It is with pleasure that I write this message as President of

PAWEES for the coming two years from January 2021.

I am Kazuaki Hiramatsu, Chairman of the Japanese Society of
Irrigation, Drainage and Rural Engineering, currently serving
as a professor at Kyushu University, attached to the
Department of Agro-environmental Sciences, Faculty of
Agriculture.
I will strive to effectively administer the International Society of Paddy and Water
Environment Engineering (PAWEES) to meet the expectations of researchers,
engineers, national and international organizations. In turn, I look forward to the
continued support of PAWEES members.
Two major activities of PAWEES are the quarterly publication of the international
journal “Paddy and Water Environment (PWE)” and the holding of an annual
international meeting every autumn. Unfortunately, due to the Covid-19 pandemic
the international meeting to be held in Taipei, Taiwan in 2020 was postponed by a
year. We sincerely hope that the meeting could be held safely in Taiwan this year.
As you know, PAWEES was founded in January 2003 with the aim of exchanging
knowledges and experiences among engineers in conjunction with paddy field
agriculture and to promote to the world the importance of the arts and sciences
concerning paddy rice agriculture.
PAWEES will celebrate its 20th anniversary in 2022. I express my deep appreciation
for the cooperation and activities of related countries, researchers and engineers
extended to PAWEES during these two decades.
It is important to sustain paddy field agriculture in each country, especially amid
the current pandemic and future global population growth. Sustainable rice
production in paddy fields will become increasingly important, and consequently the
contribution of PAWEES to the sustainable development of paddy field agriculture
will also increase.
PWE was launched in March 2003 and, since then, many important research
findings and innovative solutions have been introduced to date. As a result, the
impact factor (1.379 in 2017) of PWE has increased greatly, making PWE a mature
international journal.
In addition, international meetings were held in Japan in 2018 and in Korea in
2019, in cooperation with the International Network for Water and Ecosystem in
Paddy Fields (INWEPF). We also held a cooperative workshop with the International
Commission on Irrigation and Drainage (ICID) and have deepened our links with
other international organizations.
PAWEES is expected to keep making significant international contributions to the
improvement of paddy field agriculture. Towards this end, I look forward to the
continued cooperation extended to PAWEES over the years by each country and
organization.

Kazuaki Hiramatsu

President ,PAWEES