Human health and well-being are tied to the vitality of the globalocean and coastal systems on which so many live and rely. Weengage with these extraordinary environments to enhance both ourhealth and our well-being. But, we need to recognize thatintroducing contaminants and otherwise altering these ocean systemscan harm human health and well-being in significant and substantialways.These are complex, challenging, and critically importantthemes. How the human relationship to the oceans evolves incoming decades may be one of the most important connections inunderstanding our personal and social well-being. Yet, ourunderstanding of this relationship is far too limited.This remarkable volume brings experts from diverse disciplinesand builds a workable understanding of breadth anddepth of the processes - both social and environmental- that will help us to limit future costs and enhance thebenefits of sustainable marine systems. In particular, theauthors have developed a shared view that the global coastalenvironment is under threat through intensified natural resourceutilization, as well as changes to global climate and otherenvironmental systems. All these changes contributeindividually, but more importantly cumulatively, to higher risksfor public health and to the global burden of disease.This pioneering book will be of value to advanced undergraduateand postgraduate students taking courses in public health,environmental, economic, and policy fields. Additionally, thetreatment of these complex systems is of essential value to thepolicy community responsible for these questions and to the broaderaudience for whom these issues are more directly connected to theirown health and well-being."The seas across this planet and their effects on human societyand its destiny are a fascinating subject for analysis and insightsderived from intellectual inquiry. This diverse and complex subjectnecessarily requires a blending of knowledge from differentdisciplines, which the authors of this volume have achieved withremarkable success.""The following pages in this volume are written in a lucid andvery readable style, and provide a wealth of knowledge andinsightful analysis, which is a rare amalgam of multi-disciplinaryperspectives and unique lines of intellectual inquiry. It isvaluable to get a volume such as this, which appeals as much to anon-specialist reader as it does to those who are specialists inthe diverse but interconnected subjects covered in thisvolume."(From the "Foreword" written by, R K Pachauri, Director General,TERI and Chairman, IPCC)