Research towards realization of coexistence of marine environment conservation and sustainable coastal society in Asia

In every Asian nation with significant economic growth, marine environments have been degrading at significant speed, virtually without exceptions. Notably, in Southeast Asia nations such as Philippines, people rely significant volume of animal protein on marine aquatic resource, and while fisheries maintain the function of a safety net for the society, the social infrastructure is extremely vulnerable to disasters such as typhoons. In developing countries, how to implement adaptive measures towards global environmental issues as typified by global warming is even more urgent and important than mitigation measures. However, it is often the case that there is insufficient fundamental data or expertise required for setting out guidelines on the measures. In light of such circumstances of today, this research would carry out social surveys towards coastal societies, and at the same time construct integrated indicators regarding the vulnerability and resilience of regional societies to the environmental issues, analyzing using geographic information system (GIS). Through feedbacks of the outcomes to the regional societies and realizing sustainable coastal societies, we aim to carry out researches that would result in coexistence of marine environment conservation and sustainable use of living marine resources.