School of Marine Affairs

College of Ocean and Fishery Sciences

University of Washington

 

International Conference

Impacts of Population and Markets on Sustainability

of the Ocean and Coastal Resources: Perspectives of Developing

and Transition Economies of the North Pacific

June 3 – 4, 1999,

Yale Street Landing Conference Center

809 Fairview Place North,

Seattle WA 98109

 

 

Press Release

  1. The Conference

    2. The International Conference on Impacts of Population and Markets on Sustainability of the Ocean and Coastal Resources: Perspectives of Developing and Transition Economies of the North Pacific is organized June 3 – 4, 1999 by the School of Marine Affairs, University of Washington. Sponsors of this Conference are National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) - Office of Global Programs, National Science Foundation, Hewlett Endowment for Marine & Environmental Studies, Jackson School of International Studies - University of Washington and several private corporations.

  2. Population and Markets: How They Affect Ocean

    3. and Coastal Resources of the North Pacific?

    Population change, long comfortably outside the compass of the society’s overt concerns, is emerging as an issue near the center of debate on virtually every facet of public policy in all coastal countries of the North Pacific and in international arena.

    The link between population and sustainability of the ocean and coastal environment is, however, insufficiently understood and frequently not well recognized. This is in spite of the fact that growing population is a principal factor contributing to the depletion of fishery resources, increasing pollution and deterioration of coastal lands caused by expanding aquaculture, coastal urban and industrial development and intensification of the marine tourism. These links can be expressed quantitatively and also in the context of moral values and ethics that once identified could support policies to implement environmentally and socially sustainable development of the marine resources of this region.

    In the North Pacific, as in other ocean regions, marine and coastal economies including such sectors as fisheries, port and marine transportation, aquaculture, coastal urban and industrial development and marine tourism are wholly owned subsidiaries of the aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. They directly affect economic growth and social interaction, poverty and economic growth, environmental stability and amenity, and the welfare of generations yet to come. These systems provide population with free services that include marine living resources, fresh water, coastal lands and soils and maintain a vast biodiversity "banks".

    By adding markets and international trade the population pressures can be expressed in quantitative ways and reflect transboundary implications of demographic, socio-economic and environmental changes taking place in the North Pacific Rim.

  3. Socio-Economic Components of the Global Change in the Region

Considering these factors the Conference is addressing several major components of the ongoing change in the region:

    1. In the Asia-Pacific (with exception of Russia and Japan), Mexico and the US population is growing steadily and within following 25 years coastal states of the region are to add approximately 360 million people. Together with increased welfare this will create additional demand for ocean and coastal resources, water and coastal lands.

    2. Rapid economic growth and accompanying trade expansion throughout much of Asia-Pacific has come at a high environemental cost. Pollution and congestion, with high health and productivity costs, are common in urban areas. In rural Asia, erosion, deforestation or desertification, depletion and contamination of groundwater supplies, increased salinity or waterlogging, marine resource depletion and loss of biodiversity are just some of the problems.

    3. There is a substantial reduction in size of the marine resources (fish, invertebrates, marine mammals) in the North Pacific – mainly caused by human activity. The fish catch per capita is falling. Unless consevation measures are applied this tendency will continue in the next century,

    4. Because of the population and economic growth and increasing demand for marine and aquaculture - originated food, China might become the largest importer of these products in the world displacing Japan, US and European Community.

    5. Russia’s continuing decline in population and significant role of this country as a supplier of the raw material for Asia-Pacific and North America and this includes fish, off-shore oil and gas, timber and minerals.

    6. Growing regional economic intergration with declining trade barriers, higher mobility of capital, technology and know-how transfer increase transboundary environmental interactions, frequently contentious,

    7. Political divisions will work against integration trends and there might be increased competition between states to gain access to the ocean and coastal resources in the region.

    8. Trade flows – particularly in relation to food - might radically change: Asia-Pacific nations will become increasingly dependent on food (including seafood) brought from foreign sources.

    9. With large numbers of people already on the move from central to coastal areas, further environmental degradation in rural areas will add to migration and urbanization pressures, with consequences for urban environments.

  1. Objectives

The Conference’s main objective is to identify changes taking place particularly in the marine and coastal environment in developing and transition economies of the North Pacific caused by the demographic growth and market factors and determine how sustainable these trends are.

Specific goals are to:

  1. Establish, conceptually and empirically the links between demographic growth and

    2. resulting market factors such as demand, prices, trends in international trade and

    investment and the intensity of ocean and coastal resource use.

  2. Improve our understanding of how developing and transition economies of the North Pacific are dealing with environmental change, demographic growth and changes in market conditions to secure sustainability of the ocean and coastal resources on which they relay.

  3. Provide a neutral forum for discussion of policy measures that could be recommended to ensure that the demographic pressures and international market forces do not lead to unsustainable development of coastal and ocean resources and deterioration of the marine and coastal environment.

  1. Examine possibility of creating a network and linkages among scientists, policy makers, private industry representatives, coastal communities, international donors and non-governmental organizations to allow exchange of scientific information and regional data collection, publication of the annual progress reports, professional training, and coordination of international research projects.

 

  1. Participating Speakers

    2. Renown experts from eight North Pacific coastal economies (PRC, Russian Federation, Korea, Taiwan, Canada, US and Mexico) are to deliver both regional and country studies that address population and market pressures on marine environment in the North Pacific Rim. There will be 17 presentations delivered during three Conference sessions.

    Observers from Chile and Peru are to participate in the Conference as well.

     

  2. Conference Organization

Four plenary sessions are planned during the Conference:

    1. Population and the Marine Environment,

    2. Human Impacts on the Aquatic Resources of the Region,

    3. Markets and International Sea Trade in the North Pacific Rim,

    4. Round Table discussion of policy measures and possibilities of future cooperation between experts and institutions of the Pacific Rim economies.

All materials of the Conference will be published in the Conference Proceedings.

7. Website

More details on this Conference could be found in our Website: http://faculty.washington.edu/~vkaczyn/Conference.html

 

 

  1. Contact persons

 

 

Prof. Vlad M. Kaczynski tel. (425) 483-2968, Email: Vkaczyn@u.washington.edu

Prof. Dave L. Fluharty tel. (206) 685-2518, Email: Fluharty@u.washington.edu

Prof. Marc J. Hershman, Director tel. (206) 543-7004 Email: Hershmj@u.washington.edu

Mr. Perry Falcone, Res. Assist. tel. (206) 685-2170 Email: Perry@u.washington.edu

School of Marine Affairs, Box: 355685

University of Washington,

3707 Brooklyn Ave. N.E.

Seattle, WA 98195 – 6715

Tel. (206) 543-7004

Fax: (206) 543-1417

Prepared by:

V. M. Kaczynski

School of Marine Affairs

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