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Finance & Insurance

Finance & Insurance

The Finance and Insurance sector is primarily involved in financial transactions and facilitating such financial transactions. This sector includes banks, credit unions, credit card companies, stock brokerages, investment funds, and insurance companies.

CMap

Banks, Credit, and Securities are subsectors primarily engaged in financial transactions, including raising funds, making loans, and purchasing securities. Contact Uses, such as biological additions, physical damage, and biological harvesting, are activities in which humans create pressures through direct contact with the ecosystem. Corporate responses are the general reaction of private corporations and businesses to different issues, such as environmental responsibility. Discharges are the intentional or unintentional distribution of chemicals, debris, or other pollution, into the environment as a consequence of human activities. Economic markets and policies can influence financing and insurance, as well as drive consumer demand for certain types of goods and services. Ecosystem services are the benefits people obtain from ecosystems . The Finance and Insurance sector is primarily involved in financial transactions and facilitating such financial transactions. Infrastructural policies are responses, including zoning, codes, or regulations, that impact the distribution and functioning of socio-economic sectors that provide infrastructure. The insurance subsector includes brokers and agents engaged in selling annuities and insurance policies to pool risk, including health insurance, life insurance, and property insurance. Landscape Changes are alterations of the natural landscape through human activities, including coastal development, shoreline armoring, impervious surfaces, deforestation, or soil disturbance, which can alter water flow patterns and lead to pollutant runoff into coastal systems. The Reef Ecosystem includes a suite of abiotic variables that form the physical and chemical environment. Pressures are human activities that create stress on the environment. The state of the Reef Ecosystem is the condition, in terms of quantity and quality, of the abiotic and biotic components including physical, chemical, and biological variables. Reef Life is the abundance, distribution, and condition of the biological components of the coral reef ecosystem. Regulating Services are benefits obtained from ecosystem processes that regulate the environment, including erosion regulation, natural hazard regulation, and climate regulation. Responses are actions taken by groups or individuals in society and government to prevent, compensate, ameliorate or adapt to changes in Ecosystem Services or their perceived value. Shoreline Protection is the attenuation of wave energy by reefs that protects coastal communities against shoreline erosion and flooding during storms, hurricanes, and tsunamis that can cause property damage and loss of life. Socio-Economic Drivers include the sectors that fulfill human needs for Food & Raw Materials, Water, Shelter, Health, Culture, and Security, and the Infrastructure that supports the sectors.

CMap Description

The Finance and Insurance sector can drive coastal development and contribute to landscape changes, including impervious surfaces, which alter rates of pollutant runoff, or to the need for physical changes to the coastline, such as shoreline armoring. Financial centers benefit from shoreline protection, particularly insurance companies, which are concerned with flood damage or erosion that put property and human lives at risk. Financial sectors also benefit indirectly from other ecosystem services that improve the well-being of sectors, such as tourism & recreation, which drive the overall economy. Corporate decisions and economic markets can influence how financial sectors distribute finances and set insurance rates.

Citations

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Citation Year Study Location Study Type Database Topics

Management Options

Management Option Description Sources Database Topics
Agriculture & Aquaculture: Phase Out Unwanted Subsidies Subsidies are often offered to promote certain types of growth and development. At a later time, with changing priorities, it may be determined that these types of growth and development are no longer optimal. For example, sun grown coffee, was subsidized in Guancia Bay, PR, as it was expected to have higher future market demand. However, it requires clearing large tracts of land on steep, extremely erodible clay soils. This leads to high volumes of erosion because there is no vegetation to anchor the soil in place. Now these subsidies are promoting sun grown coffee even though shade grown is better for the land and reefs because it reduces erosion, extreme runoff, and adds vegetation to the land. Center for Watershed Protection. 2008. Guanica Bay watershed management plan.

Agriculture; Agriculture, Aquaculture, & Forestry Policies; Banks, Credit, & Securities; City Planning; Corporate Responses; Decision Support; Economic Markets & Policies; Finance & Insurance; Food & Energy Policies; Food & Raw Materials; Funding & Incentives; Infrastructural Policies; Infrastructure; Landuse Management; Political Pressure; Public Administration; Security; Security & Public Administration Policies
Corporate Response: Standardized Environmental Certifications and Labels Product labeling initiatives are based on the premise that product information represented by or contained on the label is otherwise not readily available (or apparent) and is of value in consumer purchase decisions. For example, warning labels highlight product safety and toxic exposure hazards and advise consumers on ways to minimize risks. Likewise, a number of environmental certification programs (ECPs) identify products' environmental burdens and/or set standards for products' environmental attributes. Properly designed environmental labeling efforts can change consumer and manufacturer attitudes and behaviors, thus reducing environmental burdens. The specific metrics used to measure environmental label effectiveness include: 1) consumer awareness of labels, 2) consumer acceptance of labels (credibility and understanding), 3) changes in consumer behavior, 4) changes in manufacturer behavior, and 5) improvement of end goals, such as environmental quality. Malcohn, E., Bentham Paulos, Andrew Stoeckle, Herbert Han-Pu Wang, and Julie Lynch. Determinants of Effectiveness for Environmental Certification and Labeling Programs. EPA-742-R-94-001, US EPA, Washington, DC.

Agriculture; Agriculture, Aquaculture, & Forestry Policies; Aquaculture; Banks, Credit, & Securities; Climate; CO2; Collaboration & Partnering; Commercial Fisheries; Corporate Responses; Economic Markets & Policies; Environmental Education & Outreach; Fishing Sector; Food & Energy Policies; Food, Beverage, & Tobacco Products; Forestry; Health; Manufacturing & Trade; Manufacturing & Trade Policies; Marine Birds; Medical Care; Medical Centers; Metals, Electronics, & Machinery Products; Resource Use Management; Toxics; Transportation; Utilities; Whales & Dolphins; Wholesale & Retail Trade; Wood, Plastics, & Chemical Products
Corporate Response: Invest & Co-finance Projects Investing and co-financing projects that aim to conserve or restore habitats can be an effective means to preserving reef habitats as well as establishing positive working relationships between organizations. Investing in private sector projects will promote desired businesses and business practices, reducing barriers to entry and competitiveness as compared to traditional businesses and business practices to counterbalance advantages from undesired externalities. World Bank Group. 2008. Biodiversity, Climate Change, and Adaptation. Nature based solutions from the world bank portfolio. The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Washington, DC.

Aquarium Stock; Banks, Credit, & Securities; Biochemical & Genetic Resources; Biomedical Research Policies; Collaboration & Partnering; Corporate Responses; Economic Markets & Policies; Finance & Insurance; Finfish & Shellfish Stock; Food & Raw Materials; Funding & Donations; Funding & Incentives; Manufacturing & Trade; Manufacturing & Trade Policies; Marine Products; Ornamental Jewelry & Art; Pharmaceuticals & Cosmetics Sources; Provisioning Services; Resource Use Management; Tourism & Recreation
Corporate Response: Develop Outreach with Shipping Businesses This option requires the sanctuary to continue to alert shipping businesses about sanctuary regulations. Such regulations may include vessel waste discharge, ATBA, PSSA, etc. The targeted audiences will include importers, exporters, port authorities, commercial fishing companies, ship insurers. This information can be provided to the audience through NOAA nautical charts, trade publications, newsletters, trade shows, and direct mailings. NOAA Marine Sanctuary Program. 2007. Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary revised management plan. National Ocean Service, Key West, FL.

Ballast Discharge; Boating Activities; Boating Regulations; Coastal Engineering; Collaboration & Partnering; Cultural Policies; Decision Support; Docks & Marinas; Environmental Education & Outreach; Finance & Insurance; Infrastructural Policies; Insurance; Manufacturing & Trade; Ports & Harbors; Shipping, Storage, & Warehousing; Transportation; Transportation Policies; Water Resources; Water Transportation; Waterborne Discharges
Restoration: Land Reclamation Integrating Landslide Treatments This management option is exercised to prevent down slope movement of earthen materials, including natural soils, and spoil/waste from mining or forestry activities. Extreme caution and planning must be exercised before permitting any personnel, equipment or other machinery into the slide area. An experienced engineer should analyze the stability of the site both before and after alterations are made to evaluate stability. Water Control: sources of water that enter the area can be controlled to keep the material dry, as it is typically more stable when dry. Loading Control: where appropriate, consider removing excess material from upper portions of the slide area to reduce slide mass. Slope Reduction: where practice, use grading to reduce the slope of the slide area. Increasing Internal Strength: consider the impact of removing and recompacting of material at designed levels of moisture and with biotechnical slope stabilization practices. External Restraints: external restraints can be used where slope movements must be limited due to surrounding valued improvements (e.g. structures), where manipulation of the material may not achieve desired improvements. External restraints must be designed to prevent overturning, sliding at or below the base, and bearing failure of the foundation. Vegetative Treatment: deep rooted grasses and shrubs with proven performance in soil bioengineering applications can be planted using selected soil bioengineering or biotechnical slope stabilization techniques appropriate to the site. Transpiration and infiltration should be considered when choosing vegetation. Natural Resources Conservation Service. 2011. National Handbook of Conservation Practices. U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Agriculture, Aquaculture, & Forestry Policies; Construction Codes & Projects; Discharges; Ditching & Soil Disturbance; Forestry; Infrastructure; Insurance; Landscape Conservation & Restoration; Mining; Mining Policies; Non-point Source Runoff; Sediment

Laws

Legal Citation Purpose of Law Management Organization Database Topics

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