Introduction of the workshop

Building upon the success and momentum of our first, inaugural Eco-shoreline Workshop held during 16-18 November 2016, the Second Workshop on Eco-shoreline Designs for Sustainable Coastal Development will be organised at the University of Hong Kong (HKU), Hong Kong, China during 28-31 May 2018.   This 2nd Eco-shoreline Workshop is jointly organised by the Swire Institute of Marine Science and School of Biological Sciences of HKU, the World Harbour Project, the Hong Kong Institution of Engineers (HKIE) and the Hong Kong Institute of Qualified Environmental Professionals (HKIQEP) with support from the Civil Engineering and Development Department (CEDD) and Agriculture Fisheries and Conservation Department of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Government. 

Eco-shorelines are manmade habitats, incorporated with ecological concepts, possess diverse eco-friendly microhabitats that can be readily occupied and used by marine organisms as refuges and feeding grounds.   Such eco-shorelines serve dual roles as coastal defence and functional ecosystem for boosting marine diversity and ecosystem service.  If adopting people-friendly landscape designs, the eco-shoreline can further provide a public venue for enjoyment of the waterfront and environmental education.  To support the Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (BSAP) and promote sustainable development, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government is keen to enhance the marine diversity and ecosystem function on existing artificial seawalls, and to build eco-shorelines for new reclamation and coastal infrastructure projects via advanced ecological engineering.  For instance, CEDD has recently embarked on trials of different eco-shoreline designs, and will build eco-shorelines in the new reclamation site at Tung Chung, Lantau, Hong Kong. 

In recent years, there have been a number of successful eco-shoreline projects in Australia, Canada, Israel, Singapore, The Netherlands, United Kingdom and the United States.   Iconic projects include the Elliott Bay Seawall Project in Seattle and Barangaroo Reserve in Sydney.  This timely Eco-shoreline Workshop will provide a platform for international experts to update their advancements in eco-shoreline designs and share their expertise and knowledge with participants.  There are four major objectives of this 2nd Eco-shoreline Workshop:

Tentatively, there will be two days of conventional symposium with keynote lectures from leading experts in the field, and regular oral and poster presentations, and followed by two days of group discussion and writing workshop for invited participants.

In the writing workshop, we aim to generate publication(s) on setting criteria for evaluation of the success and effectiveness of the installation of eco-shoreline engineering features in terms of their performance in shoreline protection (e.g. integrity and durability), ecological enhancement (e.g. biodiversity and ecosystem functions), and public enjoyment of the waterfront (e.g. accessibility; amenity and education values).   According to the expertise and interests of invited participants, they will be assigned to different syndicate groups which will develop assessment criteria for different types of eco-shorelines such as hard substrates, soft substrates, and hybridised substrates, while intertidal and sub-tidal designs may be considered separately.

We are looking forward to welcoming you to join this 2nd Eco-shoreline Workshop.  Thank you for viewing this website.

Professor Kenneth Leung
Chairman, Organising Committee
2nd Eco-shoreline Workshop