immense disruption to marine and terrestrial habi-
tats, both proximal and distal to the tropics where
the unusually high water temperatures were
recorded. Central Pacific seabird communities had
a dramatic reproduction failure and briefly aban-
doned atolls such as Christmas Island. Island life is
clearly vulnerable to short-term weather events as
well as long-term climatic change (Stoddart and
Walsh 1992). Because of the limited options
provided by the discrete area of a small island,
agricultural/fishing economies are similarly
constrained.
●Narrow agricultural base.The constraints of the
often narrow agricultural base of island societies is
clearly demonstrated by the history of Barbados,
which has been dominated until modern times by
the boom-and-bust fortunes of the sugar industry
since colonization of the islands by Europeans in
1492 (Watts 1987). When sugar was first established
as the export crop, the island’s ecology was devas-
tated in just 20 years, at the end of which time 80%
of the land area was cultivated for sugar cane.
Many indigenous species were lost in this first, dra-
matic land-use conversion. Subsequently, changes
in the global market for sugar, and occasional pest
problems, have resulted in very significant fluctua-
tions in the area of cane, and in the security and
wealth of the island. The narrow environmental
range provided by such small size, and the small
land area, means that it is difficult for the local
economy to diversify, and hard to produce
exportable quantities of more than a limited range
of agricultural crops. The boom-and-bust cycle of
periodic export booms, subsequent deflation and
resource exhaustion, and chronic emigration
appears to be a feature common to many small
island histories (Beller et al. 1990).
●Lack of suitable land for agriculture.Very much
tied in to the previous point, is that there may be
few crops suitable for the island soils and climate.
The Bahamian island of Andros, for instance, is
characterized by a viciously dissected coral rag
substrate. Mechanized agriculture is not feasible,
and the land essentially does not provide a living.
●Heavy dependence on the seas.Dependence on
the seas is all very well when the fish are plentiful.
Problems arise not only from anomalies in climate
or ocean currents, but also from the activities of
larger, more efficient foreign fishing fleets, over
which local peoples may have limited sway (cf.
Merlen 1995).
●Small or fragmented states.Tied in to all of the
foregoing is the political geography of small or
fragmented states. In the case of countries such as
the Bahamas, or Jamaica, with a shallow natural
resource base, a fluctuation in the environment (e.g.
a hurricane) can deal a significant blow to the
resources of the state.
In his review of resource development on Pacific
islands, Hamnett (1990) identifies five major trends
within the region: (1) increasing pressure on the
land and freshwater resources; (2) intensification of
agriculture; (3) loss of native forest resources; (4)
river and stream siltation and the loss of aquatic
resources; and (5) increasing use of coastal areas
and the degradation of harbours and lagoon envi-
ronments. We might wish to add others to this list,
notably the increasing interest from tourists, seek-
ing an idyllic desert island on which to holiday, but
expecting the facilities of a modern society—the
hotels, roads, fresh water, and other amenities—as
well, perhaps, as the exotic wildlife. This sixth trend
is powerfully evident in the Caribbean, which, in
the period after the Second World War, has wit-
nessed rapid urbanization, a significant increase in
tourism, and marine degradation from the con-
struction of transport (air and sea) and petroleum
facilities and hotels (Beller et al. 1990). Many of the
islands of the Mediterranean, and certain Atlantic
islands, notably the Canaries, have experienced
similar patterns of expansion in the tourist indus-
tries. Tourist pressures are also extremely signifi-
cant on Hawaii and the Galápagos (Cuddihy and
Stone 1990; above) and indeed on other tropical and
subtropical islands. This is just one way in which,
in common with the problems facing native plants
and animals, exogenously driven forces (social,
economic, and technological) are affecting and dis-
rupting many island cultures, and eroding tradi-
tional skills.
The task of confronting these pressures is not a
simple one. Some of the themes involved in338 ISLAND REMEDIES: THE CONSERVATION OF ISLAND ECOSYSTEMS