Jump to main content or area navigation.

Contact Us

ReefLink Database

Culture

Culture

Culture sectors contribute to the social, emotional, and intellectual well-being of the community. Sectors include social organizations, tourism, recreation, education, and information.

CMap

Collaboration and partnering refers to working together to achieve a goal. Contact Uses, such as biological additions, physical damage, and biological harvesting, are activities in which humans create pressures through direct contact with the ecosystem. Cultural policies are responses that impact the distribution and functioning of cultural sectors, including tourism, recreation, education, and social organization. Cultural services are the nonmaterial benefits people obtain from ecosystems through spiritual enrichment, cognitive development, recreational opportunities, aesthetic experiences, sense of place, and educational and research opportunities. Culture sectors contribute to the social, emotional, and intellectual well-being of the community. Discharges are the intentional or unintentional distribution of chemicals, debris, or other pollution, into the environment as a consequence of human activities. Ecosystem services are the benefits people obtain from ecosystems . The Education and Information sectors consists of schools, colleges, instruction and training programs that provide instruction in various subjects, organizations that conduct scientific research, and organizations that collect and distribute information. Environmental education refers to organized efforts to teach about how natural environments function and, particularly, how human beings can manage their behavior and ecosystems in order to live sustainably. Funding is to provide resources, usually in form of money or other values such as effort or time, for a project or to private or public institutions. 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. Provisioning services are the products or ecosystem goods obtained from ecosystems, including seafood, genetic and biochemical resources, pharmaceuticals, ornamental resources, and water resources. 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. Social Organizations are devoted to improving social well-being, and include churches, grant making organizations, and charities. 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. Supporting services are ecological processes that indirectly benefit humans by maintaining a functional ecosystem for the production of other ecosystem goods and services. Tourism & Recreation sectors operate facilities and provide services for the varied cultural, entertainment, and recreational interests of residents and tourists.

CMap Description

Growing coastal development contributes to the cultural identity of a community, reflected through the need for education, social organizations, and other sectors that provide cultural services. Infrastructure for these sectors to operate, including buildings and roads, contribute to landscape changes in coastal areas. Other sectors, such as tourism & recreation, have more direct impacts on the reef ecosystem through their physical activities. Local communities benefit from shoreline protection, clean water, aesthetic value, educational opportunities, and a sense of place provide by the reef ecosystem. Decision-makers can enact policies to control development and distribution of cultural businesses and institutions, improve environmental education, or limit damaging activities.

Jump to main content.