EMECS8 – harmonizing catchment and estuary

Abstract

[Extract] The 8th EMECS (Environmental Management of Enclosed Coastal Seas) International Conference was held on October 27–30, 2008, in Shanghai, China. Approximately 570 participants from nearly 40 countries attended the meeting, including biophysicists, social scholars, government officials, politicians, and industry representatives. The conference was organized to help provide answers, or at least establish valid scenarios for future changes that can be used for planning purposes, for the changes in the water circulation, the geomorphology, the ecology, and the ecosystem services provided to the human population, of estuaries, deltas, and coastal waters. The focus was on Asia, with additional examples from other regions, where estuaries and deltas are rapidly changing as a result of human influences within the watershed and in the estuary itself.