Sustaining Caribbean
Coastal Areas
Population, Health, and
Coastal Resource Management
Roger-Mark De Souza
Population Reference Bureau
The Case of Small Islands
“Small island developing States … are
ecologically fragile and vulnerable. Their
small size, limited resources, geographic
dispersion and isolation from markets,
place them at a disadvantage economically
and prevent economies of scale. For SIDS
the ocean and coastal environment is of
strategic importance and constitutes a
valuable development resource.”
- Agenda 21, Chapter 7, para 17.124
Some Key Points…
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Role of population dynamics
Health impacts in coastal areas
Management strategies
Lessons from community based
project
What Are Coastal Zones?
• Coastlines 120 miles wide
• From low-tide mark inland and
extending seaward
• Includes ecosystems near shore:
barrier islands, mangrove swamps, salt
marshes, seagrass beds, coral reefs
• Includes marine fisheries
Importance of Coastal Zones
• Provide region with food and
materials for new medicines
• Protect coastal settlements from
storm damage
• Generate income from tourism
• Fragile and vulnerable biodiversity
Importance for Caribbean
• Steep slopes and rapid changes in
topography create small, scattered
ecosystems
• Small size of ecosystems
• Concentration of population and activities
in small areas intensifies stress conditions
• High frequency and variety of natural
disasters
• Close coupling of terrestrial, coastal and
marine systems results in fast-spreading
impacts among systems
Human Causes of Change
in Coastal Zones
Population Dynamics
Economic Growth
Technological Change
Political-Economic
Institutions
Attitudes and Beliefs
Population, Health, and Coasts
Human Health Perspective
Size
Composition
Distribution
Environmental Health
Perspective
Population Balancing Equation
Pt+1= Pt + (Births - Deaths) + (Inmig. - Outmig.)
Natural Increase
Net Migration
Population Doubled in 50 years
Thousands
Migration Trends
• Net migration usually more significant
than natural increase
• High emigration rates — safety valve
• Usually a significant return flow
• Trinidad and Tobago — 85 percent to 98
percent
Distribution and Composition
• 60 percent of the Caribbean
population lives less than 100
kilometers from a coast
• 30 percent of the population is under
age 15
• 7 percent is over age 65
Future Population Trends
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Declining fertility
Declining mortality
Increasing life expectancy
Low population growth
Population in 2010
• Stable or decreasing population under 25
• Increase by about 13 percent of population
25-64
• Labor force population = 65 percent of
population
• Greatest increase in 45-64 year old group
• People 65+ will constitute 10 percent of
total population
Population Pressures
• All capital cities in insular Caribbean
are on coasts
• Coastal areas identified with principal
industrial complexes, trade centers,
and resort tourism enclaves
Impacts on Coastal Zones
• Residence in coastal zone
• Sewage and waste disposal
• Clearance of mangroves and littoral
forest for human habitation
• Increased pressure on local fisheries
• Erosion, siltation, floods, storms
• Increasing development fueled by
remittances
Temporary Populations…
“The region is moving from the
production and sale of primary
materials such as sugar, cotton, and
fruits to the sale of tourism services
based on sun, sand, and sea.”
— State of the Environment Report, UNEP
Tourism
• 100 million tourists visit Caribbean each year
• Is about 12 percent of LAC’s gross domestic
product
• Concentrated along the coasts
• 43 percent of combined gross domestic product
of Caribbean and one third of export revenues
• For 2005, scuba-diving tourism could generate
some US$1.2 billion in income
Impacts of Tourism
• 70,000 tons of waste are generated
• Increasing popularity of yacht and cruise ship
destination produces more waste
• Inadequate collection systems in ports to deal
with solid waste produced by visitors
• Havana Bay has concentrations of 70 micromoles per
liter of nitrogen from ammonia and between 0.7 and
2.5 micromoles per liter of phosphorus, causing
eutrophication of certain areas
Types of Pollutants
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Toxic chemicals
Sewage
Agricultural nutrients
Nonbiodegradable litter
Sediments
Pollution from maritime transport and
oil production and pollution
Sediments and Pollution
• Sediment load in coastal waters more than
10 million tons per year
• Excessive fertilizer use furthered algal
population growth and eutrophication in
coastal lagoons
• Between 80 percent and 90 percent waste
waters discharged without treatment
• Region’s mangrove ecosystems are being
affected
• Up to 65 percent of Mexico’s mangroves lost
Some Positive Trends
• Islands with fewer people and little
fishing pressure have reefs in good
shape
• Bonaire, Cayman, Turks and Caicos,
parts of Bahamas
• Sometimes diving tourism promoted
awareness of reef conservation
Two-thirds of Reefs at Risk
37%
Low
High
30%
33%
Medium
• Most reefs off Haiti, Dominican Republic,
Puerto Rico, Dominica, Barbados highly
threatened
• All reefs of Lesser Antilles are at risk
Source: World Resources Institute
Ecosystem Health
• Fisheries depletion from bycatch
• Negative ecosystem impacts from types of
fishing gear and blast fishing
• Exploitation and loss of food supply
• Poor management
• Exotic species
• Loss of marine fauna
• Unhealthy coastal habitat
Major Causes of Disease
• Sewage from untreated or poorly treated
domestic waste
• Bathing in or ingesting sewage-contaminated
water can cause ear, eye, and skin infections,
cholera, infectious hepatitis, pneumonia
• Children under age 5 are particularly affected
• Chemicals and heavy metals caused by
runoff of pesticides and industrial effluents
that become stored in seafood
• Most dangerous are ones like mercury that
persist in marine environment and accumulate
in food chain
Current Coastal Management
• Independent stand-alone coastal management units (legislation)
• Coastal zone divisions (large, comprehensive management agencies)
• Fragmented management systems
(piecemeal regulation and legislation)
• Implied recognition of
• vulnerability of coastal zone to sea level rise
• need for regulation of pollutants
Integrated Coastal Management
• Management of coastal zone as a whole in
relation to local, regional, national, and
international goals
• Considers community needs and relevant
practices in given locality
• fisheries, aquaculture, forestry, manufacturing
industry, waste disposal, and tourism
• Balance between competing uses of water
and natural resources, hoping for long-term
environmental health and productivity
Key Elements of ICM
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Multiple stakeholders
Strong scientific foundation
Early public participation
Community and local management
Networking at regional and national levels
Capacity building
Strong extension services
Reliable data and indicators to measure
success
Ideas to ponder — How to…
• Manage coastal issues in an integrated
way
• Address population factors and human
needs
• Educate public and raise awareness
• Involve communities in protection and
management
• Create social and economic incentives