Asia-Pacific Coasts and Their Management

States of Environment

herausgegeben von: Nobuo Mimura

Verlag: Springer Netherlands

Buchreihe : Coastal Systems and Continental Margins

Enthalten in: Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik" , Springer Professional "Technik" , Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

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Über dieses Buch

The Asia-Pacific region is home to the world’s largest region of coral reefs and mangroves. It accommodates two-thirds of the world’s human population and its economic activities have the highest growth rate in the world. Ongoing degradation of the environment, resulting from coastal development, deforestation, desertification and over-harvesting, are becoming a matter of great concern, as floods and droughts occur as a result of this degradation. The Asia-Pacific region also includes part of the ‘Pacific Rim of Fire’ and is, therefore, vulnerable to earthquakes and tsunamis, as the world became aware following the Sumatra earthquake and tsunami on 26 December 2004. Threats of global environmental change, such as climate change and sea-level rise, will exacerbate such problems. Therefore, appropriate policies and measures are needed for coastal management, to address both the local and global trends. This book gives an overview of the state-of-the-art understanding on the drivers, state, and responses to coastal environmental changes in the Asia-Pacific region. It provides excellent perspectives on current and anticipated environmental changes in the region’s coastal areas, to researchers, students, policy makers, coastal managers and other stakeholders.

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Frontmatter

1. Introduction: Scope and Objectives of This Book

Coastal zones in Asia and the Pacific are extremely diverse in their characteristics. They range from polar to tropical regions, large areas of which are under the strong influence of Asian monsoons, tropical cyclones, and interannual variability imposed by the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO). Various geomorphologic features also occur, including deltas formed by large rivers, islands, and rocky coasts. These are often accompanied by valuable ecosystems of mangroves, coral reefs, and sea grass beds. Numerous large rivers in Asia discharge large amounts of freshwater and sediments to the sea, with such sediments accounting for about 70% of the world freshwater flow Coastal ecosystems are home to a rich biodiversity and a wealth of biological resources that include abundant fishery resources for commercial and subsistence fisheries.

Nobuo Mimura, Sombo Yamamura

2. Drivers for Changes in the Coastal Zone

The land area of this region is characterized by rain forests, paddy fields, and countless islands, while the coastal area is characterized by its bio-geomorphology such as mangrove forests and coral reefs. Numerous large and small islands subdivide the region into different seas, which are connected with each other by a large number of passages and channels. Deep trenches, high mountain chains, many volcanoes, deep sea basins, and innumerable coral islands form a complexity of phenomena that are not found over such an extended area in any other part of the world.

Tetsuo Yanagi, Kwangwoo Cho

3. Environment Problems in the Coastal Zone

Understanding coastal dynamics and natural history is important in developing a better understanding of natural systems and human impacts in coastal zones. This chapter outlines the characteristics of sedimentary environments in coastal zones which must be understood in order to manage and preserve coastal environments.

Hideo Sekiguchi, Sanit Aksornkoae

4. Policy for Conservation and Sustainable Development of the Coastal Zone

Since the 1970s all countries have faced serious marine and coastal pollution, and have been forced to resolve these problems. For instance, Japan has long suffered from frequent occurrences of “Red Tide” in semi-enclosed bays and inland seas. This is symbolic of widespread marine pollution. On the other hand, the USA was challenged by diminishing and degradation of coastal wetlands, and the decline of fishery resources. In parallel with these local problems, global environmental issues have emerged since the late 1980s, including global warming, ozone layer depletion and marine pollution.

Nobuo Mimura, Asami Shikida, Masahiro Yamao

5. Regional Conditions

In this chapter, we will see the geographic and societal situation of the coast and its management on a sub-regional basis. The subregion introduced first is East Asia, for which we will see China, Korea, Taiwan, and Japan. Coastal zones of East Asia are characterized by diversity of coastal morphology and strong oceanic and climatic activities. They have long suffered from natural hazards such as typhoons, storm surges, high waves, and tsunamis, resulting in huge damage to the human society. At the same time, concentration of large populations, economic activities, and development in the coastal zones are another feature in this region. Recent enormous economic development in the countries has accelerated the pressure to the region’s coastal environment together with global environmental changes such as sea-level rise and climate change. Therefore, the region has a strong need to develop a management framework for the coastal zones and its implementation. In this section, we will see the preset status of such efforts in this subregion.

Yoshiki Saito, Porfirio M. Alino

6. Conclusions: The Rapidly Changing Environment of the Asia and Pacific Region and its Implications for Sustainability of the Coastal Zones

This book presents a broad assessment of the present status of the environment in the Asia and Pacific coastal zones. Coastal zones are a precious environment, with diverse biogeochemical elements. They also represent a very important resource base for societal, economic, and cultural activities. As such, they have attracted huge movements of population and development activities, which in turn have imposed pressures on the coastal environment, inducing wide-ranging and rapid changes. The Asia and Pacific region is among those areas of the world where such changes are most active, which is why this book focuses on this particular region. In the present assessment a framework for analysis consisting of three viewpoints was used; the state of the environment, driving forces, and responses. This conclusion to the assessment uses the same framework.

Nobuo Mimura

Backmatter

Titel: Asia-Pacific Coasts and Their Management
herausgegeben von: Nobuo Mimura
Verlag: Springer Netherlands
Electronic ISBN: 978-1-4020-3625-5
Print ISBN: 978-1-4020-3626-2
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-3625-5