The Caribbean islands share a history of plantation economy in which the “1%” not
only controlled the natural resources and economies of the region, but also owned
the majority of the “99%” who were enslaved. This disparity in wealth
approximated a racial divide in the society, as the wealthy minority was
predominantly “white” while the dispossessed majority was mainly non-whites.
While the coastlands were always of importance in these export-oriented
agricultural colonies, beach and backshore lands unsuitable for agriculture were less
so, often being utilized for boatyards/fishing depots, cemeteries and “tenantries” or
squatter settlements housing the landless.
Since World War II, and particularly since the Cuban revolution in 1960, beachoriented
tourism has become the leading economic activity in most Caribbean
countries. Competition for coastal resources has generally been resolved in favour
of foreign currency, transferring much coastal property to foreign ownership and
increasingly shutting off the local population’s access to the sea. As the majority of
foreign investors and tourists are white, this also has racial connotations. This
paper examines the legal and administrative responses to the challenges that this
situation presents which have been adopted by the Anglo-Caribbean Small Island
Developing States (SIDS), with particular reference to the islands of Jamaica,
Barbados, Tobago and some of the member countries of the Organisation of
Eastern Caribbean States (OECS).