- Association AffairsPacific Science Association
PSA Activities
The 21st Pacific Science Congress
Session planning for the 21st Pacific Science Congress is proceeding very successfully, in a collaborative effort between the host organizations, led by the University of the Ryukyus, and the PSA Executive Board and Secretariat. Development of the sessions and submission of paper proposals will continue until early 2007. Several excellent Keynote Speakers have accepted, and the Congress organizers are in contact with several others.
The main theme of the Congress is Diversity and Change: Challenges and Opportunities for Managing Natural and Social Systems in the Asia-Pacific. The current list of Keynote Speakers includes Dr. Shigeru Omi, Regional Director of the Western Pacific Regional Office, World Health Organization; Dr. Leo Tan Wee-Hin, President, Singapore National Academy of Sciences; and Dr. A. H. Zakri, Director, Institute of Advanced Studies, United Nations University.
The most current information on the Okinawa Congress can be found on the official Congress website (www.psc21.net) or the PSA website (www.pacificscience.org). By the time of this publication, the Congress website should have additional information on registration, including online registration.
The current list of sub-themes and sessions for the Congress, which is still in development, includes:
Sub-theme 1: Maintaining Natural Diversity: Biodiversity, Ecosystem Services, and Natural Resource Management
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1-1. Patterns of biodiversity in the Pacific
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1-2. Biodiversity databases in the Asia-Pacific
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1-3. Biodiversity and coral reefs in the Asia-Pacific
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1-4. Long-term ecological research projects in Pacific ecosystems and PABITRA landscapes
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1-5. Social ecology and evolution of the Old World monkeys
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1-6. Association of prokaryotic algae and tropical ascidians: Diversity and potential as bioresources
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1-7. Biology of Deep Chemosynthetic Communities [End Page 165]
Biogeography and Biodiversity
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1-8. Coral reef conservation
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1-9. Coral reefs and coral reefs fisheries: Knowledge and management
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1-10. Coral transplantation: Theory, practice and evaluation
Coral Reef Conservation
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1-11. Natural resource management and protection
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1-12. Marine protected areas in the Pacific
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1-13. Current topics in marine mammal sciences
Natural Resource Management and Protection
Invasive Species
1-14. Invasive species: Status and management [planned]
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1-15. Challenges of post-tsunami capacity building and rehabilitation of mangrove ecosystems in the Asia and Pacific regions
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1-16. Biological, chemical and physical processes in controlling the coastal marine ecosystem
Ecosystem Services
Ethnobotany
1-17. Plant diversity in Asia and ethnobotanical research
Fisheries Management in the Pacific [planned]
Sub-theme 2: Technology for Sustainable Societies: Biotechnology, Energy, Assessing Natural Hazards, and Telecommunications
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2-1. Energy Issues in the Asia-Pacific
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2-2. Waste management and energy supply for sustainable archipelagic environments —An ideal zero-emission system in archipelagic environments
Energy Issues in the Asia-Pacific
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2-3. Marine biotechnology
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2-4. Marine animals and medicinal research [planned]
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2-5. Biomedical research on natural products from marine and terrestrial sources in the Far East
Biotechnology
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2-6. PEACESAT Program
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2-7. APT Telemedicine Initiative
Telecommunications and Distance Learning
Sub-theme 3: Human Diversity: Origins of Pacific Peoples, Indigenous Knowledge, Cultural and Linguistic Diversity
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3-1. Origins and dispersion of Asia-Pacific peoples
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3-2. The peopling of East Asia: Population movement and demographic history
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3-3. Human adaptations and impacts on islands: Advances in Pacific Rim historical ecology
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3-4. Artifact and artifice in contemporary Austronesian technological traditions
Origins and Settlement of Asia-Pacific Peoples
Documenting and Preserving Indigenous Knowledge [planned] [End Page 166]
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3-6. Structural and sociocultural diversity of languages in the Pacific Rim
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3-7. Explorations of Okinawan conversational discourse: Grammar, interaction and cognition
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3-8. Shaky Okinawan identity and unchanging characteristics
Human Diversity: Cultural and Linguistic Diversity
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3-9. US military bases and peace
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3-10. Realignment of US military bases and security issues in Asia and the Pacific regions
War and Peace
Sub-theme 4: Threats, Challenges and Hazards: Climate Change, Ocean Acidification, Natural Hazards, Hazardous Waste, and Chronic and Infectious Diseases and Public Health
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4-1. Global change, Asian monsoon, and extreme weather and climate
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4-2. Land-human interaction on oceanic atoll islands
Climate Change
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4-3. The biogeochemical consequences of ocean acidification: New approaches for...