Human health and well-being are tied to the vitality of the global
ocean and coastal systems on which so many live and rely. We
engage with these extraordinary environments to enhance both our
health and our well-being. But, we need to recognize that
introducing contaminants and otherwise altering these ocean systems
can harm human health and well-being in significant and substantial
ways.
These are complex, challenging, and critically important
themes. How the human relationship to the oceans evolves in
coming decades may be one of the most important connections in
understanding our personal and social well-being. Yet, our
understanding of this relationship is far too limited.
This remarkable volume brings experts from diverse disciplines
and builds a workable understanding of breadth and
depth of the processes – both social and environmental
– that will help us to limit future costs and enhance the
benefits of sustainable marine systems. In particular, the
authors have developed a shared view that the global coastal
environment is under threat through intensified natural resource
utilization, as well as changes to global climate and other
environmental systems. All these changes contribute
individually, but more importantly cumulatively, to higher risks
for public health and to the global burden of disease.
This pioneering book will be of value to advanced undergraduate
and postgraduate students taking courses in public health,
environmental, economic, and policy fields. Additionally, the
treatment of these complex systems is of essential value to the
policy community responsible for these questions and to the broader
audience for whom these issues are more directly connected to their
own health and well-being.
‘The seas across this planet and their effects on human society
and its destiny are a fascinating subject for analysis and insights
derived from intellectual inquiry. This diverse and complex subject
necessarily requires a blending of knowledge from different
disciplines, which the authors of this volume have achieved with
remarkable success.’
‘The following pages in this volume are written in a lucid and
very readable style, and provide a wealth of knowledge and
insightful analysis, which is a rare amalgam of multi-disciplinary
perspectives and unique lines of intellectual inquiry. It is
valuable to get a volume such as this, which appeals as much to a
non-specialist reader as it does to those who are specialists in
the diverse but interconnected subjects covered in this
volume.’
(From the ‘Foreword’ written by, R K Pachauri, Director General,
TERI and Chairman, IPCC)
Tabella dei contenuti
List of Contributors vii
Foreword xi
About the Companion Website xiii
Section One: Coastal Seas, Human Health, and Well-Being: Setting the Stage
1 Influences of the Oceans on Human Health and Well-Being 3
2 Integrating Frameworks to Assess Human Health and Well-Being in Marine Environmental Systems 23
Section Two: Anthropogenic Drivers/Pressures and the State of Coastal Seas
3 Coastal Demography: Distribution, Composition, and Dynamics 49
4 The Seas, Ecosystem Services, and Human Well-Being 71
5 Measuring Social Value and Human Well-Being 113
Section Three: Impacts on Coastal Environments
6 The Impact of Climate Change on Coastal Ecosystems 141
7 Coastal Systems and Access to Safe and Potable Water 177
Section Four: Responses
8 Management-Driven Assessments of the Coastal Oceans 203
9 Globalization and Human Health: Regulatory Response and the Potential for Reform 231
Section Five: Common Conclusions and Horizon Scanning
10 Emerging Issues in Oceans and Human Health: Managing Uncertainty and New Knowledge 267
11 Final Thoughts and Future Actions 291
Index 299
Circa l’autore
Robert E. Bowen
School for the Environment
University of Massachusetts Boston. USA
Cinnamon P. Carlarne
Michael E. Moritz College of Law
The Ohio State University. USA
Michael H. Depledge
European Centre for Environment and Human Health
University of Exeter Medical School. United Kingdom
Lora E. Fleming
European Centre for Environment and Human Health
University of Exeter Medical School. United Kingdom