The coastal waters around the world cover a small percentage of the global surface, yet are highly productive and sustain a high biodiversity. The coastal zone is utilised at some point in the life history of 75% of the marine fish species, and function as areas for feeding or spawning or as nursery grounds. The production and utilisation of these marine, renewable resources cannot be sustained where the functional integrity of coastal systems is degraded. There is, however, a rapidly growing pressure from human activity on the coastal zone and evidence of increasing degradation of coastal habitats around the globe. Examples are habitat alteration, eutrophication, toxic pollution and over-fishing. The conservation of healthy and well functioning coastal ecosystems to continue to provide goods and services to humanity, calls for new sustainable management strategies that ensure the integration of diverse research-based information including social science.
This international multi-disciplinary conference is intended to promote science and integration of knowledge for the sustainable management of coastal resources. It will provide a venue for scientists, engineers, managers and policy-makers to discuss recent advances and innovative ideas, share experiences and develop networks.
Themes:
- Coastal habitats
- Importance of coastal habitats for fish stocks and biodiversity
- Recreational value of coastal habitats
- Identifying and criteria for preserving sensitive coastal areas
- Indicators for coastal ecosystem health
- Indicators for sustainability (societal, ecological)
- Ecological qualities
- Goods and services of the coastal systems
- Impacts on coastal systems
- Habitat destruction and modification
- Coastal use and coastal defence
- Coastal tourism, urbanisation and coastal use
- Natural areas, protected areas and nature conservation
- Eutrophication and pollution
- Introduction of new species
- Pulse impacts (regional flooding, oil spills)
- Transport
- Cumulative impacts
- Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM)
- Linking watersheds and the coastal zone
- Linking LME and the coastal zone
- Managing water resources (water quality and supply)
- Integration of on- and off-shore planning
- Preserving cultural heritage and local coastal communities
- Management instruments (CPA, etc.)
- Coastal governance.
- Managing/prioritising uses of coastal resources
- Information needs for policy making/management
- Integrating science advice into policy decisions
- The role of dissemination and public perception in coastal policies
- Involving stakeholders in CZM
- Scales of involvement
- Lessons learned (especially related to evolving/adaptive management)
Background and objectives