World Harbour Project Engagement Seminar

The programme will begin with an introduction to World Harbour Project by Prof Peter Steinberg, Director of World Harbour Project, followed by discussion on participation and projects from Singapore, chaired by Prof Staffan Kjelleberg (SCELSE) & Dr Serena Teo (St John's Island National Marine Lab).

ABSTRACT:
The world is becoming increasingly urbanized, and many of the world’s major cities are located on estuaries and coasts. This poses significant challenges to the health, use and management of urban marine environments.

The aim of the World Harbour Project is to facilitate collaboration between programmes of research and management across major urban harbours of the world, with a focus on restoring ecosystem functioning and the consequent development of management best- practices that can be applied by all partner cities. As of September 2017, 26 partner cities have joined the Project, including
Singapore.

As an island city state lying in the nexus between the Pacific and Indian Oceans, Singapore is a strategic Port for the global maritime trade. Singapore also lies on the edge of the Coral Triangle in a tropical equatorial region surrounded by unique biologically diverse marine habitats. The challenges for managing conflicts between biodiversity conservation and rapid urban economic development are tremendous. Singapore joined the WHP in 2014 through collaborations in TMSI-NUS and SCELSE-NTU, contributing 2 publications on the state of waterways in the WHP special issue published in the journal, Regional Studies in Marine Science.

This engagement seminar aims to introduce the World Harbours Project and some of the international projects undertaken since its conception. We will also be sharing information on upcoming projects, and welcome new members to join.

Website: http://www.worldharbourproject.org/