Our Future : Our World

Coastal Conflicts The chapters in this book are: Coasts in conflict Coasts in change Coasts as resources Coastal management and conservation Our coast: its future Investigating coastal issues

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Our coast is the edge of our most familiar territory: the land on which most of us live. It is the boundary of most of our everyday pursuits but also the setting for many of our leisure activities. The oceans have always been a barrier to human movement and hold a strong fascination for people. Most of the world’s human settlement is located at or reasonably close to coasts. Australia, for example, may be a very large country, but almost 75 per cent of its people live within fifty kilometres of the coast.

It is the intention of the Our Future : Our World series to help students to use the process of investigation and the values of social justice, ecological sustainability, and democratic process recommended by the 'Statement on Studies of Society and Environment for Australian Schools (1994)'.

Up-to-date models to help understanding

Because we use the coast for so many of our activities, conflicts sometimes arise about how it should be used at any one place. These issues require careful investigation so that, as we make decisions about Our Future and Our world, we can find the answers to many questions - answers that will allow us to make sound judgements and act wisely.

• what the issue is that requires investigation and resolution.
  
• what is at the particular place we are investigating.
  
• where the aspects of the issue are precisely located and when they occur.
  
• who is involved in the issue how the issue might be resolved and whose interests may be served by any solution.
  
• how we would respond in that situation and how we would be able to justify our stance.
  

The book, Coastal Conflicts, is the first in a series of four books entitled Our Future : Our World. The series introduces a variety of issues that we should understand if we are to make good decisions about our world and thereby ensure that our future is one that best serves us, the rest of humankind and the environments in which we live. Most importantly, the series helps us to know how to find out about any issue of concern and how to do something about it in effective and democratic ways. Geography students are encouraged to study issues of local and global concern in a way that allows them to not only understand how a situation has arisen, and aspects of its function, but how it was, or could be, resolved so that all interests are properly considered.

Most people consider coasts to be fascinating places, so the authors expect students will enjoy tackling some of these important issues. They will discover issues of their own to inquire into and thereby learn more about coasts and how people live there; they will appreciate whose interests are served by the various decisions that are made, and will gain experience in finding fair resolutions for complex and difficult matters.

If we are to secure our future, we have to ensure that the issues of our world are justly and fairly resolved. This book is about coastal issues. Because the coast is the focus of some of our most important and interesting occupations and pastimes, and because it contains some of the world’s most unique and valuable environments, the issues that arise there require our urgent attention.

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