An invited paper entitled 'The Third World Water Forum: to translate visions into concrete actions and commitments', written by the chairman of the World Water Forum III organizing committee, aims to provide background information for the potential forum participants. The subsequent three papers concern Japaneseoriginated water policy issues, including topics on 'World Lake Vision', 'WCD Guidelines' and 'RIGA'.
Scientific original papers and technical notes follow these policy-related manuscripts. A technical note entitled 'Investigation of submarine groundwater discharge' explains the current status of this new research field. The next seven papers relate to domestic and international applications of Japanese hydrological technologies. The topics covered are as follows: a hydrological model application to the Lena River, a wind tunnel investigation, a numerical analysis on frozen soil permeability, the measurement and analysis of evapotranspiration and surface conductance of a wheat canopy, risk assessment using a genetic algorithm, isotope studies of inner snow layers, three-dimensional numerical simulation in the Ishikari sedimentary basin, isotope observations, hydrological modelling and DSS systems, and a new technology for rain making.
This editorial policy will also be applied to the next volume of Japanese Special Issue of Hydrological Processes, Volume 4. Japanese water policy has long been only concerned with the development of the domestic water resources and utilization, which was not always applicable to other countries. However, toward the World Water Forum III to be held in March 2003, Kyoto, this volume may provide a new perspective on Japanese-originated worldwide water management policies. We hope that worldwide readers will find this volume provides interesting and informative material on new aspects of Japanese water policy and technology.
JSHWR celebrates the 14th anniversary of its foundation in 2002 and is an interdisciplinary society that covers a broad spectrum of hydrology and water resources, aiming to exchange views, information and new knowledge between these fields.
An interdisciplinary approach is increasingly inevitable to manage various issues relating to both research and applied aspects of hydrological sciences. Thus the JSHWR seeks to enable four basic foundations to promote scientific developments:
- Encouraging interdisciplinary studies. 2. Emphasizing research creativity and research leadership in an international context.