Advances in development and management of estuarine and coastal mudflats
With the rapid socioeconomic development and urbanization,reclamation of mudflat resources has become an important way to ease the contradiction between land supply and demand.Irrational exploitation of limited mudflat resources has seriously affected natural evolution of many estuarine and coastal areas,weakened the regeneration of these resources,and threatened flood control,water security,and consequently the sustainable socioeconomic development in estuarine and coastal areas.Mudflat resources and their capacity are limited by the level of science and technology in a certain period of time.Therefore,the ecological environmental health should be protected to ensure the sustainable development.This paper presents a review on the state-of-the-art knowledge concerning mudflats development and management,including development and utilization of mudflats and their impacts on environment,assessment of sustainable development,as well as construction of management system.Some necessary research fields and topics in the future are also recommended.