The government of Japan will not appeal a 16 May high court ruling decided in favor of farmers contesting water use plans for the proposed Kawabe river dam in the Kumamoto Prefecture.
The high court overturned a lower court ruling and nullified part of a 1996 decision by the agriculture minister at the time, who rejected complaints by farmers opposed to construction of the dam over changes to irrigation and other water-use plans linked to the dam. Preliminary work at the site has already begun, although no work on the dam has been undertaken.
The Ministry of Agriculture has said it will attempt to devise a new plan on the use of water from the facility.