Oceans and Human Health
Implications for Society and Wellbeing

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.

Section One: Coastal Seas, Human Health, and Well-Being: Setting the Stage

1 Influences of the Oceans on Human Health and Well-Being

2 Integrating Frameworks to Assess Human Health and Well-Being in Marine

Environmental Systems

Section Two: Anthropogenic Drivers/Pressures and the State of Coastal Seas

3 Coastal Demography: Distribution, Composition, and Dynamics

4 The Seas, Ecosystem Services, and Human Well-Being

5 Measuring Social Value and Human Well-Being

Section Three: Impacts on Coastal Environments

6 The Impact of Climate Change on Coastal Ecosystems

7 Coastal Systems and Access to Safe and Potable Water

Section Four: Responses

8 Management-Driven Assessments of the Coastal Oceans

9 Globalization and Human Health: Regulatory Response and the Potential for Reform

Section Five: Common Conclusions and Horizon Scanning

10 Emerging Issues in Oceans and Human Health: Managing Uncertainty and New Knowledge

11 Final Thoughts and Future Actions

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