IDPR, 29 (1) 2007 Elizabeth Thomas-Hope and Adonna Jardine-Comrie Valuation of environmental resources for tourism in small island developing states Implications for planning in Jamaica 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. A fundamental consideration of sustainable development is that natural capital (that is, environmental resources and ecosystem services) is as necessary to the economic sector as any other form of capital. The contribution of natural capital to the tourism sector is both direct and indirect, and, like other forms of capital in the production process, is subject to deterioration and degradation in both quantity and quality. In the case of tourism, the activities of the industry can have a direct impact on the natural resource base through its potential to degrade the very environmental ameni- ties on which the industry is based. It also has negative indirect efects on such capital if it disrupts the natural functioning of ecosystem services, such as the absorption of waste and sequestration of carbon dioxide. The serious degradation of either the required amenities or environmental services would lead eventually to the collapse of the industry if the process went unchecked. Therefore it is critical for planners of tourism development to consider environmental protection and conservation in addition to the economic and socio-cultural factors determining the sustainability of the tourism product. While the economic sustainability of tourism is widely agreed to be dependent Elizabeth Thomas-Hope is the James Seivright Moss-Solomon (Snr) Professor of Environmental Management and Adonna Jardine-Comrie is a Junior Research Fellow, both in the Department of Geography and Geology, University of the West Indies, Mona, Kingston 7, Jamaica; email: elizabeth.thomashope@uwimona.edu.jm Paper submitted June 2005; revised paper received April 2006 and accepted May 2006. IDPR29_1_5_Hope.indd 93 IDPR29_1_5_Hope.indd 93 15/6/07 12:09:32 15/6/07 12:09:32