新着・お知らせ

地球温暖化に伴う気候変動により自然災害の激甚化・頻発化など、国内外で深刻な影響が顕在化している。地球温暖化対策はもはや待ったなしの状況であり、2050年カーボンニュートラル（ＣＮ）に向けた取組を加速させる必要がある。
特に、国土・都市・地域空間と、そこで営まれる人々の暮らしや社会経済活動を支えるインフラとこれらのマネジメントは、ＣＮの実現に向けて重要な役割を担っており、土木界は長期的な視点をもって、積極的にCNに貢献していくことが求められている。
このような中、「カーボンニュートラルでレジリエントな社会づくり」に向けて、以下のような取組を行う。

• 2050年ＣＮに向け、行政機関や企業等において様々な取り組みが進められているが、まちづくりや交通の効率化、インフラの整備や維持管理、さらには関連するエネルギー分野等において土木界全体で取り組むべき全体像を俯瞰的に捉え、提示する。
• CNの取組をより一層加速する上で障害となっている課題を明確化し、その課題解決に向けた提言を行う。
• 気候変動に伴う災害の激甚化・頻発化等への適応策として、災害時のレジリエンス強化につながるＣＮ等の取り組みについて提言する。

≪カーボンニュートラル≫
以下の観点からの課題解決に向けた検討及び提言を行う。

1. 水力等の再生可能エネルギーの更なる活用のための課題解決 
2. 水素やバイオ燃料等の円滑な生産・蓄積・利用のための課題解決 
3. まちづくり・交通の効率化等における課題解決 
4. 流域単位等での事業間連携による課題解決 
5. インフラの整備・維持管理・更新に関するＣＮの取組における課題解決
6. CO2吸収対策（地下貯留、CO2吸収型建設材料の活用、木材利用、ブルーカーボン等）における課題解決

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　など

≪災害時のレジリエンス強化≫
　・（例）スマートグリッド等の導入における課題解決　　　　　　　　　　　 など　

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SASAKI Yoh, the 112th President of the Japan Society of Civil Engineers, delivered a message to JSCE members on February 26th, 2025, regarding a road collapse accident caused by a sewer in Saitama Prefecture.
* Note: The Japanese text shall prevail if there is any conflict or inconsistency between these two texts.

Since the road collapse accident caused by a sewer pipe in the Nakagawa River Basin Sewer System in Yashio City, Saitama Prefecture, on January 28th, 2025, I have been distressed as the President and as a member of JSCE. I want to express my sympathy to the people affected by this accident, including those who are still searching for the missing person, those who are devoting their energies to dealing with the situation on the ground, those who are having to live with restrictions in the area around the site, the 1.2 million people who have their water use affected, those involved in wastewater treatment, and those in various locations who are working urgently on inspections and other tasks. I hope daily life will return to the area as soon as possible.

I believe that the JSCE members, experts in civil engineering, are also paying close attention to this infrastructure accident and wondering what they can do about it.

Maintaining and extending the infrastructure’s lifespan have been significant issues. The Sasago Tunnel accident in December 2012 made us awoken our preparedness. This road collapse accident will impact society in the same way as the Sasago Tunnel accident.

Since they designated 2013 as “The beginning of infrastructure maintenance,” the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) has undertaken many initiatives. JSCE has also been at the forefront of the civil engineering domain in promoting the importance of infrastructure maintenance and technology. However, this accident has occurred. How should we, the JSCE members, take this situation?

In particular, we have seen extensive damage to invisible underground structures, as well as the impact and difficulty of recovering from an accident that causes a loss of function in a network of lifelines. It is necessary to have a broader perspective in the discussion than just dealing with the ongoing accident and ensuring the integrity of structures.

What is “the perspective” in this case?

For example:

1. There are multiple lifelines underground of road infrastructure.
2. Although these underground lifelines are invisible, they exist as a network very close to us.
3. Water supply and sewage systems play a role in the hydrologic cycle in the region.
4. These infrastructures’ construction, usage, and management costs are expensive, and the cost-bearing scheme is difficult to understand.
5. “We” live in a so-called built environment created throughout history. 
6. Measures cannot be implemented without a broad understanding and agreement from “us.”

Keeping these scopes in mind, we need to find a way to solve the issues, and at the same time, we need to aim for a society where we, who use the infrastructure, think about how we can live with the infrastructure as our issue.
 
It is impossible to consider all these issues by each person, field, or sector. The JSCE has civil engineers from a wide range of fields. We want to use this strength as a collaborative effort across borders to work on technology for infrastructure maintenance and management more than ever. Thus, we will provide a place for dialogue and discussion.

At the same time, I would like to encourage JSCE members who are not directly involved in the above discussion to talk to the people close to them, such as their colleagues, family, and neighbors, about how they can deal with familiar infrastructure such as sewers as a matter that concerns them personally. We, JSCE, have a vast knowledge accumulated in the JSCE Journal. We also have proposals and statements published for society. While using these resources and not limiting ourselves to each expertise, our efforts in facing and engaging in dialogue will help to develop the essential strength needed to move society and the future in a better direction. 

In this message, I would like to ask all 38,000 JSCE members to work together to tackle this complex problem as a team of the JSCE.

February 26th, 2025

SASAKI Yoh, Prof.,  Dr.Eng
The 112th JSCE President

These are my thoughts at this point.

I have also added links to the backnumbers of JSCE Journal and JSCE’s statements and proposals related to our confronting issues.

We will continue providing information as we make the activity plans more concrete. So, I would like to ask all JSCE members to start with what you can do.

Finally, I thank everyone who gave me advice and support in composing this message.

https://committees.jsce.or.jp/chair/112-message_20250226jp