Objectives of the Special Session:

Sharing of Environmental Information Relating to Coastal Region and Visions for Environmental Management

 

Osamu MATSUDA

 

Convener of the Special Session

Graduate School of Biosphere Sciences, Hiroshima University, Japan

 

This well-timed special session was planned by International EMECS Center and is to be held as a part of the international symposium of TECHNO-OCEAN 2002. Since environmental deterioration of coastal region due to the impact of human activities has been serious all over the world, environmental management and remediation of coastal seas, in particular of enclosed coastal seas, are matters of great urgency. Sharing of environmental information by variety of stakeholders such as citizens, fishermen, scientists, NGOs, policy makers and so on, based on disclosure of information is also an essential condition for better environmental management. Since disclosure and sharing of environmental information are facing to new era due to the development of the Internet and information technology, a new role of environmental information is able to contribute to new approaches for environmental management.

     Hence the main objective of the special session is to seek the possible new sharing system of environmental information and to propose new environmental management system with use of shared information in near future through the discussion of invited presenters and participants. In this special session, four invited specialists will firstly make presentations on environmental management and information from individual viewpoint such as regional environmental programme of UNEP, coastal management in the Mediterranean, roles of environmental information to legal system on information. And then secondary discussion will be open to the public. Finally, new approaches and new perspectives for environmental management will be proposed to which every participant can contribute according to his or her involvement to the subject.