A framework for environmental management planning — A landscape-ecological approach

Framework, concepts, and methods of Environmental Management Planning (EMP) are discussed. A landscape-ecological approach was taken to integrate the environmental indices. EMP focuses on regional factors- natural, social, amenity related — and becomes more sensitive as the scale of study increases. The processes of EMP include a vertical aspect, dealing with pollution, conservation, and amenities, and a more general horizontal component which involves zoning and land use planning. Environmental impacts may be assessed by modeling exercises using all available data and considering all land use options. To keep up with the rapid change of environment and its perception, EMP should be process-oriented rather than purpose-oriented. The concepts of EMP were applied to the middle basin of the Tamagawa River and it was shown that mulvariate analysis is useful for the regional subdivision and environmental modeling.