New Zealand Geographer

(2008)

64

, 169–176 doi: 10.1111/j.1745-7939.2008.00136.x

© 2008 The AuthorsJournal compilation © 2008 The New Zealand Geographical Society Inc. Published by Blackwell Publishers Ltd.

Blackwell Publishing Asia

Book Reviews

Book Reviews

Book Reviews

The geomorphology of the Great Barrier

Reef: Development, diversity and change

David Hopley, Scott G Smithers and Kevin EParnell. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge,2007. 532 pp. ISBN 078-0-521-85302–06.

This text follows on from Hopley’s seminal

Geomorphology of the Great Barrier Reef:Quaternary Development of Coral Reefs

pub-lished in 1982 by John Wiley. The firstbook attempted to fill a wide area of coral reefscience using the Great Barrier Reef (GBR),the world’s largest reef system, as an example.In contrast, this new text focuses on studiesrelating specifically to the GBR, includingpublished data and some valuable previouslyunpublished data from the authors’ records.The authors, past and present staff of JamesCook University’s School of Earth and Environ-mental Science, aim to provide a holistic viewof the geomorphologic evolution of the GBRin this extensive synthesis.

The central chapters of the book reviewthe history of geomorphic and other studiesexamining the islands, inner-mid-outer shelfsystems and non-reef areas of the GBRProvince. In the second of 13 chapters, newgeomorphic evidence from the last two decadesis skilfully synthesized with data from earlierstudies to show the youth of this reef system.This chapter shows that major reef constructioncommenced only during the last 700 000 years.The Coral Sea is identified as crucial inproviding a source of reef-building speciesto populate the Queensland continental shelf,once the latter had attained its present formand regional sea-level, temperature and nutri-ent conditions became conducive to reef estab-lishment. Subsequent chapters examine indetail the influence of sea-level change and oceano-graphic processes on development of thedifferent reef sections and features, and in shapingits Holocene veneer.

Through explicit discussion in the initialand final chapters, and via examples in theintervening 11 chapters, the book makes astrong case for a geomorphic perspective inunderstanding and steering the future of theGBR. More than those of geology and eco-logy, geomorphic time and space scales arecrucial for explaining the development of thediverse ecosystems and underlying physicalfeatures of the reef, as well as for managingthe province in order to sustain maximumproductivity, diversity and resilience in thefuture. Without a geomorphic perspective, theauthors argue, erroneous interpretations of thefunctioning of the reef system can and havebeen made.

An enormous amount of research hasbeen published on the GBR since 1982. Hopley,Smithers and Parnell have done a commendablejob in summarizing and incorporating a sig-nificant portion of it into their interpretationsof the evolution and functioning of the GBR.Like its predecessor, this book is stronglybased around the research and opinions of itsfirst author. Also like the first text, some ofits research and conclusions are rapidly beingadvanced, updated and superseded, a situationwhich the authors acknowledge in the intro-duction where they suggest that there is a needfor such reef research syntheses to becomemore frequent with the ever-expanding rate ofreef science publication.

The last chapter gives a brief but scienti-fically informed discussion of five key ways inwhich humans are thought to be impacting theGBR system today: through altered sedimentand nutrient regimes, through conservationpractices and management policies and, indirectly,through global climate change. It argues thatthe influence of increased sedimentation islikely to be minor relative to the potential forincreased nutrients to impact the reef’s abilityto recover from disturbance and adapt to pre-dicted climate changes. Given the unprecedented

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Book Reviews

© 2008 The AuthorsJournal compilation

© 2008 The New Zealand Geographical Society

anthropogenic pressures on coastal environ-ments today, some readers may be disappointedwith the compartmentalization of explicitdiscussion of management implications ofGBR science to the last sections of a few laterchapters and first and last chapters of thebook.

Nevertheless this text is an essential, ifpricy (approximately NZ$ 250) investment foranyone involved in researching or managingthe GBR and could be used effectively byphysical geography teachers anywhere in theworld to illustrate the strengths of a moderngeomorphic approach to science and environ-mental management.

Deirdre Hart

Department of GeographyUniversity of Canterbury

Global change and integrated coastal

management: The Asia-Pacific region

Nick Harvey (ed). Springer, Dordrecht, 2006.339 pp. ISBN 1-4020-3627-2.

The world’s coastline and coastal resourcesare subject to increasing pressures and stressassociated with changes in the global envir-onment. Growing population, the effects ofpollution, changes in economic significanceof coastal areas and global climate changerequire effective management of our coastalenvironment.

Global Change and IntegratedCoastal Management

is a synthesis of scientificfindings from research funded by the Asia-Pacific network for global change research(APN). This book marks the fulfillment of theobjectives of an APN meeting in Kobe, Japanin 2003, by providing for scientific audiences acompanion-piece for the

Coastal Zone SynthesisReport

prepared for a wider, non-scientificreadership and available electronically throughthe APN website (http://www.apn-gcr.org/en/products.html). The book is also Volume 10in the

Coastal Systems and Continental Margins

series.The book is an edited collection of papers

that present the findings of ongoing coastalresearch in the Asia-Pacific region. It is in two

sections. The first presents a discussion onthe importance of global change as an issue formanagers of the coastal environment andcoastal resources, and an overview of the stateof the coastal zone in the Asia-Pacific region.Four main effects of global change are pre-sented. These are coastal changes, includingerosion of deltas, change in relative sea leveland the vulnerability of small island coasts;water and sediment pollution; coastal eco-systems; and fisheries and aquaculture. Theseeffects are expanded on in the chapters ofthe second section. In particular, section twohighlights the significance of current researchin these areas in providing direction for futurework relating to global change and integratedcoastal management methodologies and imple-mentation. The contributing authors wereselected for their coastal expertise in the Asia-Pacific region and include scientists based inAustralia, Canada, China, Fiji, Indonesia,Japan, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Philippines,UK and the USA.

Although for this book the Asia-Pacificregion does not include Australia, NewZealand or the eastern shores of the Pacific, itis interesting to read of studies carried outin the Asia-Pacific region that are not else-where readily available to scientists. The eightresearch chapters provide insight to coastalissues in environments that are quite differentto those found in Australia and New Zealand.For example the chapter on mega deltas ofAsia presents coastal changes that affect tensof millions of people, and serve as a reminderto New Zealand readers of the vast range inscale of coastal management issues in ourAsia-Pacific neighbourhood. It also helps toshow the relative significance of these issueson a global scale, especially when compared tosome of the more local issues that we see inNew Zealand and in the small island nationsof the Pacific.

Harvey presents the theme of integratedcoastal management (ICM) strongly throughthe introductory and closing chapters, and indoing so provides a clear picture of how ICMworks, and the degree to which it has beenapplied in the Asia-Pacific region. For studentsof coastal management, the book gives a verygood description of ICM methodology and isworth including in studying a range of coastal