Key conference to discuss challenges to Arabian Gulf's coastal zones

The 7th international summit on Coastal and Port Engineering in Developing Countries (COPEDEC 2008), organised jointly by Dubai Municipality and the Brussels-based International Navigation Association (PIANC), will be held during 24-28 February 2008 at the Intercontinental Hotel in Dubai Festival City.

The conference will be discussing as many as 226 papers from 43 countries, of them 14 from the UAE, on focusing on practical applications and managerial and environmental aspects of coastal and port engineering in developing countries, said Claudia Giarrusso, Deputy Head of the Technical Committee which has been entrusted with selecting valid papers for this significant international event.

She said papers from the UAE also cover marine environment issues of the Dubai Creek, coastal modeling of the Dubai coastline, generic impacts of large-scale structures on the shoreline, marine forecasting and oil spill modeling in Dubai, "live" management of the dynamic Dubai coastal zone, port expansion and sustainable dredging, and establishment of a statutory framework and institutional capacity for coastal zone.

Ms. Giarrusso noted that more than 1000 marine engineers and scientists from developing countries will attend the conference. The plenary session will be attended by Nayef Al Kalali, Bahrain's Deputy Minister for Public Works and Housing, who will deliver a key-note speech on "Coastal Development Guidelines," followed by a speech on "Developments in Port Containerisation and Globalisation" by Ms. O C Phang, President of the International Association of Ports and Harbours, who is based in Malaysia.

"The papers will be presented and discussed at the conference in a total of 60 sessions with an average 15 sessions over a period of four days," said Giarrusso.

She noted that the overall aim of PIANC-COPEDEC 2008 is to provide an international forum where coastal and port engineers from developing countries can exchange know-how and experience amongst themselves and, crucially, with their colleagues from industrialised countries.

The papers selected were mainly from Sri Lanka, Germany, India, UK, UAE, Iran, Vietnam, Russia, US, Italy, Denmark, Brazil, Holland, South Africa and several developing countries from around the world.

She added that marine engineers and scientists from the Arabian Gulf, and particularly Dubai, could also benefit from this significant event especially as the emirate enjoys a 70km busy coastline, which includes a number of open beaches and large sea-ports.

PIANC, which is a non-profit organisation that merged with COPEDEC to promote the maintenance and operation of inland and maritime navigation, was founded in 1885 and is the oldest international association concerned with the technical aspects of navigation and it has nearly 3500 members who include private individuals, corporations and national governments from 80 countries including 22 national sections overseeing regional activities. This includes several membership organisations in the Arab world.