This book includes peer-reviewed articles from the Third World Conference on Floating Solutions WCFS 2023 Japan with an aim to pioneer the SDGs and Next SDGs by making the most use of oceans and water. In recent years, the safety and security of people's lives around the world have been threatened by frequent floods and rising sea levels attributable to climate change. The COP 26 has set a common global goal of limiting the temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. It is an urgent task to cope with climate change as well as to utilize decarbonized and renewable energy. The UN is promoting the SDGs which aim to achieve 17 Goals between 2015 and 2030. However, efforts to reach the Goals will not end in 2030 but will be an ongoing challenge for humanity beyond 2030. Here, we tentatively call the Goals to be achieved after the SDGs as "Next SDGs."
Ocean and water have the potential to provide solutions to the disasters such as flooding and sea level rise due to climate change. In this context, WCFS 2023 presents ocean and water as the urban infrastructure and explores new technology and feasible solutions. In particular, it is necessary to consider urban planning, marine architecture, port planning connecting land and sea, disaster prevention, renewable energy, and food production on the sea and water. Further, it is indispensable that knowledge, experience, dream, and strong desire to realize these challenges are supported by a diversity of people.
Prof. Tomoki Ikoma is a professor in the Department of Oceanic Architecture and Engineering, College of Science and Technology at Nihon University and a fellow at the Institute of Industrial Science, University of Tokyo, and a professor in the Department of Oceanic Architecture and Engineering, College of Science and Technology at Nihon University. His research interests are in the areas of hydrodynamics and interaction between a floating structure and ocean waves, including Very Large Floating Structures (VLFS).
Prof. Shigeru Tabeta is currently at the University of Tokyo. His research interests are ocean utilization technologies for solving global environmental problems, environmental regeneration of coastal zones for a sustainable society, marine environmental problems in rapidly developing East Asian countries, modelling of marine ecosystems and socio-economic systems, and so on.
Mr. Lim Soon Heng has a five-decade-long career in the marine industry,much of which with Keppel Corporation. He has considerable experience in the planning and the design of shipyards including floating docks, piers, and wharves. He is excited by the opportunities that mega-floating structures can offer to address so many of humanity's problems, including rising sea levels and climate change. This is facilitated by the skill sets that marine engineers and naval architects have acquired, particularly from the offshore rig-building technology. Floating structures are economically attractive compared to land-based structures if their full life cycle is taken into consideration. He believes if Singapore cannot get it right in two important challenges, the future ahead is one slippery slope: It has to find viable strategies to resolve its energy resilience and its land scarcity. In that regard, floating structures offer robust solutions.
Prof. Chien Ming Wang is a professor in Structural Engineering, University of Queensland. He is a fellow of the Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering, a fellow of the Institution of Structural Engineers, and a fellow of the Society of Floating Solutions (Singapore). He is the leader of the Blue Economy Cooperative Research Centre research program on offshore engineering and technology. His research interests are in the areas of structural stability, vibration, optimization, plated structures, and very large floating structures. He has published over 500 journal papers and 10 books on these topics. He has won many awards including Nishino Medal, JN Reddy Medal, Singapore’s Minister of National Development's R&D Award for Floating Wetlands at Punggol Waterway, Lewis Kent Award, IES Prestigious Engineering Achievement Award, and Grand Prize of Next Generation Container Port Challenge.
