Caribbean Environment Outlook: Special Edition for the Mauritius International Meeting for the 10-year Review of the Barbados Programme of Action for the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States

Over the last three decades, environmental degradation and the unsustainable use of natural resources have reduced the availability of ecosystem goods and services, with negative consequences for sustainable social and economic growth in the Caribbean Small Island Developing States (SIDS) and Low-Lying Coastal States (LLCS). Environmental changes were found to be driven by socio-economic factors as well as by external forces over which these states have little or no control. Adverse environmental change in turn has negative consequences for social and economic development, and sustainable development overall.