The China-Japan-Korea (CJK) IMBeR Symposium on marine ecosystem has been held eight times over the period from 2002 to 2018 to review the achievements and to set the future directions of international ecosystem research in the western North Pacific as a part of the past GLOBEC and the IMBeR regional activities. Responding to the growing needs, the CJK IMBeR community changed its name to the West Pacific Symposium to better assume for the entire West Pacific Ocean, as outlined in the IMBeR Science Plan and Implementation Strategy 2016-2025. This kick-off symposium centers around the marine biosphere and its biogeochemistry in the West Pacific Ocean from the Subarctic in the North to the Pacific sector of the Southern Ocean and its connectivity with the Arctic, Southern Ocean, and the Indian Ocean to deepen a holistic hemispheric view. All marine habitats including coastal areas (estuaries, saltmarshes, coral reefs, etc.), continental shelf to the deep ocean and their seafloors are of interests. Participants in the IMBeR Regional Programmes, Working Groups, Endorsed Projects, and others are welcome to the symposium.
The symposium is organized by the following thematic sessions:
Session 1: Coastal Blue Carbon: Measurements, Modeling, and Assessment
Session 2: Strengthening Coral Reef Resilience to Climate Change and Human Impacts
Session 3: Dried Small Fish: Ecology, Value Chains and Nutrition
Session 4: Ecosystem-Social Interactions in the Coastal Sea
Session 6: Marine Extreme Events: Impacts, Forecasting, and Risk Management