earticle

영어

In drastically depopulating societies, such as Japan, it is becoming increasingly difficult to maintain farmland and other infrastructure. However, if human withdrawal from flood areas becomes possible by implementing optimal land use changes, such areas can be used as green/blue infrastructure to provide nature restoration areas for species adapted to colonize newly disturbed habitats. At the same time, these areas can be used as buffer zones to mitigate the increased risk of large-scale flooding expected to arise from global warming. This paper presents a conceptual framework for disaster prevention using a hybrid of green/blue infrastructure and conventional grey infrastructure as an adaptive strategy to climate change. I outline the historical changes of green/blue infrastructure in Japan and describe current problems in terms of sediment and flood disasters and loss of biodiversity. Then, we present a new strategy to protect human lives and assets from natural disasters and conserve river and wetland biodiversity using the hybrid infrastructure.