Abstract
Central American and Caribbean (CAC) countries enjoy diverse marine environments. The oceans that enclose these coastlines contribute significantly to their economic growth. Industrial expansion and tourism place pressure on the marine ecosystems causing a decline in ocean health. To evaluate the cause of ocean health changes we investigated the factors influencing CAC ocean health using a health production function. Using Rank-Based Regression and the set of extractive, cultural and human well-being and services goals measuring Ocean Health Index (OHI), data from the World Bank, and the Human Development Index we developed a production function for CAC countries ocean health. Results show that all regional OHI scores, but Tourism and Recreation, the main income earning industry for most of the CAC countries, are less than the global score with four of the goals less than 40. The production function shows that all the goals, but the biodiversity sub-goal species, positively influencing OHI. Two climatic related variables, Nitrous Oxide and Carbon Dioxide negatively influenced OHI. The results are important to policy makers as they decide on the need to make greater effort towards improving sustainable contribution of CAC ocean resources to the blue economy.
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Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank the ClimeFish Project financed by The European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under grant agreement No. 677039 and the NORHED Project (QZA-0485, SRV-13/0010) for their support in the preparation of this paper.
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KATN conceptualized the research theme and together with CMJ framed the research problem. CMJ worked on data collection while BMN and CMJ designed the data collection procedure. BMN chose the software and worked on the methods including the model development. CMJ, with TATN, designed the paper outline and were responsible to summon the team to write the paper. All four authors were responsible for finalizing and reviewing the manuscript. The authors supplied funds to finance the effort but intend to solicit the assistance of ClimeFish and NORHED to pay for publication costs. All authors have reviewed the final document and are in agreement with its contents.
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Nguyen, K.A.T., Jolly, C.M., Nguelifack, B.M. et al. The Use of a Production Function to Evaluate Caribbean Ocean Health Conflicts and Economic Development: Policy Implications. Environmental Management 70, 808–826 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-022-01696-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-022-01696-7