have become the focus, it has become impossible to separate the areas covered by discussions. For example, the problem of ‘pollution’ cannot be addressed simply for cities and the problem of ‘natural environmental conservation’ should not be analyzed solely for national parks. It is required that all environmental problems are considered on a regional basis. It is expected that problems should not only be considered on the same level but also more comprehensive solutions to problems should be sought by integrating them (Drdos 1983). Landscape planners relate to this EMP by taking the position of ‘conservation of natural environment’ and ‘creation of green and open spaces’ (Takeuchi 1987). Conservation and creation have previously been considered to be different subjects in landscape planning and sometimes each has been discussed independently. Therefore, making regions the core for EMP suggests the possibility of integration of conservation and creation (landscaping) in landscape planning, resulting in a unified presentation of the problems that have confronted landscape planners. With this presentation, the quality of EMP is enhanced and a more desirable solution may be reached. Landscape ecologists and planners should play a role as coordinators for EMP. This is because landscape ecology and planning covers a wide area, from the natural environment to the social environment, and allows the comprehensive discussion of subjects from the conservation of a natural environment to the creation of an amenity environment. The idea of landscape ecology developed since it ‘arose from the effort of scientists to call more attention to the synthetic views of spatial phenomena in our epoch of scientific specialization (Troll 1968). In addition, landscape planning allows thorough discussions from the analysis to planning of natural and social phenomena (Ide 1975; Takeuchi 1987). As the importance of landscaping and the necessity of conserving are recognized for the creation of an amenity environment and for the conservation of the natural environment, the role of landscape science becomes more important (Shimada et al. 1985). Concept of the environment and EMP For the promotion of EMP it is necessary to clarify our basic concepts concerning the environment (Takeuchi Kei 1987; Weichhart 1979). The environment viewed from a landscape-ecological aspect means the external conditions related to living things. Human beings exist not only through controlling the natural environment but also by forming a social environment through culture and technology. As such, understanding the environmental structure through the comprehension of the processes required for its constituent elements to exist is more important than a discussion about why the environment is in a particular condition. On the other hand, human beings are at the center of EMP thinking: the environment to be dealt with is a human environment. This human environment can be divided into a social environment that is close to human life and production and a natural environment that supports human society and economic activities. Since EMP is administrative planning, it is necessary to clarify what is a desirable regional environment. Based on the above environmental concepts, the aim of EMP can be expressed as follows. EMP is ‘a planning process to arrange an environment allowing human beings and other living things to live continuously and perform production’. The purpose of EMP is the total organization of environmental management. Control of the environment as an entity through the control of various processes and the creation and maintenance of a sound and more comfortable environment are the main motives (Ayala 1987).