scholarly journals Expanding walls and shrinking beaches: loss of natural coastline in Okinawa Island, Japan

PeerJ ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. e7520 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giovanni Diego Masucci ◽  
James D. Reimer
Keyword(s):  
East Coast ◽  
Land Reclamation ◽  
Sandy Beaches ◽  
Vector Data ◽  
Construction Work ◽  
Okinawa Island ◽  
Island Habitat ◽  
Reference Map ◽  
Post War ◽  
Land Filling

Okinawa is the largest and most populated island of the Ryukyu Archipelago in southern Japan and is renowned for its natural resources and beauty. Similar as to what has been happening in the rest of the country, Okinawa Island has been affected by an increasing amount of development and construction work. The trend has been particularly acute after reversion to Japanese sovereignty in 1972, following 27 years of post-war American administration. A coastline once characterized by extended sandy beaches surrounded by coral reefs now includes tracts delimited by seawalls, revetments, and other human-made hardening structures. Additionally, part of coastal Okinawa Island was obtained by land-filling shallow ocean areas (land reclamation). Nevertheless, the current extension of the artificial coastline, as well as the level of fragmentation of the natural coastline are unclear, due to the lack of both published studies and easily accessible and updated datasets. The aims of this research were to quantify the extension of coastline alterations in Okinawa Island, including the amount of land-filling performed over the last 41 years, and to describe the coastlines that have been altered the most as well as those that are still relatively pristine. The analyses were performed using a reference map of Okinawa Island based on GIS vector data extracted from the OpenStreetMap (OSM) coastline dataset (average node distance for Okinawa Island = 24 m), in addition to satellite and aerial photography from multiple providers. We measured 431.8 km of altered coastline, equal to about 63% of the total length of coastline in Okinawa Island. Habitat fragmentation is also an issue as the remaining natural coastline was broken into 239 distinct tracts (mean length = 1.05 km). Finally, 21.03 km2 of the island’s surface were of land reclaimed over the last 41 years. The west coast has been altered the most, while the east coast is in relatively more natural conditions, particularly the northern part, which has the largest amount of uninterrupted natural coastline. Given the importance of the ecosystem services that coastal and marine ecosystems provide to local populations of subtropical islands, including significant economic income from tourism, conservation of remaining natural coastlines should be given high priority.

scholarly journals The expanding wall and the shrinking beach: Loss of natural coastline in Okinawa Island, Japan

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giovanni D Masucci ◽  
James D Reimer
Keyword(s):  
Sandy Beaches ◽  
Vector Data ◽  
Construction Work ◽  
Reclaimed Land ◽  
Okinawa Island ◽  
Island Habitat ◽  
Reference Map ◽  
Post War ◽  
Degree Of Severity ◽  
Land Filling

Okinawa is the largest and most populated island of the Ryukyu Archipelago in southern Japan and is renowned for its natural resources and beauty. Similar as to what has been happening in the rest of the country, Okinawa Island has been affected by an increasing amount of development and construction work. The trend has been particularly acute after reversion to Japanese sovereignty in 1972, following 27 years of post-war American administration. A coastline once characterized by extended sandy beaches surrounded by coral reefs now includes vast portions delimited by seawalls, revetments, and other human-made hardening structures. Additionally, a significant part of coastal Okinawa Island is now constituted by artificially reclaimed land. Nevertheless, the degree of severity of the current situation is unclear, due to the lack of both published studies and easily accessible and updated datasets. The aims of this study were to quantify the extension of coastline alterations in Okinawa Island, including the amount of land-filling performed over the last 51 years, and to describe the coastlines that have been altered the most as well as those that are still relatively pristine. Our analyses were performed using a reference map of Okinawa Island based on GIS vector data extracted from the OpenStreetMap (OSM) coastline dataset, in addition to satellite and aerial photography from multiple providers. We measured 431.8 km of altered coastline, equal to about 63% of the total length of coastline in Okinawa Island. Habitat fragmentation is also an issue as the remaining natural coastline was broken into 239 distinct tracts (mean length = 1.05 km). Finally, 21.03 km2of the island’s surface were of land reclaimed over the last 51 years. The west coast has been altered the most, while the east coast is in relatively more natural condition, particularly the northern part, which has the largest amount of uninterrupted natural coastline. Given the importance of ecosystem services that coastal and marine ecosystems provide to local populations of subtropical islands, including significant economic income from tourism, conservation of remaining natural coastlines should be given high priority.

scholarly journals The expanding wall and the shrinking beach: Loss of natural coastline in Okinawa Island, Japan

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giovanni D Masucci ◽  
James D Reimer
Keyword(s):  
Sandy Beaches ◽  
Vector Data ◽  
Construction Work ◽  
Reclaimed Land ◽  
Okinawa Island ◽  
Island Habitat ◽  
Reference Map ◽  
Post War ◽  
Degree Of Severity ◽  
Land Filling

Okinawa is the largest and most populated island of the Ryukyu Archipelago in southern Japan and is renowned for its natural resources and beauty. Similar as to what has been happening in the rest of the country, Okinawa Island has been affected by an increasing amount of development and construction work. The trend has been particularly acute after reversion to Japanese sovereignty in 1972, following 27 years of post-war American administration. A coastline once characterized by extended sandy beaches surrounded by coral reefs now includes vast portions delimited by seawalls, revetments, and other human-made hardening structures. Additionally, a significant part of coastal Okinawa Island is now constituted by artificially reclaimed land. Nevertheless, the degree of severity of the current situation is unclear, due to the lack of both published studies and easily accessible and updated datasets. The aims of this study were to quantify the extension of coastline alterations in Okinawa Island, including the amount of land-filling performed over the last 51 years, and to describe the coastlines that have been altered the most as well as those that are still relatively pristine. Our analyses were performed using a reference map of Okinawa Island based on GIS vector data extracted from the OpenStreetMap (OSM) coastline dataset, in addition to satellite and aerial photography from multiple providers. We measured 431.8 km of altered coastline, equal to about 63% of the total length of coastline in Okinawa Island. Habitat fragmentation is also an issue as the remaining natural coastline was broken into 239 distinct tracts (mean length = 1.05 km). Finally, 21.03 km2of the island’s surface were of land reclaimed over the last 51 years. The west coast has been altered the most, while the east coast is in relatively more natural condition, particularly the northern part, which has the largest amount of uninterrupted natural coastline. Given the importance of ecosystem services that coastal and marine ecosystems provide to local populations of subtropical islands, including significant economic income from tourism, conservation of remaining natural coastlines should be given high priority.

scholarly journals From the Thirties to post-war reconstruction. The Land Reclamation Consortia and rural architecture in Italy.

2019 ◽  
Vol 63 ◽  
pp. 03001
Author(s):  
Luca Monica ◽  
Luca Bergamaschi
Keyword(s):  
Design Space ◽  
Land Reclamation ◽  
Rural Villages ◽  
Agrarian Economy ◽  
Rural Architecture ◽  
Post War ◽  
The Village ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The City ◽  
Operational Aspects

This investigation highlights a new conception of design space in architecture, in the relationship between settlement and land, rooted in architectural historical studies and research on rural and agrarian economy and unlocks a potential regeneration and restoration of the rural villages of Italy’s cultural heritage. In Italy, the theme of rural architecture has gained momentum ever since the spread of the Modern Movement, reviving settlement and spatial principles as a moral lesson for the general development of new aesthetics and a new society. Innovative concepts inspired by Arrigo Serpieri such as “Integral Land Reclamation”, and long-standing institutions such as the Land Reclamation Consortia, became official law in 1933, and played a crucialrole in this process, particularly in consolidating new architectural thinking that was to endure up to post-war reconstruction and beyond, until our own times. Paradoxically, ideologically opposing phenomena, settlements related to the extensive land reclamation of the Fascist period and the rural redevelopment of the Fifties, were somehow based on comparable theoretical and operational aspects. We can recognize these ideas by looking at the most interesting experiments developed in these two periods: the city of Sabaudia designed by Piccinato, and the village of La Martella at Matera designed by Quaroni (and sponsored by Adriano Olivetti). The quest for a new “moral aesthetic” of architecture undertaken by leading representatives of Italian Rationalism was to re-emerge in the neorealism of post-war reconstruction.

scholarly journals Showing One's Colours: The political work of elections in post-war Sri Lanka

2014 ◽  
Vol 49 (4) ◽  
pp. 1091-1121 ◽  
Author(s):  
BART KLEM
Keyword(s):  
Sri Lanka ◽  
East Coast ◽  
The Political ◽  
Muslim Community ◽  
Parliamentary Elections ◽  
Political Work ◽  
Group Identities ◽  
Post War

AbstractThis article analyses Sri Lanka's April 2010 parliamentary elections as they played out in the Muslim community on the east coast. The political work of elections, as the article shows, involves a lot more than the composition of government. Antagonism over group identities and boundaries are at centre stage. Elections force people to show their colours, which causes turbulence as they grapple with several, possibly contradictory, loyalties. The article argues that elections bring together different political storylines, rather than one master antagonism. It is the interaction between different narratives that paradoxically provides elections both with a sense of gravity and dignity, and with the lingering threat of rupture and disturbance.

scholarly journals Post-War Livelihood Development in Batticaloa District, Sri Lanka

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 102-106
Author(s):  
Suresh Kanesh
Keyword(s):  
Sri Lanka ◽  
International Organizations ◽  
East Coast ◽  
Youth Unemployment ◽  
Primary Data ◽  
Development Path ◽  
Stakeholder Perspectives ◽  
Post War ◽  
Basic Infrastructure ◽  
Small Industries

This paper examines the post war livelihood development in Batticaloa district, in the East coast of Sri Lanka. Batticaloa has been ravaged three decades of civil war and end of war the district has been emerging the development path. This paper discusses trends of major livelihood recovery of the district,fishing, agriculture, tourism and financial sector development in the district. Number of developments programmes initiated by the successive governments and international organizations in the district. This study measures the stakeholder perspectives of the livelihood recovery of the district. The study used primary data from more than 200 sample respondents and interviews with relevant stakeholders. The study revealed that major livelihood such as fishing and agriculture improved slightly since end of the war 2009. However, lack of financial support and basic infrastructure hinder the livelihood initiatives. Study further revealed that the absent of small industries or factories in the district causes persistent youth unemployment.

scholarly journals Visualization of the territorial origins of the inhabitants of the Recovered Territories (Poland) in 1950

2020 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Szczepan Cegiełko ◽  
Izabela Karsznia
Keyword(s):  
Satellite Images ◽  
The State ◽  
Historical Maps ◽  
Vector Data ◽  
Second Republic ◽  
Administrative Division ◽  
Map Series ◽  
Post War ◽  
Comprehensive Study

AbstractThis paper gives a visualization of the territorial origins of the population of the Recovered Lands (Poland) in 1950. It constitutes a map series, based on Kosiński’s research from 1960, presenting data from the first post-war census. Vector data of the historical administrative borders of Poland was used to prepare the maps; specifically the administrative division of the People’s Republic of Poland from 1946 and the state border of the Second Republic of Poland from 1931. The administrative borders were modified as appropriate using, among other things, historical maps and satellite images. The results of this research constitute a comprehensive study on the origins of the population of the Recovered Territories. Twenty-four maps were designed, showing many aspects of the studied phenomenon.

Beijing will race to catch up in South Sea dispute

2015 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
South China Sea ◽  
South China ◽  
Land Reclamation ◽  
The South China Sea ◽  
Rapid Progress ◽  
Construction Work ◽  
Content Type ◽  
China Sea ◽  
South Sea ◽  
Catch Up

Subject Chinese construction work on South China Sea reefs. Significance The latest aerial and satellite photography shows rapid progress in China's expansion of its outposts in the disputed Spratly islands of the South China Sea through land reclamation, creating artificial islands. US and Philippine officials have criticised these activities as "aggressive" and "destabilising", and much commentary has cast them as alarming and expansionary. However, they are only the latest development in a programme of Chinese consolidation dating back to the 1980s. Impacts Rival claimants will upgrade their military capabilities and facilities in the area. Hanoi, Manila and Washington will seek ways of credibly imposing costs on China for its island-building. Manila's and Hanoi's efforts to upgrade bilateral ties will be boosted. Chinese fishing activities will increase, potentially resulting in volatile on-water situations.

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