Sustainable development of Latin American and the Caribbean Large Marine Ecosystems

This thematic issue on Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) Large Marine Ecosystems (LMEs) focuses attention on a major geographic area of the world, where the goods and services of 10 LMEs are serving the needs of a population of over 500 million people inhabiting the region. The stressors affecting the sustainable development of the LAC-LMEs are negatively impacting the economies of the bordering countries from overfishing, pollution, nutrient overenrichment, habitat degradation, biodiversity loss and climate change. The papers presented in this issue represent a cross-section of assessment studies underway by marine scientists, policy makers and resource managers in the region in a movement to introduce ecosystem based management (EBM) practices for stressed LMEs. This movement is supported in part by an independent international financial entity, the Global Environment Facility (GEF), which exists to help meet the objectives of the international environmental conventions and agreements. The movement has been organized to advance a United Nations effort to assist economically developing nations in the LAC region and in other regions around the globe towards sustainable development of the oceans.