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The second half of the twentieth century has been characterised by a major divergence in economic performance between small island developing states (SIDS), and nowhere has this been more marked than in the Caribbean. Countries in that region with the highest growth rates have been those with the greatest investment in tourism. The tendency therefore has been for governments to place an increasing emphasis on this industry, especially in light of the declining role of agriculture in the region. In Jamaica, tourism is a priority in national plans and the trend has been towards mass tourism, with a high spatial concentration on the coastal zone. The demands of mass tourism for natural resources and environmental services are huge and have not been calculated in the cost of the industry against which the economic returns are balanced. This paper compares the contribution of the tourism industry to gross domestic product in Jamaica with a preliminary estimate of the environmental costs of the industry, as represented by the hotel sector, taking as basic indicators the usage of fresh water, the extent of waste absorption and of carbon dioxide sequestration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relationship between population mobility and farming is complex and has been the focus of numerous studies. Despite differing perspectives on the subject, there is an increasing realization that migration sustains farming in many rural communities, but with contradictory effects. Notwithstanding this conclusion, there is a paucity of village level studies that explain the precise ways in which migration in its various forms affects the survival of small farms. This paper reports on the results of a village level study of migration and small farming in the Rio Grande Valley of Jamaica. Apart from highlighting the various ways in which migration affects small farming at the local level, the study confirms the contradictory impact of migration on small farming in this remote agricultural community. It is noted, however, that the net effect is positive and the capital and labour resources, which are made available as a result of migration, play pivotal roles in the survival of small-scale farming as an economic activity in the area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]