5 CA!tiUilEAN SEA ECOS\'STEM ASSESSMENT CONSTITUENTS OF WELL-BEING ECOSYSTEM SERVICES Security PERSONAL SAFETY SECURE RESOURCE ACCESS SECURITY FROM DISASTERS Provisioning FOOD : FRESH WATER WOOD AND FIBRE . FUEL Baste material for good life ADEQUATE LIVELIHOODS SUFFICIENT NUTRITIOUS FOOD SHELTER ACCESS TO GOODS Regulating :· CLIMATE REGULATION FLOOD REGULATION :• DISEASE REGULATION : WATER PURIFICATION ' Health STRENGTH FEELING WELL ACCESS TO CLEAN AIR AND WATER Cultural :: AESTHETIC SPIRITUAL EDUCATIONAL RECREf,TIONAL ··; Freedom of choice and action OPPORTUNITY TO BE ABLE TO ACHIEVE WHAT AN INDIVIDUAL VALUES DOING AND BEING Good social relations SOCIAL COHESION MUTUAL RESPECT ABILITY TO HELP OTHERS LIFE ON EARTH - BIODIVERSITY Sourct:; MiUt:nnium ARROW'S COLOUR ARROW'S WIDTH Potential for mediation by socioeconomic factors Intensity of linkages between ecosystem services and human wall·belng Low llill!ll Weak Medium c:::=J Medium High c:::J Strong FIG. 1.3. Links between ecosystem services and human well-being. SnURCE: MA (2005a). The quality of assessment at these ditTcrenl scales varied greatly acconling to the availability of data. Little data were available on the Caribbean Sea as a wholt.:·---most information refers lo individual countries and their EEZs, with lillie coverage of international waters. Another problem is that most of the continental Caribbean Sea countries also have coasts bordering on either the Pacific or the Atlantic, so lhal only some undetermined portion of an individual country's statistics will be associated with the Caribbean Sea. The most complete data were available lor the islands of the Caribbean, because of their isolated or discrete nature. This inevitably inlluenced the assessment, with the result that it may generally seem to give more prominence to the insular Caribbean. The project also analyses and presents response options according to three scales of intervention: l. For lndividual slates 2. Collectively as Caribbean Stales 3. For non-Caribbean slates involved. This assessment builds on several recent studies of the Caribbean environment which have thoroughly documented threats from multiple sources, such as pollution from international marine shipping (including nuclear waste trans-shipment): waste from yachts and cruise liners; and large foreign commercial fishing vessels from nations not indigenous to the subregion (UNEP 2004a, 2004b, 2006). 2.0 THE CARIBBEAN SEA- PHYSICAL FORM AND DEFINING PROCESSES 2.1 Coastal Fol'm and the Littol'al The form of the coastline around the Caribbean Sen is extremely varied, and determined by local geological history. Coasts adjacent to mountain ranges may have steep clill's and deeply indented bays. Coasts in areas adjacent to major stable plutcs, in contrast, may be generally fiat and consist of recent sediments. Where -26-