Abstract
The need to develop a new framework to bridge different societies relating to coastal environments is first discussed for comprehensive understanding of recent heavily deteriorated status of coastal ecosystems like tidal flats, seagrass/seaweed beds and coral reefs, and for finding propers trategy to restore them. A council established in 2001 April for multi-disciplinary cooperation in this line is then introduced with detailed description on its activities, including successive joint symposia. Finally the latest joint symposium entitled “Tidal flat ecosystem at risk-its status and restoration strategy” is referred in some depth to discuss direction towards desirable paradigm to realize comprehensive and integrated scientific approaches.
