Journal of Environmental Management

This supplementary data belongs to the article:  Hoeksema, B.W., van der Loos, L.M., van Moorsel, G.W.N.M., 2022. Coral diversity matches marine park zonation but not economic value of coral reef sites at St. Eustatius, eastern Caribbean. Journal of Environmental Management.

https://www.dcbd.nl/document/coral-diversity-matches-marine-park-zonatio...

A B S T R A C T
Stony corals play a key role in the marine biodiversity of many tropical coastal areas as suppliers of substrate, food and shelter for other reef organisms. Therefore, it is remarkable that coral diversity usually does not play a role in the planning of protected areas in coral reef areas. In the present study we examine how stony coral diversity patterns relate to marine park zonation and the economic value of reefs around St. Eustatius, a small island in the eastern Caribbean, with fisheries and tourism as important sources of income. The marine park contains two no-take reserves. A biodiversity survey was performed at 39 sites, 24 inside the reserves and 15 outside; 22 had a maximum depth >18 m and 17 were shallower. Data on economic value per site were obtained from the literature. Corals were photographed for the verification of identifications made in the field. Coral species richness (n = 49) was highest in the no-take reserves and species composition was mainly affected by maximum depth. No distinct relation is observed between coral diversity and fishery value or total economic value. Based on the outcome of this study we suggest that in future designs of marine park zonation in reef areas, coral diversity should be taken into consideration. This is best served by including reef areas with a continuous depth gradient from shallow flats to deep slopes.

Supplementary material 

https://www.dcbd.nl/document/electronic-supplementary-material-1

Resource recovery and reuse from domestic wastewater has become an important subject for the current development of sanitation technologies and infrastructures. Different technologies are available and combined into sanitation concepts, with different performances. This study provides a methodological approach to evaluate the sustainability of these sanitation concepts with focus on resource recovery and reuse. St. Eustatius, a small tropical island in the Caribbean, was used as a case study for the evaluation. Three source separation-communityon-site and two combined sewerage island-scale concepts were selected and compared in terms of environmental (net energy use, nutrient recovery/reuse, BOD/COD, pathogens, and GHG emission, land use), economic (CAPEX and OPEX), social cultural (acceptance, required competences and education), and technological (flexibility/adaptability, reliability/continuity of service) indicators. The best performing concept, is the application of Upflow Anaerobic Sludge Bed (UASB) and Trickling Filter (TF) at island level for combined domestic wastewater treatment with subsequent reuse in agriculture. Its overall average normalised score across the four categories (i.e., average of average per category) is about 15% (0.85) higher than the values of the remaining systems and with a score of 0.73 (conventional activated sludge – centralised level), 0.77 (UASB-septic tank (ST)), 0.76 (UASB-TF - community level), and 0.75 (ST - household level). The higher score of the UASB-TF at community
level is mainly due to much better performance in the environmental and economic categories. In conclusion, the case study provides a methodological approach that can support urban planning and decision-making in selecting more sustainable sanitation concepts, allowing resource recovery and reuse in small island context or in other contexts. 

This article focuses on developing a sustainable tourism in small Caribbean islands, defined here as those that have populations of fewer than 500,000. Such islands share a very fragile ecology and a high dependence on tourism. They differ in their degree of tourist penetration and visitor density and the related degree of environmental degradation.

To explain the link between tourism intensity and ecological vulnerability, the so-called "destination life-cycle model" is presented. This suggests that islands pass through three primary stages of tourist development: low-density exploration, rapid growth and consolidation, and high-density maturation involving the substitution of man-made for natural attractions.

A broad empirical test of the model is performed through a quantitative examination of the tourism characteristics and visitor densities of a cross section of 23 small Caribbean islands. The three basic stages or tourism styles are identified: low-impact emerging areas, high-density mass-market mature destinations, and rapidly growing intermediate islands in between. Some broad strategies consistent with the systems framework for a sustainable tourism with moderate densities are briefly explored.

Highlights​

• Ecosystems are intrinsically linked, but conservation across boundaries is limited.
• User fees applied across ecosystem boundaries may improve conservation funding.
• Divers will fund terrestrial conservation, if coral improvements are expected.
• On Bonaire these funds would be large enough to cover terrestrial grazer control.

While ecological links between ecosystems have been long recognised, management rarely crosses ecosystem boundaries. Coral reefs are susceptible to damage through terrestrial run-off, and failing to account for this within management threatens reef protection. In order to quantify the extent to that coral reef users are willing to support management actions to improve ecosystem quality, we conducted a choice experiment with SCUBA divers on the island of Bonaire, Caribbean Netherlands. Specifically, we estimated their willingness to pay to reduce terrestrial overgrazing as a means to improve reef health. Willingness to pay was estimated using the multinomial, random parameter and latent class logit models. Willingness to pay for improvements to reef quality was positive for the majority of respondents. Estimates from the latent class model determined willingness to pay for reef improvements of between $31.17 - $413.18/year, dependent on class membership. This represents a significant source of funding for terrestrial conservation, and illustrates the potential for user fees to be applied across ecosystem boundaries. We argue that such across-ecosystem-boundary funding mechanisms are an important avenue for future investigation in many connected systems.