Tundi Agardy, Ph.D.
Human Well-Being
Impacted Livelihoods; Increasing Poverty
Marine capture fisheries provide direct employment to approximately 27 million people worldwide22. Many of these fishers are poor and are without alternative sources of livelihood. When fisheries fail or when degraded coastal seas undermine fisheries production, large portions of coastal populations become even more impoverished.
Coastal ecosystems provide many ecosystem services that are the basis for livelihoods and industry (see World Ocean Observer, The Sleeping Dragon: The Loss of Marine Ecosystem Services, in the W2O archives). Degraded ecosystems have decreased services to offer, and communities or industries have to then bear the costs of substitutes for the naturally provided services. One example is waste processing by mangrove forests, which are often adjacent to coastal developments. When mangrove is removed or degraded, communities and/or resorts must pay to have water treated. Despoiled coastal systems cannot continue to attract tourists, so coastal communities that rely on tourism are at great risk if habitats become so degraded as to undermine the tourism industry.
The vicious cycle of poverty leading to degradation leading to even greater poverty is difficult to break. But too often, decision makers are ill-informed about trade-off and choices that could well break the cycle and lead them to greater sustainability. One enormous step to being better informed is to recognize the link between healthy coastal and marine systems and healthy (physically, socially, economically, and spiritually healthy) coastal communities.
Increased Vulnerability: Coastal and at Sea
 |
 |
Coastal and marine ecosystems such as mangrove forests, coral reefs, seagrass beds, rock reefs, and barrier islands all provide regulating services, such as buffering land from erosion and storm or tidal wave inundation, and providing safe havens for ships in the event of catastrophic storms. When such habitat is lost or degraded, the vulnerability of coastal communities and seafarers is dramatically increased.
In the wake of the December 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, researchers working under the auspices of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) found that areas in proximity to intact coastal habitats like mangrove and coral reef suffered far less damage and loss of property and life than areas in which such habitats had been destroyed or degraded.
Degradation of the sea also increases risk for fishers. When relatively easily accessed coastal fisheries resources are depleted, fisheries are forced to move farther offshore and spend more time at sea, increasing the risk for vessel operators and fishers.
The faltering global economy, increased food scarcity, and growing pressure to expand offshore oil drilling to meet booming energy needs worldwide spell further potential trouble for ocean health, and human health as its consequence.
Loss of Recreational Opportunities
Beach closures and other results of ocean degradation and contamination impede our ability to use ocean areas for much-needed rest, relaxation, and recreation. Beach closures and other denial of access to marine areas are becoming routine in the coastal regions of many developed countries that have monitoring and alert programs in place. In the U.S., for instance, fully 28% of the 4,025 beaches monitored by the EPA in 2005 were affected by closures or advisories23.
Most countries with monitoring programs assess the levels of fecal coliform, or E. coli, in nearshore waters. However, waters that are contaminated with other sorts of pathogens also pose a risk to bathers and visitors. Recognizing this, the U.S. has begun to look at viral monitoring of coastal waters as well. This is clearly a case of what you don’t know, can indeed hurt you. Water quality standards are likely exceeded in many other countries around the world, however monitoring programs are not in place in most countries so swimmers often entering the water in ignorance, at their own peril.
Human well-being across wide swaths of the coast is affected when recreation and tourism opportunities are curtailed by sullied seas. The disaffected include all those employed in the marine recreation/ tourism services sector – a very large proportion of the job market in coastal countries.
Spiritual Impoverishment
Degraded coastal landscapes and seascapes do more harm than merely impacting our aesthetic senses – they can undermine community spirit and cause emotional stress. Indigenous communities have strong cultural associations with places in the sea and on the coast, and with certain sea creatures or resources. Interestingly, humans have such a strong, primal connection to the sea that even people living far from it, with no direct link to its resources or benefits, feel a strong need to know that the oceans are safe and unspoiled.
The decline in ocean health causes a decline in spiritual health and well-being, at levels that though hard to quantify, are cause for great concern among sociologists around the world24.
Putting the Earth System at Risk of Imbalance
Oceans cover almost three quarters of the Earth’s surface and play a central role in maintaining planetary balances of water, gases and nutrients. Impaired marine ecosystems are not able to sequester carbon as efficiently as healthy oceans, and are less able to effectively cycle nutrients and maintain water balances. The degradation of the oceans also affects world weather patterns and climate on land, and can thus threaten all living things.
Global scale changes in the ocean, such as rising sea surface temperatures and corollary rises in sea level, exacerbate the more local scale problems that coastal communities face each and every day. And sadly, no matter how effectively oceans and coasts are conserved in a single place, the deterioration of ocean health in areas beyond will likely override even our most noteworthy successes.
22 FAO. 2002. The State of the World Fisheries and Aquaculture. Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations, Rome.
23 National Academy of Sciences (U.S.). 2007 Oceans and Human Health: Highlights of the National Academies Reports. Available at http://dels.nas.edu/osb.
24 See MEA.2005. Ch 17: Cultural and Amenity Services. pp 455-476
