Japan’s Nagano Prefecture has officially announced its withdrawal from state dam projects on the Mibu river. The projects, worth US$872M, were to be constructed in southern Nagano.

The withdrawal is in accordance with Governor Yasuo Tanaka’s pledge to end all new dam construction. The government of the prefecture said it will pull out of the planned Tokusa dam in the upper reaches of the Mibu and the removal of sediment on Miwa dam on the lower part of the river.