Pacific Science Association: Association Affairs

Announcements

In a special election in October 2016, the PSA Council elected Dr. Eric Clua as an Ordinary Board Member of the Pacific Science Association. Dr. Clua is Professor of Marine Biology at the École Pratique des Hautes Études in Paris and is also affiliated with the Centre de Recherches Insulaires et Observatoire de l’Environnement (CRIOBE) based in Mo’orea, French Polynesia. Dr. Clua has extensive field experience working and living in Oceania, and his area of expertise is the biology of coral reef ecosystems and the ecosystem services they provide.

Dr. Clua joins Dr. Shu-Min Huang (Academia Sinica); Dr. Isao Nakajima, M.D. (Tokai University School of Medicine); and Academician Valentin Sergienko (Russian Academy of Sciences–Far Eastern Branch) as an Ordinary Member of the PSA Executive Board. We are very pleased to welcome Dr. Clua to the PSA Board and look forward to working closely with him during his term from 2016 to 2020.

PSA Activities

A. Report on the International Symposium on Sustainable Coastal Ecosystems, Beijing, China, 11–13 January 2017

In collaboration with the Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences (RCEES) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Scientific Committee on Problems of the Environment (SCOPE), PSA jointly organized an “International Symposium on Sustainable Coastal Ecosystems” in Beijing, China, from 11 to 13 January 2017. The meeting was held at the RCEES campus and was sponsored by the China Association for Science and Technology (CAST).

Attending the meeting from PSA were Yonglong Lu (PSA President and Co-Director, RCEES), Sang-Dai Park (PSA Vice-President), Dr. Nancy Lewis (PSA Past-President), Dr. Valentin Sergienko (PSA Board Member), Dr. Shu-Min Huang (PSA Board Member), and Burke Burnett (PSA Executive Secretary). In addition, former PSA Vice-President Chang-Hung Chou also attended the meeting.

The symposium was intended to bring together outstanding scientists and researchers from across the world to discuss the problems facing coastal ecosystems and how to improve their governance and management to ensure their sustainability as intact biological units and as important economic resources. In addition, there was an emphasis on how these goals coincide with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Agenda 2030. The major topics of the symposium were as follows:

• • Major problems and challenges in Asia-Pacific coastal areas

• • Impacts and drivers of global environmental change to coastal ecosystems

• • Improved policies for the sustainable management of coastal ecosystems

Following introductory and welcome addresses by Yonglong Lu, Jon Samseth (SCOPE), and Nancy Lewis, the symposium included the following presentations:

Theme 1: Major Problems and Challenges in Asia-Pacific Coastal Areas

• • Dr. Anatolii Kachur: “Major problems and challenges in the Northwestern Pacific coastal area of Russia”

• • Dr. Chang-Hung Chou: “Conservation and research on mangrove forest ecosystems in Taiwan”

• • Dr. Jun Sun: “Marine environment issues in the Bohai Sea”

• • Dr. Tonny Wagey: “Marine and fisheries issues in the Arafura and Timor Seas”

• • Dr. Xiaoxia Sun: “Ecological security and challenges in Chinese coastal areas”

• • Dr. Guizhen He: “Coastal challenges and societal responses in China”

Theme 2: Impacts and Drivers of Global Environmental Change to Coastal Ecosystems

• • Dr. Yonglong Lu: “Ecological impacts of emerging pollutants in the coastal region of China”

• • Dr. Soman Kunjupillai: “Impact of catchment-scale human interventions on estuarine ecosystems of South India”

• • Dr. Richard Angus Garbutt: “Valuing the coast, biodiversity, ecosystem services, and human health and well-being”

• • Dr. Venugopalan Ittekkot: “Capacity-building in developing countries for sustainable coastal systems: A SCOPE perspective”

• • Dr. Wei Liu: “Marine ecological capital assessment: Methods and application”

• • Dr. Kenneth Sherman: “Sustainable development of the world’s Large Marine Ecosystems”

Theme 3: Improved Policies for the Sustainable Management of Coastal Ecosystems

• • Dr. Jilan Su: “Environmental degradation in the Bohai Sea and management deficiencies”

• • Dr. Simon Bush: “Area-based governance for fisheries and aquaculture sustainability in Asia”

• • Dr. Mohamed Saber: “Sustainable management of microbial diversity in Egyptian coastal marine ecosystems”

• • Dr. Steve Fletcher: “Options for the sustainable management of coastal ecosystems”

• • Dr. Hui Liu: “Ecosystem-based aquaculture governance and spatial planning in China”

• • Dr. Neville Sweijd: “The distinction and integration of concepts and practice in the coastal zone...