PIANC ANZ APAC2020 kicked off on 1 Dec with the pre-Conference symposium on “Nature Based Solutions for Coasts, Ports and Estuaries”. There were live presentations from Europe, Asia, Australia and the USA, with both a full room of people in Fremantle and a large number joining virtually. PIANC ANZ Chair, Will Glamore thanked everyone involved, “The Symposium has been an enormous success for all involved and we need to thank everyone for making it so special. The hybrid format seemed to work really well, and may well be the way of the future.”
“Moreover, it’s abundantly obvious that Nature Based Solutions are quickly becoming a trusted means to solve wicked problems. Both the scale of the solutions and the variety of outcomes is extremely impressive.”
In recent years there has been growing focus on adopting “nature-based solutions” in flooding and erosion risk management projects. These solutions use natural processes and ecosystems (i.e. “green infrastructure”) to provide an alternative form of protection. Such ecosystems include, reefs, wetlands, submerged aquatic vegetation, mangroves, and “hybrid” approaches that integrate both traditional and nature-based approaches.
Conference organiser Professor Ryan Lowe from UWA Oceans Institute welcomed everyone to the Symposium.
The Symposium hosted 12 presenters and 110 participants from ten countries – Afghanistan, Australia, Canada, Denmark, Ecuador, India, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, and the USA. Attendance was almost 50/50 split between embodied and virtual.
Presentations from Australian and international speakers included:
A/Prof Will Glamore – Recreating tidal ecosystems using Ecosystem Service Analysis,
Professor Catherine Lovelock – Nature Based Solutions in urban environments,
Dr Rebecca Morris – Developing a Nature-based coastal defence strategy for Australia,
Dr Abbie Rogers – How economic frameworks can guide investment for nature-based solutions,
Dr Burton Suedel – Restoring island habitat using Engineering With Nature (EWN) principles
Dr Bregje van Wesenbeeck – Implementation of Nature-Based Solutions: measuring their performance under extremes.
For a list of presenters and topics see here
Grateful thanks to our organisers, presenters, participants and sponsor – UNSW’s Water Research Laboratory.
