Coastal Ecosystems: Hazards, Management and Rehabilitation

Coastal zones contain many of the Earth’s most complex and diverse ecological systems, productive in both the biological and economic senses. Coastal region includes inshore waters, inter-tidal areas and extensive tracts of contiguous land. Coastal zones are not only economically valuable for fisheries, commerce, navigation and recreation, but also include some of the most ecologically important environments. Regrettably, these economic, social, and environmental benefits are at a risk as the coastal zones are affected by both gradual and recurrent processes such as accretion and erosion and by extreme natural events such as floods, hurricanes, typhoons, Tsunamis, earthquakes and severe storms. This is further aggravated due to increased economic activity within the coastal zones resulting in costly damages to property, society, economy and environment. This combination of natural and human forces and the uncertainties involved in their origins and impacts presents major challenges to coastal managers. In order to address some of the above issues, the NAM S and T Centre organized an international workshop-cum-training course on ‘Coastal Ecosystem: Hazards Management and Rehabilitation’ at Purwokerto, Indonesia during 8 – 17 August 2006 and brought our his publication which includes a collection of 26 selected research/review papers on various aspects of Coastal Ecosystems. The publication has been presented in four parts, namely, General Topics on Physical Oceanography; Impact Studies Related to Tsunami, Tropical Cyclones and Toxic Contamination; General Coastal Management Issues, Including Use of GIS and Remote Sensing Technologies; and Country Reports and Case Studies on Coastal Ecosystem. The material presented in this volume will serve as a valuable reference material for the professionals working in the area of Coastal Ecosystems and Coastal Hazards Management and will help the developing countries in working out scientific solutions for management of hazards affecting the Coastal Ecosystems.