RESOURCE MANAGEMENT CHANGES IN THE CARIBBEAN: THE ECO-ECO-APPROACH Beate M.W. Ratter Institute of Geography, University of Hamburg, Germany Caribbean Studies in the last decade have dealt in general either with economic or with environmental problems. Integrative ap- proaches have played a minor role. But since the beginning of the 1990s geography schol- ars and their studies reflect a more integrative or comprehensive approach. Investigations into the impact of hurricanes on island com- munities (Barker and Miller 1990; Clement 1990); the political and economic implications of the new law of the sea (Ratter and Sandner 1993); fishing conflicts or integrative agricul- ture (Berkes 1984; Barker 1993); water man- agement and agricultural development (Watts 1995); sustainable development (Potter 1992; Barzetti and Rovinski (ed.) 1992; Potter and Dann 1994; Ramphall 1994); and ecot- ourism (Sharkey and Momsen 1995; Weaver 1994) illustrate a steady change towards new approaches in the study of economic devel- opment. These approaches show an increas- ing integration of the political, social and ecological perspective. Our symposium in The Hague in August 1996 was designed to discuss these ap- proaches and to integrate the different per- spectives of society, culture, economy and ecology but also to integrate the terrestrial, coastal and marine environment. Especially on small islands, land, coast and sea have to be considered as a complex unity with a high degree of interconnectedness and interde- pendent influences. The three realms should not be separated by academic work or politi- cal decisions. Growing ecological conflicts in recent years on a local, regional and global scale combined with a constant decrease in the quality of life for large parts of the earth's population have made the need for changes in development strategies substantial. The following contribution analyses resource assessment changes in the Caribbean, and illustrates the necessity for new comprehen- sive approaches towards resource manage- ment and economic development. Recent work in this field is influenced not only by the report of the World Commission on Environment and Development, Our Common Future (1987) but also by a number of discussions on holistic approaches towards ecosystem and landscape management (Urban 1994) as well as alternative economic development (Daly 1990; Daly and Town- send 1993; Meyer-Abich 1988; Sachs 1992; Strong 1980). In the meantime there is a consensus that, one, economic growth is not necessarily evenly distributed among the population and growth does not necessarily improve the quality of life for all people. Two, environmental degradation resulting from economic development can no longer be considered insignificant. The long term effects, in particular, will be destructive to the environment, the economy and society (Wackernagel and Rees 1996). And three, there must be made a distinction between economic growth and economic develop- ment, with the latter conceived as having a broader meaning than the traditional meas- ure of economic performance (Binswanger and von Flotow 1994; Huber 1995). Politicians and academics investigate new approaches towards so-called “sustainable development.” As a whole, sustainable development has to imply the search for new strategies of development and for new defini- tions of environmental protection. The con- cept of sustainability, however, is more normative than analytical. It became the new categorical imperative of the late 20th cen- tury: “Act sustainably.” Nevertheless, the fundamental question remains: How do we act sustainably? Nobody really knows what sustainable action or sustainable develop- ment means in daily life. The transformation of ideas into strategies and actions is still weak.