The Fifth International Conference on Estuaries and Coasts (ICEC-2015), organized by the Sultan Qaboos University(SQU), and sponsored by IRTCES, IAHR, the Research Council of Oman, the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries Wealth of Oman and the Special Economic Zone Authority in Duqm, was successfully held in Muscat, Omen on November 2-4, 2015. About 150 participants from more than 20 countries and regions around the world participated in the ICEC 2015.
Dr. Fuad bin Jaafar Al Sajwani, Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries Wealth of Oman, attended the opening ceremony. Dr. Liu Ning, Vice Minister of Water Resources of China, Prof. Khalifa Al-Jabri, Chairman of Local Organizing Committee (LOC), Dr. Christopher George, Executive Director of IAHR, and IRTCES representative delivered speeches, respectively in the opening ceremony.
Dr. Liu Ning outlined the complex and sensitive ecosystems of estuaries and coasts, and exacerbated ecological pressures and resource constraints in estuaries. He presented 4 challenges faced in estuaries and coasts at present: Sharp decline in sediment flux discharged into the oceans and shore erosion are becoming common across the coastal regions in the world; Sea level rise is accelerated, threatening safety of coastal cities; More pollutants are discharged and water environment is worsening; and Inadequate estuaries and coasts management, lack of protective infrastructure is another challenge. Dr. Liu elaborated on the measures and regulations adopted by China to safeguard the coastal zones and estuaries, including: integrated basin-specific regulation of water resources is implemented to safeguard water supply and eco-security in the estuaries; coastal levees are constructed to improve flood prevention capacity in the coastal areas; the Action Plan on Water Pollution Prevention and Control is released to strengthen integrated management of the water environment; and scientific studies and experiments are conducted to better support governance of estuaries and coasts. He also expressed that through this platform created by the ICEC, the Ministry of Water Resources of China would like to enhance academic cooperation and technical exchanges with all countries in the world, and boost joint efforts to advance estuarial and coastal studies and practices.
Dr. Christopher Goerge said that his organization was happy to see Oman hosting this event, as this region is not only the cradle of civilizations but also the domain of hydrological engineering. “The Great Dam of Marib in Yemen, the oldest dam from its era currently surviving, dates back to at least the 8th century B.C., and the Aflaj irrigation systems of Oman, etc., are classical examples of water resources engineering in the region. Oman has a long tradition of coastal navigation. At the same time, the country is facing challenges such as possibility of floods and tsunamis, and coastal pollution and oil spill. It is good to see that the conference addresses these issues along with other related topics. IAHR seeks to strengthen its activities and network in the Middle East and I hope this conference would contribute to this aspect too”, he said.
The ICEC-2015, including 7 keynote presentations and 44 oral presentations lasted for 3 days. Several themes related to coastal zone management such as coastal erosion, seawater quality, tsunamis and storm surges, integrated coastal zone management, estuaries: water quality observations and modeling, integrated coastal zone management, coastal hydrodynamics, and shoreline change and seawater intrusion wer presented and discussed. Keynote presentations are:
l Modeling coastal morphological features based on equilibrium theory (Prof. Magnus Larson, Sweden)
l FVCOM: Development, Improvement and Applications (Prof. Changsheng Chen, U.S.A)
l Field Experiment of Disinfection Dosage Optimization for the Hong Kong Harbour Area Treatment Scheme (Prof. Joseph Hun-wei Lee, Hong Kong, China)
l Post-tsunami Coastal Morphology Change on Sendai Coast, Japan (Prof. Hitoshi Tanaka, Japan)
l Developing an SPH model for breaking waves (Prof. Robert Dalrymple, U.S.A)
l Coastal Hazards, Climate Change Risks, and Climate Adaptation Engineering for Coastal Infrastructure (Prof. Mark Stewart, Australia)
l Estuaries: Water Quality Observations and Modeling (Prof. Deng Jiaquan, China)
In the closing ceremony, Prof. Liu Guangquan, Deputy Director of IRTCES, expressed sincerely thanks on behalf of the ICEC Permanent Secretariat to the LOC and the SQU for their excellent organizing work for the ICEC 2015, and announced that the 6th ICEC will be hosted by GIS HEDD and the University of Caen in France and looking forward to welcome all participants again in Caen, France in 2018.
The ICEC is a triennial technical event initiated by IRTCES and its Permanent Secretariat is hosted by the IRTCES.
Group photo in the closing ceremony
Local media reports
Organizers of the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th ICEC; and IAHR and IRTCES representatives
