On 6 November 2021, the 2021 SARCCM Symposium was successfully held in Holiday Inn Qingdao Expo Hotel, Qingdao, China. The theme of this annual meeting is Marine Spatial Planning and Integrated Coastal Management. The meeting was hosted by OUC SARCCM (hereinafter referred to as the Center), co-organized by OUC Academician Workstation on Offshore Material Transport and Integrated Environmental Management, OUC Institute of Marine Development, OUC School of International Affairs and Public Administration, OUC School of Ocean and Atmosphere, and OUC College of Marine Geosciences. There were a total of around 150 in-person and online attendees from various universities, institutions, and companies, e.g., UNSW Canberra, Australia, the State University of New York at Stony Brook, USA, Townson University, USA, OUC, Shantou University, Guangxi University, the First Institute of Oceanography of Ministry of Natural Resources, and the Marine & Island Environmental Technology Research Institute (Tianjin) Ltd.

During the opening ceremony, Dr. SONG Wenhong, the former director of OUC’s International Office and now a professor of OUC School of International Affairs and Public Administration, briefly reviewed the history of SARCCM. Dr. JIN Yongming, Director/Co-Lead of SARCCM gave a welcome speech. The other Co-Lead of SARCCM Australia, Dr. Xiao Hua Wang at the University of New South Wales, also made a welcome speech and particularly shared the major achievements that SARCCM has made since its establishment in May 2010. Dr. JIN Xianglong, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and an internationally renowned scholar in offshore research, made a remark that emphasized the significance of this symposium and expressed his best wishes for SARCCM in the upcoming years. The opening ceremony was chaired by Mr. JIN Tianyu, director of OUC’s Social Science Administration Office.

Presentations and online attendees of OUC SARCCM Symposium 2021

The symposium consisted of three sessions, with ten invited keynote speakers. The first session on “Marine Spatial Planning in Countries along the ‘Marine Silk Road’” was chaired by Dr. YU Jing, Deputy Co-lead of OUC SARCCM. The first speaker, Dr. ZHNAG Zhiwei from the First Institute of Oceanography, Ministry of Natural Resources, gave a talk entitled “Advances in International Marine Spatial Planning Practices.” Dr. XU Wei, from the Marine & Island Environmental Technology Research Institute (Tianjin) Ltd. presented on the topic of “Roles and Methods of Marine Spatial Planning: Based on Analysis of International Cases.” The last presentation in Session one was entitled “Development of International Marine Spatial Planning and ‘Go-out’ Paths for China’s Planning Practices,” presented by Dr. TENG Xin from the National Ocean Technology Center.

The second session on “Technologies for Integrated Coastal Management” was chaired by Dr. YANG Yang, Deputy Director of OUC SARCCM. Dr. Xiao Hua Wang gave a research talk entitled “Human Impacts on Coasts: What Has Gone Right and Wrong?” Dr. YANG Saini from Beijing Normal University presented “Research Progress in Climate Change Adaptation of Infrastructure.” Dr. HOU Xiyong from Yantai Institute of Coastal Zone Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, lectured on the issue of “China’s Coastline Dynamics from the 1940s to 2020” based on the decade-long research efforts of his team. Dr. MAO Dehua from Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, gave a talk entitled “Research Advances in Remote Sensing of China’s Coastal Wetland” based on years of group research.

The third session on “Practices of Integrated Coastal Management” was chaired by Dr. ZHOU Bing-Bing, Secretary-General of OUC SARCCM. Dr. LI Yangfan from Xiamen University reported on “Methods and Practices of Incorporating Resilience into Integrated Coastal Management.” Dr. WANG Jiangtao from the National Marine Data and Information Service gave a presentation entitled “Reflection on Land-Sea Coupled Coastal Zone Planning.” The last speaker, Dr. XIN Zhou from the Second Institute of Oceanography, Ministry of Natural Resources, talked about “Reflection on and Suggestions of Indicator Systems for Coastal Zone Protection and Development Planning.”

In the end, Dr. BAO Xianwen, vice-dean of OUC School of Ocean and Atmosphere and faculty professor of OUC Institute of Marine Development, made concluding remarks. Dr. JIN Yongming declared the closing of the symposium by presenting a gratitude speech.

The annual meeting has achieved a great success, thanks to the efforts made by both the invited experts and the organization team. The lively academic communications by all the attendees on marine spatial planning and integrated coastal management have provided a new vision to the research field, which is going to enhance related collaborations in near future.