The coastal zone has always been an important frontier - for trade, food and the foundations of modern civilization. This same zone has also been exploited in one way or another, and sometimes without regard to the balance and schemes of Mother Nature. It is only when things go terribly wrong that we begin to react and attempt to undo the mistakes of the past. At times we have succeeded, but at a high price. At times, we have to retreat and concede defeat as the technology of man is no match to the force of nature. Over time, we learn to work with nature and leverage the science of nature to protect the coastal zone and hold our frontier between the sea and land.This proceeding presents the recent advances in all aspects of ocean and coastal research and management in the Asian and Pacific nations. The volume set provides a valuable source of information for scientists, engineers and professionals dealing with coastal zone issues and challenges in coastal, port and ocean engineering development, as well as the environmental impacts resulting from development of ocean and coastal areas.

This is a compilation of papers presented at the 6th International Conference on Asian and Pacific Coasts (APAC2011) held on December 14OCo16, 2011 in Hong Kong, China. It contains more than 200 articles addressing a wide spectrum of issues, ranging from conventional coastal engineering problems (such as wave hydrodynamics and sediment transport) to issues of contemporary interest (such as tsunami, coastal development, climate change and seawater level rise, shoreline protection, marine energy, nearshore ecology, oil spill, etc.). Authors present their experiences in tackling these problems, by means of theoretical modeling, numerical simulation, laboratory and field observations, with an aim to advance fundamental understanding of the controlling mechanisms, as well as to develop solutions for practical designs. This volume serves to promote technological progress and activities, technical knowledge transfer and cooperation on an international scale."

The Asia and Pacific region is home to the world’s largest concentration of coral reefs and mangroves. It accommodates two-thirds of the world’s human population and its economic activities have the highest growth rate in the world. This book gives an overview of the state-of-the-art understanding on the drivers, state, and responses to the coastal environmental changes in the Asia and Pacific region. It provides important perspectives on the subject for researchers.

Most of the world’s population lives close to the coast and is highly dependent on coastal resources, which are being exploited at unsustainable rates. These resources are being subject to further pressures associated with population increase and the globalization of coastal resource demand. This is particularly so for the Asia-Pacific region which contains almost two thirds of the world’s population and most of the world’s coastal megacities. The region has globally important atmospheric and oceanic phenomena, which affect world climate such as the Asian Monsoon and the El-Niño Southern Oscillation phenomena. The Asia-Pacific region also has highly significant marine diversity but over the last few decades, coastal resources such as mangroves, coral reefs and fisheries have experienced large-scale depletion. The need to find appropriate management solutions to these and other coastal issues is made more complex by the need to take account of international scientific predictions for global climate change and sea-level rise which will further impact on these coasts. The idea for this book arose from a meeting of coastal scientists in Kobe, Japan in May 2003. The meeting was organized by the Asia-Pacific Network for Global Change Research (APN), an inter-governmental network, comprising 21 member countries, for the promotion of global change research and links between science and policy making in the region.

Groundwater management and conservation becomes a more and more important issue in the heavily urbanized coastal zones of the Asia-Pacific region. This volume presents a comprehensive overview of the status of coastal groundwater research in this diverse region. It includes latest methodologies and technologies to assess processes associated with coastal groundwater development. Case studies and local examples from a broad geographical range of continental shoreline and island settings give an understanding of the diversity of coastal aquifers and the groundwater recourses they harbour. Audience: By providing a clearer understanding of the hydrogeological and hydrochemical processes, this volume offers a critical tool to coastal researchers, geoscientists in related fields, water engineers, groundwater managers and decision makers as it illustrates the human and environmental impacts on coastal groundwater resources and the relationship to coastal zone management strategies and the development of sustainable management approaches.

The Asia-Pacific region has emerged as the hub of global geo-political, geo-economic and geo-strategic significance in the post-Cold War period. The rise of China and the resurgence of India will be the hallmark for the next 50 years. How this surge in power is accommodated by the incumbent powers like the United States and Japan, and how the new regional powers like China and India manage the power politics that emerge will be the key determinants of regional stability.This volume examines the national maritime doctrines as well as the nuclear weapons developments at sea of the four major powers in the Asia-Pacific, namely, China, India, Japan and the United States, to see if the evolving dynamic is a cooperative or a competitive one. In particular, the volume looks at the evolving paradigms of maritime transformation in strategy and technology; the emergent new maritime doctrines and evolving force postures in the naval orders of battle; the role and operations of nuclear navies in the Asia-Pacific; and the implications and impact of nuclear weapons, ballistic missiles and sea-based missile defence responses in the region.