Closing Event Speaker - Thursday 11.20.2008 Dr. Robert Ballard - has been delving into the farthest reaches of the sea for more than 40 years and is recognized as one of the premier spokespersons for marine research. Among the most accomplished and renowned of the world’s deep-sea explorers and oceanographers, Dr. Ballard is best known for his historic discovery of the RMS Titanic, found more than 12,000 feet beneath the North Atlantic.  A legendary explorer, scientist, best-selling author and lecturer, Dr. Ballard has led a life as exciting and intriguing as his deep-sea explorations. He has conducted more than 100 deep-sea expeditions, and his other discoveries include the German battleship Bismarck, USS Yorktown lost during the Battle of Midway, President Kennedy’s PT-109 and the luxury liner Lusitania.

One of the most challenging issues facing the ocean today is rapid coastal urbanization whose implications have yet to be assessed. Today, the majority of the world’s population lives within sixty kilometers of the coast line and this is steadily increasing. This profound demographic shift has significant implications for the coastal environment, inhabitants and ecosystem stability.

These trends provide challenges to the intrinsic values coastal environments offer as well as the values held by the communities located in these areas. Coastal ecosystems are among the most productive on earth. It has been estimated, for example, that over 90% of the planet's living and nonliving resources are found within a few hundred kilometers of the coast. These valuable natural assets are seriously threatened by coastal development pressures, coastal sprawl and coastal pollution. Preserving the natural values we associate with coastal regions will be a significant challenge on a planet whose population is projected to reach 8 billion or more people.

Compounding these challenges are the prospects of the vulnerabilities these regions face. Among these are climate change, sea level rise, new maritime security needs associated with increase transportation by sea, and the ever present danger of extreme events such as tropical storms and tsunamis. Accordingly, it is timely to address these topics in depth as we bring together public officials, nongovernmental organization, citizens and natural and social scientists to consider the values and vulnerabilities of coastal regions around the globe. The Coastal Cities Summit will occur in St. Petersburg, Florida, USA in November 17-20, 2008, and will be organized by the International Ocean Institute - USA.

PARTICIPATE IN OUR SURVEY Please take a few minutes to participate in our survey on what you consider to be the main policy problems/issues and potential solutions that you face as a leader in your coastal city.  The survey results will be directly integrated into the Coastal Cities Summit program, to ensure that it is closely tailored to the needs of the local officials of coastal cities attending the Summit. 

 We also hope that the survey results will provide critical information for future coastal cities conferences.  We will thus also conduct interviews with randomly chosen attendees at the Summit to both explore more deeply what these leaders’ needs are and to see how to make future conferences even more useful to their practical needs.