New environmental perspectives for Japanese erosion control engineering

Environmental problems have been discussed recently in the Japan Society of Erosion Control Engineering(SABO), corresponding with increasing criticism of concrete structures by the general public. Most of thepresent discussions and SABO works, however, focus on static scenery rather than ecological dynamics. Theideas presented in this paper are oriented to processes which enable ecosystems to maintain connectionsamong a number of biotic and abiotic factors. I propose that SABO is defined as a science which developsthe theories and techniques to prevent the erosion disasters without interrupting the diverse processes innatural ecosystems. Maintaining diverse processes is a key issue to ensure productive and species-richecosystems. Many papers are reviewed in terms of interactions between geomorphic and biological processes,and summarized in a spatiotemporal framework.