Many human populations are dependent on marine ecosystems for a range of benefits, but we understand little about where and to what degree people rely on these ecosystem services. We created a new conceptual model to map the degree of human dependence on marine ecosystems based on the magnitude of the benefit, susceptibility of people to a loss of that benefit, and the availability of alternatives. We focused on mapping nutritional, economic, and coastal protection dependence, but our model is repeatable, scalable, applicable to other ecosystems, and designed to incorporate additional services and data. Here we show that dependence was highest for Pacific and Indian Ocean island nations and several West African countries. More than 775 million people live in areas with relatively high dependence scores. By identifying where and how people are dependent on marine ecosystems, our framework can be used to design more effective large-scale management and policy interventions.
1.Conservat Int, 2011 Crystal Dr Suite 500, Arlington, VA USA 2.Norwegian Inst Water Res, Gaustadalleen 21, Oslo, Norway 3.Stanford Univ, Ctr Ocean Solut, 473 Via Ortega,Room 193, Stanford, CA 94305 USA 4.Univ Durham, Dept Biosci, South Rd, Durham DH1 3LE, England 5.Univ Washington, Sch Marine & Environm Affairs, 3707 Brooklyn Ave NE, Seattle, WA 98195 USA 6.WorldFish, Jalan Batu Maung, Bayan Lepas 11960, Penang, Malaysia 7.Stanford Univ, Nat Capital Project, Stanford, CA 94305 USA 8.Univ Washington, Sch Environm & Forest Sci, Box 352100, Seattle, WA 98195 USA 9.World Bank, Environm & Nat Resources Global Practice, 8602 SW 42nd Pl, Gainesville, FL USA 10.Columbia Univ, CIESIN, Earth Inst, POB 1000, Palisades, NY USA 11.Univ Vermont, Gund Inst Ecol Econ, Burlington, VT USA 12.World Wildlife Fund, Sci & Innovat, 1250 24th St NW, Washington, DC 20037 USA 13.Univ Maryland Baltimore Cty, Geog & Environm Syst, 1000 Hilltop Circle, Baltimore, MD 21228 USA 14.Wildlife Conservat Soc, 2300 Southern Blvd, Bronx, NY USA 15.Elect Power Res Inst, 3420 Hillview Ave, Palo Alto, CA USA 16.Sandhill Inst Complex & Sustainabil, 5800 Edwards Rd, Grand Forks, BC V0H 1H9, Canada 17.Harvey Mudd Coll, 301 Platt Blvd, Claremont, CA 91711 USA 18.Univ British Columbia, Inst Oceans & Fisheries, AERL 2202 Main Mall, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4, Canada
Recommended Citation:
Selig, Elizabeth R.,Hole, David G.,Allison, Edward H.,et al. Mapping global human dependence on marine ecosystems[J]. CONSERVATION LETTERS,2019-01-01,12(2)