An Overview of Coastal Environmental Health Indicators

Discussions of the coastal environment and its health can be improved by more precise use of terms and clarification of the relationship, if any, between the health of ecosystems and the risks to human health. Ecosystem health is seldom defined and, in any case, has to be regarded in different terms than human health. Ecosystem health should embody both the structure and function of the ecosystem. One attractive concept is to define the health of ecosystems in terms of their vigor, organization and resilience. From that perspective, the health of an ecosystem is reduced if it becomes a less vigorous producer of valuable living resources, less diverse and organized, and more susceptible to and slower to recover from stress. Useful indicators of ecosystem health should reflect these properties, but also be supported by understanding of cause and effect relationships generated through research. Significant challenges remain in the integration of indicators in terms of both their interrelationships and holistic significance. There is also a need to develop indicators that are relevant to emerging threats to coastal ecosystems.