A Conceptual Framework to Develop Long-Term Ecological Research and Management Objectives in the Wider Caribbean Region

R reviews describing human impacts on coastal and marine ecosystems in the Caribbean emphasize two major problems. First is the lack of information about processes controlling the productivity of diverse coastal ecosystems. Second is the potential long-term negative impact of human disturbances on the goods and services these ecosystems provide (Richards and Bohnsack 1990, Ogden 1997). The Caribbean Sea has been diagnosed as an ecosystem showing “signs of environmental stress” (Richards and Bohnsack 1990), representing a global trend in which human impacts on marine ecosystems are more the rule than the exception. A current debate in environmental resource management concerns how best to understand the magnitude of ecosystem change associated with human impacts and to designate the global regions that are more susceptible to human activities (Vitousek et al. 1997). In the Caribbean Sea and its watersheds, degradation of water and land resources is related to major declines in biodiversity