Coastal Environment 2008

The Coastal Environment Conference deals with problems related to monitoring, analysis and modelling of coastal regions, including sea, land and air phenomena. An important part of the meeting is the discussion of ecological and environmental problems and the issues of water quality.

Coastal zones are particularly affected by problems related to population growth and industrial and tourism activities. These developments tend to generate ecological, social and economic pressures which bring different parts into conflict. Effective strategies for management of coastal areas should therefore consider them as dynamic and integrated systems in order to control their environmental quality.

One of the most serious problems affecting coastal areas is the damage resulting from oil and chemical spills. Numerous and frequent spills demonstrate the extent of the damage inflicted on the environment when a large volume of oil is released and in particular, the susceptibility of the coastal region ecology to these spills. The Conference also addresses topics related to soil and land spills. The Meeting will comprise studies of modelling and the fate of oil and chemical slicks as well as the development of spill contingency plans and issues relative to prevention and clean-up measures.

This series of conferences started in Rio in 1996 and continued in Cancun (1998); Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (2000); Rhodes (2002); Alicante (2004) with the last of the meetings held in Rhodes in 2006.

The conference will gather researchers, engineers and professionals involved in the field of Coastal Environmental quality and the related challenges to monitoring and controlling Oil spills.