Hotspot: Second Circular of EMECS 8 International Conference - Call for Abstract              Theme: Harmonizing River Catchment and Estuary

Environmental Management of Enclosed Coastal Seas

In many parts of the world there are bodies of water that are almost entirely enclosed by land. However, exhibiting unique combinations of saline and fresh waters, these bodies of water are called enclosed coastal seas (estuary). Examples include the North Sea and the English Channel, the Mediterranean Sea, the Baltic Sea in Europe, Chesapeake Bay in the United States of America, the Gulf of Thailand, the Bo Hai in northern China and the Seto Inland Sea in Japan. Since ancient times, enclosed coastal seas have been known for their great scenic beauty and abundant　productivity. However, enclosed coastal seas are difficult places to conserve and improve water quality, because pollutants tend to accumulate easily due to poor exchange of water with open water bodies. In order to exchange information on the measures to conserve and create coastal seas, the world's first International Conference on the Environmental Management of Enclosed Coastal Seas (EMECS 1) was held in the city of Kobe, Japan in 1990. Due to the success of the 2nd conference (EMECS 2) in Maryland, U.S.A in 1993 and subsequent activities, the International EMECS Center was established in Kobe in 1994. EMECS is now recognized internationally, and activities in which scholars, government officials, industry representatives and private organizations work together to solve problems in enclosed coastal seas are now referred to as EMECS activities. Another key concept for EMECS in both international and academic circles is ‘governance’ meaning comprehensive and joint management of enclosed coastal sea environments.

Activities of EMECS

• Gather and make available information pertaining to enclosed coastal seas
• Promote the conservation of enclosed coastal sea environments and contribute to the restoration of damaged habitats through training and education
• Preserving natural enclosed coastal sea environments and creating new ones
• Sponsoring international conferences and otherwise promote international exchanges
• Carry out other activities necessary to achieve the International EMECS Center 's objectives

The EMECS 8 calls for its theme: ‘Harmonizing River Catchment and Estuary’ which is proposed on the basis of the rapid growing Asian economy that inevitably gives rise to intensifying modification between river catchment and estuary. This example can also apply to any analogue of the world, where the EMECS 8 conference theme should be used for ecosystem safety. Like all other conference, EMECS 8 is to provide a forum to all participants, including natural and social scientists, administrators, government officers, and younger students, to interact each other to work out a better understanding of how to minimize potentiality of the environmental risk. This is pursuing a harmonizing society with global concept of environmental conservation.