The Environment in Asia Pacific Harbours, w. CD-ROM

Worldwide, urbanization has already reached unprecedented levels in the estuarine and coastal zone. This is particularly the case in the Asia Pacific region where mega-cities and mega-harbours have developed and are still growing. As a result environmental degradation is significant and growing. This book details how science can provide solutions so that economic and social developments can be ecologically sustainable. This book demonstrates the different solutions and pitfalls, successes and failures in a large number of ports and harbours in the Asia Pacific Region, and this will be based on science and aimed at management.

Twelve sites are discussed in detail, integrating physics and biology. These are Tokyo Bay, the Pearl Estuary, Hong Kong, Shanghai and the Yangtze delta, Klang, Manila Bay, Jakarta Bay, Pearl Harbour, Ho Chi Minh City and the new harbour on the Thi Vai River, Bangkok and coastal waters of the upper Gulf of Thailand, Singapore and Darwin. This is the shoreline of about 50 million people and the coastal waters of about 500 million people. The social, economic and environmental problems are pressing and call for science-based solutions that are addressed by this challenging book. Thirty internationally recognised, prominent scientists and engineers in universities and research centres in all these cities contributed the chapters in this book.

The dominant scientific approach that will be demonstrated is understanding and quantifying how the impacted estuarine and coastal waters work by focusing on the links between physical and biological processes, and between science and engineering. In turn these are linked to economic and social issues.

The book highlights the individual experiences at these different sites, with many similarities and dissimilarities brought upon by different scientific and management approaches, governance and socio-economic issues and different levels of development. This advancement in science was made possible by the local experts - who are actually also the authors of the chapters. These experts provide hints of long-term solutions to enable socio-economic developments while maintaining, or restoring, the vital ecosystem services provided by the estuarine and coastal waters, following the principles of the UNESCO ecohydrology programme.

The lessons from this book about the Asia Pacific Region find applications worldwide wherever coastal urbanization and the growth of mega-harbours occur.

The chapters are peer-reviewed to ensure highest quality science. The book was edited by Dr. Eric Wolanski, is an internationally recognized coastal oceanographer. He is a fellow of the Belgian Academy of Overseas Sciences, the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering, and the Institution of Engineers Australia. He was awarded an Australian Centenary medal for services in estuarine and coastal oceanography and he is a Leading Scientist at the Australian Institute of Marine Science with more than 270 publications.