Distinguished Delegates and Ladies and Gentlemen:

This is my great pleasure to attend the opening ceremony of the Second International Conference on Estuaries and Coast (ICEC-2006) here in Guangzhou. On behalf of International Center for Water Hazard and Risk Management (ICHARM) and International Association of Hydrological Sciences (IAHS), I would like to express my hearty congratulation to the organizers, International Research and Training Center on Erosion and Sedimentation (IRTCES) and Pearl River Water Resources Commission, Ministry of Water Resources, P. R. China (PRWRC). I thank you very much for your kind invitation.

IRTCES was established in 1984 as the first UNESCO Category II Center to support the International Hydrological Program (IHP). Twenty two years later, on 6 March this year, our Center ICHARM was established in Tsukuba, Japan as one of the eleven brothers of the UNESCO Category II Centers. IRTCES is the eldest brother. We have a big brother too, that is, the UNESCO Category I Center, Institute for Water Education (IHE), the Netherlands established in 2003. Well, however big the big brother is, IRTCES is the eldest. We always respect and learn from you.

IRTCES is the center of excellence of sediment research and training in the world. I learned that it has trained some 500 engineers all over the world on sediment related subjects. It has held nearly fifty international workshops and conferences. It serves as the secretariat of International Symposium on River Sedimentation (ISRS) established 1980 and the secretariat of World Association of Sedimentation and Erosion Research (WASER) established Three Gorges Dam in 2004.

Ladies and Gentlemen:

ICHARM would like to work with IRTCES. ICHARM serves as the center of excellence to provide and assist implementation of the best practicable strategies to reduce the water related disaster risk at all scales of localities of the world. The main focus of the initial phase is flood related disasters including sediments, debris flow and tsunami. The main means of assistance is capacity building and connecting localities with the implementation agencies. Special attention will be paid to the diversity of local realities and to solve the real problems. We call it as a localism approach.

Estuary and Coast problems are part of main interest of ICHARM. Sediment is one of the main causes of global land deformation and material retardation. Its discharge amount is believed as much as 60 billion tons every year equivalent to 1 % of the world total reservoir storage. It flows down to the coast and form the coast line. If it is too much, it closes the estuary and fills the harbor. If it is too little, the coast line has to retreat and hinterlands are endangered.

Estuary and Coast are serving for great number of people and economic activities of the world. Its safety and sustainable management is part of the main theme of the intensifying global change. ICHARM shares the interest with all of you here as estuary and coast are also the important subject area of water related disasters. As the director of ICHARM and former president of IAHS I would like to express my sincere wish for the symposium to be successful and we can find a common area of activities where we can work together to best manage Estuary and Coast as the strong partner to help the people in Asia and the world.