coastal water quality

Surfside Science

Project description

Title: Surfside Science

Time: July 2022 - August 2023

Project leaders: Christie Mettes and Tony Sevold

Project summary:

This project aims to validate replicable methods to monitor coastal and marine ecosystems, focusing on Surfside Bay in Aruba as a case study. The goal is to identify which methods can contribute to improving access to data collection systems on small islands, with all methods and findings documented and shared openly through this website.

We are a team of experts and students with expertise in science, technology, engineering, mathematics and arts (STEAM) developing and testing several methods for environmental monitoring, focusing on satellite imagery and low-cost electronic sensors. At our pilot site of Surfside, we will be measuring the following parameters:

Air Quality: Particulate matter, humidity and temperature
Water Quality: pH, dissolved oxygen, temperature, and electrical conductivity
Coastal Change: Vegetative cover, coastline, size of reef islands
Seafloor Mapping: Seafloor cover, including shallow reef and aquatic vegetation

MONITORING
Data collection systems developed to monitor the different environmental aspects will be validated to standard scientific methods. Through the set up of validated data systems, Surfside Science wants to contribute to the conservation of marine ecosystems and monitoring of coastal impacts, including climate change. Our aim is to finalize this project with 5 sensors installed at surfside bay. Our methods involve a combination of sensors, satellite imagery,  analysis of underwater pictures through citizen-science and the use of Artificial Intelligence. An online database will be developed that can automatically and continuously collect, store, share, and analyze the data. All data will be open source and accessible for public use. 

REPLICABLE SYSTEMS
For all our validated data collecting systems we will create clear and simple technical instructions that allows others to replicate these systems.  These technical instructions will be hosted on frequented citizen science and maker platforms (for example: GitHub, Instructables). We hope this will empower SIDS with the tools necessary to also start collecting their own data.

As such, the objective of this project is to contribute to the increased resilience of Aruba’s marine and coastal ecosystem against impacts such as climate change. After this pilot year, funded by RESEMBID, we wish to explore long term funding models to support continued, and expanded monitoring of Aruba’s Marine Ecosystem applying the tools developed in this pilot.

RESEMBID
Metabolic Foundation received funds from the Resilience, Sustainable Energy and Marine Biodiversity Programme RESEMBID. RESEMBID, funded by the European Union and implemented by Expertise France – the development cooperation agency of the Government of France, supports sustainable human development efforts in 12 Caribbean Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs) – Aruba, Anguilla, Bonaire, British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, Curaçao, Montserrat, Saba, Sint Eustatius, Saint Barthelemy, Sint Maarten and Turks and Caicos. 

 

Date
2023
Data type
Other resources
Theme
Research and monitoring
Geographic location
Aruba

SEALINK PROJECT

Water quality is often cited as a key driver of coral reef health, yet this topic is rarely studied in the Dutch Caribbean. In coastal waters, the origin, abundance, and distribution of pollutants and other compounds can positively or negatively affect the survival of coral reef communities. These inputs are influenced by terrestrial processes (including groundwater effects, geological features, and coastal development) and water column processes (including hydrodynamics, boundary layer effects, and nutrient stoichiometry). The SEALINK Program will build an interdisciplinary research team to assess how land-derived and waterborne inputs (including sediments, nutrients, pollutants, organic carbon, and pathogens) affect the growth and survival of coral reefs in the Dutch Caribbean. We will integrate this information into a mathematical modeling and community co-design process to test how novel management approaches (on land and in the sea) can enhance the ecosystem services provided by coral reefs to local communities. The interdisciplinary project team includes geologists, geochemists, oceanographers, marine ecologists, microbiologists, environmental geographers, and social scientists. We will standardize methods from land to sea in order to fully track (for the first time) the pathways and fates of diverse inputs and stressors. Using this information, we will develop a suite of models to forecast future coral reefs under a variety of land-use and ocean management scenarios. These scenarios will be refined through stakeholder engagement and a community co-design process. We will also explicitly study the cultural and economic factors that promote the uptake and use of scientific information in policy and education. By integrating natural and social sciences across the land-sea continuum, the SEALINK Program will produce the first comprehensive understanding of land-sea interactions in Dutch Caribbean coastal zones, thus securing the local knowledge base needed to maintain functional coastal ecosystems, protect infrastructure, and support economies across the region.
 

Date
2023
Data type
Media
Theme
Education and outreach
Research and monitoring
Geographic location
Curacao
Author

Presentation - Assessing the Relationship between Coastal Currents and Water Quality Indicators on Bonaire: ADCP & CTD approach

Final presentation 

Date
2022
Data type
Media
Theme
Research and monitoring
Geographic location
Bonaire

Student essays on economic values of nature of Bonaire

To inform decision makers about the most effective strategies to protect the ecosystems of Bonaire, a full-scale valuation of all ecosystem services on the island of Bonaire has been undertaken by WIKCS and the VU University Amsterdam. The study addresses a wide range of ecosystems, ecosystem services and applies a multitude of economic valuation and evaluation tools. For budgetary reasons, a distinction has been made in terms of the ecosystem services covered by the studies between ecosystem services that are valued through primary research and ecosystems services that are addressed through secondary data analysis. This report summarises the ecosystem services that are valued on the basis of desk research or through key informant interviews. The quality of each sub-study varies, depending on the data availability to the subsequent researchers. This also implies that not each sub-study was able to actually generate a monetary value to be included in the Total Economic Value (TEV) estimate. Despite this caveat, the individual studies increase the understanding of the complex links between nature and society on Bonaire and are therefore worth presenting.

Art value

Artists are inspired by their surroundings. Such is also the case on Bonaire, where the natural scenery of the island stimulates artists to use components of nature in their work. Clearly, nature plays a crucial role in the production process of art on Bonaire. The demand of art consists of the thousands and thousands of tourists visiting the island, who are keen to bring home a piece of art to memorise the beauty of the island upon their return. Moreover, the beautiful photographs and books produced on Bonaire are distributed to clients across the world. Given the explicit demand and supply of art on Bonaire and its strong dependence on nature, the art sector on Bonaire plays an important role in the overall economy and provides an additional reason to manage nature well on the island. The value of the ecosystem service of artistic inspiration is valued at $460,000 annually.

Research value

Nature in Bonaire provides important services for research and education. The marine and terrestrial environment of Bonaire is subject for a large group of academics who conduct and publish innovative research based on these unique and easily accessible ecosystems. Without the presence of healthy ecosystems, Bonaire would not attract large numbers of researchers nor would Bonaire’s nature be a source of inspiration for many educational activities on the island and beyond. This sub-study made an inventory of all ecosystem related research expenditures funded by governmental and non-governmental organisations for Bonaire. In total a total research value was estimated between 1,240,000 USD and 1,485,000 USD in 2011.

Medical and pharmaceutical value

Medicinal plants play important roles in many traditional societies. The healing properties of herbal medicines have been recognized in many ancient cultures thousands of years ago. Besides these local benefits, biodiversity is important for the development of pharmaceutical treatments and drugs. The purpose of this sub-study is to economically value the benefits of species and ecosystem functions that are relevant for medicinal and pharmaceutical purposes. The study found that a large part of the population in Bonaire regularly collects and uses local herbs and other medicinal plants for medical treatment. Two-third of the inhabitants who were surveyed made use of local plants as an alternative to modern medicine or prescription drugs. Ultimately, a total annual medicinal and pharmaceutical value results of $688,788 of which more than half is comprised of the local value of medicinal plants.

Carbon sequestration

The ecosystem service of climate regulation deals mainly with greenhouse gas emissions and how ecosystems can mitigate such effects. Bonaire has six ecosystems that provide carbon-sequestering properties: salinas, dry forest, coral reefs, sea grass, mangroves and open ocean. The objectives of this sub-study is to (1) identify the ecosystems that are relevant to climate regulation in Bonaire with their functions and threats; (2) describe the different economic valuation methods suitable for climate regulation calculations; and (3) value the overall climate regulation potential of Bonaire. This desk study has made a rough attempt to estimate the carbon sequestration value of the main ecosystems of Bonaire. Based on carbon market prices at the time of research, this value was estimated at $290,000 per year.

Pollination by bats

The island of Bonaire is a fauna and flora rich and beautiful attraction in the Caribbean. By supporting fruit growth and aesthetic values, bats plays an important role in preserving high levels of biodiversity on Bonaire. This study made an attempt to give more insight in the importance pollination by bats for the island. Due to limited availability of data and time, the study will not generate an actual economic value of pollination. Yet, by describing the possible links between pollination and the economy of Bonaire, this study adds value and provides a solid foundation for an actual economic valuation study in the future. Despite of the lack of a concrete economic value, the evidence provide support the notion of conservation of the bats of Bonaire their natural habitat (i.e. caves). Both economic and cultural reasons have been identified to support this conclusion.

Coastal water quality

This paper attempts to examine the values of ecosystems in provisioning good water quality in Bonaire, Dutch Antilles. Bateman’s (2011) steps in ecosystem assessment and economic analysis are used as a framework to run this examination. Three ecosystems are identified that contributes to deliver services in question: mangroves, saliñas/salt marshes, and sea grasses. Based on their functions related to providing good water quality (filtering, water purification, and nutrient cycling) this report proposes three valuation methods: 1) replacement cost method for mangroves and saliñas; 2) Production function method for sea grasses. Benefit transfer also mentioned in the discourse to tackle the challenge of finding relevant data.

Amenity value

The fact that many people prefer natural over built environments is often manifested in house prices. Therefore various environmental conditions may have a significant impact on house prices. In Bonaire these include the view or proximity to water bodies, coral reefs and other healthy ecosystems. This study aims to estimate this so-called amenity value of nature on Bonaire. Through a hedonic pricing analysis, the hypothesis was tested whether property values are not only determined by conventional house and neighbourhood characteristics, but also affected by the presence and quality of Bonaire’s ecosystems. From this statistical analysis no strong significant impact of environmental variables onto the house prices has been detected and thus the hypothesis is rejected. This lack of evidence limits the possibility to calculate the amenity value. The cause of the poorly performing analysis is the limited data available on house sales on Bonaire.

Cultural value

The island of Bonaire has a precious though threatened nature and its culture is indistinguishable from nature. Yet, times are changing and so is the relationship between nature and society in Bonaire. Since the development of industrial times, less Bonairean practise agriculture, and less people are working in the nature. The objective of this study is to estimate the value of the cultural ecosystem services of the island of Bonaire. The scope of this sub-study is limited to four cultural values of ecosystems on Bonaire: (1) Recreational activities; (2) Subsistence and recreational fishing; (3) Kunukus; and (4) Cultural landscape. 

Date
2012
Data type
Research report
Theme
Education and outreach
Research and monitoring
Document
Report number
W-12/14
Geographic location
Bonaire