Dr. Kazumi Wakita is a professor at the School of Marine Science and Technology, Tokai University, specializing in integrated coastal management (ICM) and marine spatial planning (MSP).

With more than 20 years of experience, she combines academic research with hands-on implementation of ocean and coastal governance in Japan and across East and Southeast Asia.

Dr. Wakita earned her Ph.D. in Agricultural Science from the University of Tokyo, and holds both master’s and bachelor’s degrees in civil engineering from Waseda University. She also completed advanced training in integrated coastal zone management at the MEDCOAST Institute in Turkey.

Earlier in her career, she worked as a programme officer at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), managing projects under PEMSEA.

She later advanced ICM efforts in Japan through her work with the Ocean Policy Research Foundation, where she supported Shima City’s membership in  the PEMSEA Network of Local Governments and its eventual hosting of the PNLG Forum.
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She co-chaired a 2021 policy proposal on integrated coastal and ocean management spearheaded by the Japan Society of Ocean Policy and the Japanese Association for Coastal Zone Studies.

Since 2024, Dr. Wakita has been a research fellow with the Japan Foundation Indo-Pacific Partnership Program and a visiting fellow at the University of Wollongong’s Australian National Centre for Ocean Resources and Security, working on a regional project focused on ocean planning and well-being.

She currently sits on several national and local policy committees, including Japan’s Cabinet Office Committee on Maritime Domain Awareness, the Ministry of the Environment’s National Committee on Marine Restoration, and coastal management councils for Shizuoka Prefecture and Kita-Kyushu City. She is also a member of the UNESCO-IOC Sub-Commission for the Western Pacific (WESTPAC) and a co-lead of its Harmful Algal Bloom Program. She also serves on the Working Group on Sustainable Ocean Planning and Management under UNESCO-IOC.

Her research work bridges science and society, exploring socio-psychological dimensions and policy frameworks in sustainable ocean governance. She has received multiple awards, including the JAMSTEC Nakanishi Award and multiple Excellent Paper Awards from the Japanese Association for Coastal Zone Studies.