Overview
Population growth and settlement patterns, national and global economic, political and class systems, historical legacies, and dominant cultural values constrain or enable local social systems and human activities in ways that directly or indirectly affect human wellbeing. These broad social drivers are important to human interactions with marine ecosystems, but their indicators and analyses are often located outside the geographic area of interest.
Because social drivers that impact human wellbeing within the California Current are not necessarily specific to the marine system or to local populations, their potential indicators are maintained by other governmental and non-governmental agencies. These include demographic indicators maintained by the U.S. Census Bureau, as well as measures of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as maintained by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. (BEA).
