In the new book The Environment in Asia Pacific Harbours,
published by Springer in The Netherlands, 60 leading scientists in the
Asia Pacific region have described serious socio-economic and
environmental problems at ports and harbours of mega-cities in their
respective countries.
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Editor Dr Eric Wolanski, FTSE, FIE
Aust, a coastal oceanographer and a leading scientist at the
Australian Institute of Marine Science said ports and harbours are
the essential gateways through which all shipping traffic pass and
they are under ever-increasing pressure to expand, and to work
more efficiently.
Case studies are centred on Tokyo Bay
in Japan, the Pearl Estuary, Hong Kong, and Shanghai in China, Ho
Chi Monh City in Vietnam, Manila Bay in the Philippines, Jakarta
Bay in Indonesia, Bangkok in Thailand, Singapore, Klang in
Malaysia, Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, and Darwin in Australia. This
shoreline has a population of about 100 million people and the
coastal waters receive the wastes from 500 million people.
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Cover -
The Environment in
Asia Pacific Harbours.
Photo: Springer |
"While the book demonstrates how these ecosystems function and the
challenges facing them it also outlines a science-based approach that
follows UNESCO’s ecohydrology principles and that can achieve
ecologically sustainable development. This calls for a new way to
manage trade and the environment."
"None of the developed harbours studied in this book were developed
in an ecologically sustainable way. The data presented in this book
quantify environmental impacts ranging from degradation to ecosystem
collapse," Dr Wolanski said.
"A simple measure of the impact of urbanisation and harbour traffic
is to assess fisheries. In Tokyo the total annual fish catch decreased
by a factor of ten from 1950-1970 and has not improved even with
strict environmental protection measures during the last 10 years."
"Fish kills from hypoxia and toxic algal blooms are now occurring
nearly routinely in most of these harbours, including the Pearl
Estuary, the Yangtze Estuary, and in Hong Kong waters. Jakarta Bay has
very little intact fisheries remaining in the now heavily polluted
waters."
By comparison Darwin Harbour fisheries are pristine, however there
are large-scale current and proposed developments which concern Dr
Wolankski.
"There’s increasing urbanisation, a doubling of the size of the LNG
gas plant, another pipeline through the Harbour to the expanded gas
plant, further clearing of mangroves, a projected 10-fold increase in
the size of the port, sea cage aquaculture, a Helium plant, dredging
for port expansion, waterfront developments, sand mining, and an
increase in shipping. Untreated or primarily treated sewage is still
dumped in the harbour that all need to be considered to ensure
sustainable development."
Dr Wolanski said historically engineering solutions have sought to
try to limit environmental degradation, but these have failed to
provide a healthy environment necessary for the quality of life that
is expected in developed countries. "Ecosystem recovery is not
happening even in the wealthy countries where waste discharges are
strictly controlled. One of the major reasons preventing this recovery
is the lack of suitable habitats. These key habitats are mangroves and
salt marshes, mud flats, seagrass meadows and coral reefs," he said.
"Coastal managers and politicians are asking whether, and if so
how, increasing trade can be ecologically sustainable. This book
offers science-based solutions to this problem " he said.
In the book’s forward former Prime Minister Malcom Fraser writes:
"The book is a wake-up call that all countries in the Asia Pacific are
facing the same, serious socio-economic and environmental problems
with varying scales. I hope it (the book) will create constructive
discussion and awareness of the potential pitfalls and possibilities
for the Asia Pacific region and the need for integration of efforts to
deal with these issues."
Chairman of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of
UNESCO David Pugh has written in the prologue: " These lessons are
fundamentally important for the Asia Pacific region, but they will
also substantially inform similar analyses of port and harbour
management and practices worldwide."
The Environment in Asia Pacific Harbours is published
by the international scientific publishing company Springer, based in
Germany and the Netherlands. All Case Studies have been peer reviewed.
