Dr. Hiroshi MORI
Past President, Japanese National Committee, IWRA. Past Senior Technical Advisor, UNDP, New York. 5-6-9, Koishikawa, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 112-0002, Japan
This paper posits that, in ancient Japan, development of the water resources were often contemplated and carried out with the benevolent aim of helping local indigenous people out of water-troubles, such as floodings and droughts. In contrast, most of the activities related to water resources, nowadays, have been planned and carried out with economy-oriented aims without paying much attention to social, spiritual elements, accordingly. As a result, various kinds of negative social and environmental effects have occurred, causing unnecessary problems. Most of such problems could have been avoided if those in charge included and followed intuitively spiritual, even religious, values.