C'ARmu. MAR. Snm .• SPECIAL EomoN, 2007 Executive Summary Introduction - the Argument in Brief The peoples of the Caribbean an: de lined by the Sea whose shores they inhabit. In the rich diversity of cultures and nations making up the region, the one uniting !1Jclor is the marine ecosystem on which each ultimately depends. for the well-bring of the Caribbean peoples; and a review of the options available to policy-makers in the region and beyond. This Caribbean Sea Ecosystem Assessment (CARSEA) attempts to fulfil that need. If that ecosystem is under threat, so arc the livelihoods of millions of people. The economic activity orthc Caribbean is based to a very great extent on the bounty of the Sea and the natural beauty which attracts visitors Ji·mn around the world which, in tum, require the healthy !imclioning of complex physical and biological processes. The coral reefs and the scagrass beds, the white-sand beaches and the !ish shoals of the open ocean: these are natural capital assets whose loss or degradation has huge implications lor the development of the region. ln common with the pmclicc of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) of which it is a part, CARSEA first sets out a detailed picture of the condition and trends of the ecosystem; it then develops a number of scenarios aiming to simulate the likely outcome of different plausible future paths lor the region; and finally it reviews the responses available to decision-makers. The main points of the assessment will be summarized in the following pages. More detailed analysis and references to the sources on which it is based arc available in the body or the document. Apart from the economic importance of the ecosystem, it shapes the lives of all the inhabitants of the Caribbean in ways which defy statistical analysis. The Sea and its coasts form the stage on which the cultural, spiritual, and recreational life of the region is played out. Three key messages can be highlighted at the outset. First, some of the vital services which human communities derive from the Caribbean Sea ecosystem arc being placed in jeopardy, alien by the very activities and industries whose long-lcnn future depends on the continuing provision of those services. It may be united by its sea, but the Caribbean region is divided by its history. Five hundred years of settlement by Europeans, Africans, Asians, and people lrmn other parts of the Americas has bequeathed to the region a patchwork of independent slates and numerous colonies administered by govcmments in a different hemisphere. This presents unique challenges to the establishment of the co-operative policies needed to manage this ecosystem for the common good, and to achieve the most secure long-tenn fl!ture lbr the Caribbean peoples. Second, a reduction in the stresses being placed on the natural functions of the Caribbean Sea will require new ways of working together amongst the disparate political authoritics making up the region. The situation is made even more complex by the inllucnce on the Caribbean Sea ecosystem of decisions in parts of the world with no direct territorial link to the region: !rom the usc of the waters for fishing by Asian fleets and by intemalional shipping, including the transport of nuclear waste en route to the Panama Canal and oil shipments from the Middle East to refineries in the Gulf of Mexico; to the pollution and sediments canicd by rivers from deep inside the South American continent; and even the energy choices of societies throughout the world which have major implications for the Caribbean Sea through the pace of global warming. All or tlicsc fl1ctors combine to create an urgent need for a new overview of the state of the Caribbean Sea; an analysis of the lorces driving change and the implications Finally, the combination of dependence on the integrity of its marine ecosystem and vulnerability to global forces beyond its control puts the Caribbean in a special position which merits recognition and concrete action by the international community. The Sea and ils People The semi-enclosed Caribbcan Large Marine Ecosystem (CLME) is a distinct ecological region, bounded to the Norll1 by the Bahamas and the Florida Keys, to the East by the Windward Islands, to the Soutl1 by the South American continent, and to the West by the isthmus of Central America. Covering an area of more than 2.5 million square ki lomelrcs, it is the second largest sea in the world. For the purposes of this assessment, the Caribbean is taken as these waters, the islands within the Sea and bordering it, and the river basins of continental territories draining into the Sea. - 16-