Coastal systems in the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment: The results and future issues
2007
Kawabe, M.(Tokyo Univ. of Marine Science and Technology (Japan))
This paper speculates the implications that the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) may suggest for the Japanese coasts to be sustainable. The coastal issues apprehended in the MA, such as the loss of wetlands, increasing occurrence of organic contamination due to eutrophication in the coastal waters, expanding oxygen deficit in the shallow waters, extending shoreline erosion, and unpredictable influence of the global warming on the coastal ecosystem, are common concerns for the Japanese coasts. The MA recommends implementation of integrated coastal zone management (ICM) as the effective means of pursuing the sustainability of the coast, but there seems to be a long way to go until ICM is effectively enforced in Japan. It may be more suited for us to follow the ideas of the MA processes and to conduct what is called 'a local MA' that is to draw the complete picture of individual coastal zone by assessing the current states of the environment and ecosystem, concerned issues to be solved with their structure, based on literature reviews.
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