Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Islands and Sustainability

  • Reference work entry
  • First Online:
The Palgrave Handbook of Global Sustainability

Abstract

Concepts of sustainable development have become more subtle and complex, elaborated in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Definitions of sustainability vary. Island economies have also become more complex as livelihoods have evolved, with islands increasingly part of rapidly changing and wider worlds, so facing multiple challenges to conventional development. Sustainability is a scalar and temporal phenomenon, with tensions between social, economic, and environmental circumstances and strategies, usually accentuated in island contexts. Development and sustainability have repeatedly acquired new meanings. Progress toward sustainability in islands and island states is hampered by multiple challenges, including limited and threatened biodiversity, migration, resource deficits, shortages of skilled human resources, lack of capital, weak governance and management, inadequate data (and problems of interpretation), social divisions, and simultaneous quests for modernity (and superior incomes) and conservation. The tourism sector emphasizes how sustainability is particularly difficult to achieve on small islands, as local interests, themselves diverse, differ from those of outsiders, whether entrepreneurs, politicians, or the variety of tourists.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 799.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 1,299.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Addinsall C, Glencross K, Scherrer P, Weiler B, Nichols D (2015) Agroecology and sustainable rural livelihoods: a conceptual framework to guide development projects in the Pacific Islands. Agroecol Sustain Food Syst 39:691–723

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Addinsall C, Weiler B, Scherrer P, Glencross K (2017) Agroecological tourism: bridging conservation, food security and tourism goals to enhance smallholders’ livelihoods on South Pentecost, Vanuatu. J Sustain Tour 25(8):1100–1116

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baldacchino G, Kelman I (2014) Critiquing the pursuit of island sustainability. Shima 8(2):1–21

    Google Scholar 

  • Bayliss-Smith T, Bedford R, Brookfield H, Latham M (1988) Islands, islanders and the world. In: The colonial and post-colonial experience of Eastern Fiji. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press

    Google Scholar 

  • Bianchi RV (2004) Tourism restructuring and the politics of sustainability: a critical view from the European periphery (the Canary Islands). J Sustain Tour 12(6):495–529

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Boonchai C, Beeton R (2016) Sustainable development in the Asian century: an inquiry of its understanding in Phuket, Thailand. Sustain Develop 24(2):109–123

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bragagnolo C, Pereira M, Ng K, Calado H (2016) Understanding and mapping local conflicts related to protected areas in small islands: a case study of the Azores archipelago. Island Stud J 11(1):57–90

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Braudel F (1966/1972) The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean world in the age of Philip II. Harper and Row, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Brison K (2003) Imagining modernity in rural Fiji. Ethnology 42:335–348

    Google Scholar 

  • Buggy L, McNamara K (2016) The need to reinterpret ‘community’ for climate change adaptation: a case study of Pele Island, Vanuatu. Clim Dev 8(3):270–280

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Calandra M, Wencélius J, Moussa R, Gache C, Berthe C et al (2022) Local perceptions of socio-ecological drivers and effects of coastal armoring: the case of Moorea, French Polynesia. Popul Environ 43:423–443

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Christensen A (2011) Marine gold and atoll livelihoods: the rise and fall of the bêche-de-mer trade on Ontong Java, Solomon Islands. Nat Res Forum 35:9–20

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Connell J (1993) Bali revisited: death, rejuvenation, and the tourist cycle. Environ Plan D 11(6):641–661

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Connell J (2007a) The Fiji times and the good citizen. Constructing modernity and nationhood in Fiji. Contemp Pac 19:85–109

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Connell J (2007b) Holding on to modernity? Siwai, Bougainville, Papua New Guinea. In: Connell J, Waddell E (eds) Environment development and change in rural Asia-Pacific. Routledge, London, pp 127–146

    Google Scholar 

  • Connell J (2008) Niue: embracing a culture of migration. J Ethn Migr Stud 34:1021–1040

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Connell J (2013) Islands at risk? In: Environments, economies and contemporary change. Edward Elgar, Cheltenham

    Google Scholar 

  • Connell J (2015) Food security in the island Pacific: is Micronesia as far away as ever? Reg Environ Chang 15(7):1299–1311

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Connell J, Conway D (2000) Migration and remittances in island microstates: a comparative perspective on the South Pacific and the Caribbean. Int J Urban Reg Res 24(1):52–78

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Connell J, Rugendyke B (2008) Tourism and local – people in the Asia-Pacific region. In: Connell J, Rugendyke B (eds) Tourism at the grassroots. Routledge, Abingdon, pp 1–40

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Connor L (2016) Climate change and anthropos: plant, people and places. Routledge, London

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Conrad E, Cassar L (2014) Decoupling economic growth and environmental degradation: reviewing progress to date in the small island state of Malta. Sustainability 6:1

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cooke B, Kothari U (2001) Participation. The new tyranny? Zed, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Corbett J, Connell J (2015) All the world is a stage: global governance, human resources and the ‘problem’ of smallness. Pac Rev 28(3):435–459

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dearing J, Acma B, Bub C, Chambers F et al (2015) Social-ecological systems in the Anthropocene: the need for integrating social and biophysical records at regional scales. Anthr Rev 2(3):220–246

    Google Scholar 

  • Di Napoli D, Lipo C, Hunt T (2021) Triumph of the commons: sustainable community practices on Rapa Nui (Easter Island). Sustainability 13(21):1211

    Google Scholar 

  • Diamond J (2005) Collapse. In: How societies choose to fail or survive. Allen Lane, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Diedrich A, Aswani S (2016) Exploring the potential impacts of tourism development on social and ecological change in the Solomon Islands. Ambio 45:808–818

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dodds R (2007) Malta’s tourism policy: standing still or advancing towards sustainability. Island Stud J 2(1):47–66

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dodds R (2010) Koh Phi Phi: moving towards or away from sustainability. Asia Pac J Tour Res 15(3):251–265

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dornan M (2015) Renewable energy development in small island developing states of the Pacific. Resources 4:490–506

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Estes E (2013) Sustainability as a key to the future for St. Thomas, United States Virgin Islands. J Tour Res 6:97–118

    Google Scholar 

  • Fabinyi M, Evans L, Foale S (2014) Social-ecological systems, social diversity, and power: insights from anthropology and political ecology. Ecol Soc 19(4):28

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Farbotko C (2010) ‘The global warming clock is ticking so see these places while you can’: voyeuristic tourism and model environmental citizens on Tuvalu’s disappearing islands. Singap J Trop Geogr 34(2):224–238

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ferraro G, Failler P (2022) Biodiversity conservation and the role of policy resources: the case of Saint Helena. Sustainability 14(3):1250

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Foale S (2001) “Where’s our development?” Landowner aspirations and environmentalist agendas in Western Solomon Islands. Asia Pacific Journal of Amthropology, 2:44–67

    Google Scholar 

  • Foukona J, Timmer J (2016) The culture of agreement making in Solomon Islands. Oceania 86(2):116–131

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ginard-Bosch F, Ramos-Martin J (2016) Energy metabolism of the Balearic Islands (1986–2012). Ecol Econ 124:25–35

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gonzalez-Morales O, Alvarez-Gonzalez J, Sanfiel-Fumero M, Armas-Cruz Y (2016) Governance, corporate social responsibility and cooperation in sustainable tourist destinations: the case of the island of Fuerteventura. Island Stud J 11(2):561–584

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gössling S (2003) Tourism and development in Tropical Islands: political ecology perspectives. In: Gössling S (ed) Tourism and development in Tropical Islands: political ecology perspectives. Edward Elgar, Cheltenham, pp 1–37

    Google Scholar 

  • Gruby R, Campbell L (2013) Scalar politics and the region: strategies for transcending Pacific Island smallness on a global environmental governance stage. Environ Plan A 45:2046–2063

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grydehøj A, Kelman I (2017) The eco-island trap: climate change mitigation and conspicuous sustainability. Area 49(1):106–113

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grynberg R, Razzaque M (2004) The trade performance of small states. Commonwealth Secretariat, London

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Gunter V, Kroll-Smith S (2007) Volatile Places. In: A sociology of communities and environmental controversies. Pine Forge Press, Thousand Oaks

    Google Scholar 

  • Hampton M (2013) Backpacker tourism and economic development. Routledge, London

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Hirano S (2008) The development of National Sustainable Development Strategies in Small Island developing states. In: Strachan J, Vigilance C (eds) Sustainable development in Small Island developing states. Commonwealth Secretariat, London, pp 4–9

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Horlings L, Kanemasu Y (2015) Sustainable development and policies in rural regions: insights from the Shetland Islands. Land Use Policy 9:310–321

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hoyman M, McCall G (2013) Is there trouble in paradise? The perspectives of Galapagos community leaders on managing economic development and environmental conservation through ecotourism policies and the special law of 1998. J Ecotour 12(1):33–48

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Junker J, Boesch C, Mundry R et al (2015) Education and access to fish but not economic development predict chimpanzee and mammal occurrence in West Africa. Biol Conserv 182:27–35

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jupiter S, Wenger A, Klein C et al (2017) Opportunities and constraints for implementing integrated land-sea management on islands. Environ Conserv 44(3):254–266

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kelman I (2021) Critiques of island sustainability in tourism. Tour Geogr 23(3):397–414

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kelman I, Randall J (2018) Resilience and sustainability. In: Baldacchino G (ed) The Routledge international handbook of island studies. Routledge, London, pp 353–367

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Kirch P (1986) Exchange systems and inter-island contact in the transformation of an island society: the Tikopia case. In: Kirch P (ed) Island societies. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, pp 33–41

    Google Scholar 

  • Knauft B (2002) Exchanging the past. In: A rainforest world of before and after. University of Chicago Press, Chicago

    Google Scholar 

  • Kulick D (2019) Death in the rainforest. How a language and a way of life came to an end. In: Papua New Guinea. Algonquin, Chapel Hill

    Google Scholar 

  • Lal P (2008) Rethinking oceans and marine resource management. In: Strachan J, Vigilance C (eds) Sustainable development in Small Island developing states. Commonwealth Secretariat, London, pp 22–43

    Google Scholar 

  • Lauer M, Aswani S (2010) Indigenous knowledge and long-term ecological change: detection, interpretation, and responses to changing ecological conditions in Pacific Island communities. Environ Manag 45:985–997

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lauer M, Atger T, Holbrook S, Rassweiler A, Schmitt R, Wencélius J (2022) Who is perturbed by ecological perturbations? Marine scientists’ and Polynesian fishers’ understandings of a crown-of-thorns starfish outbreak. In: Hoffman S, Eriksen T, Mendes P (eds) Cooling down: local responses to global climate change. Berghahn, Oxford, pp 65–89

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Lester S, White C, Mayall K, Walter R (2016) Environmental and economic implications of alternative cruise ship pathways in Bermuda. Ocean Coast Manag 132:70–79

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mai T, Smith C (2015) Addressing the threats to tourism sustainability using systems thinking: a case study of Cat Ba Island, Vietnam. J Sustain Tour 23(10):1504–1528

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Majdak P, de Almeida A (2022) Pre-emptively managing overtourism by promoting rural tourism in low-density areas: lessons from Madeira. Sustainability 14(2):757

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mathis A, Rose J (2016) Balancing tourism, conservation, and development: a political ecology of ecotourism on the Galapagos Islands. J Ecotour 15(1):64–77

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McNall S, Dang L, Sobieszczyk T (2016) Ecotourism in Costa Rica and Vietnam: is it sustainable? Sustainability 9(3):144–154

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mohan P (2022) Sustainable tourism and the sustainable development goals in sub-national island jurisdictions: the case of Tobago. Island Stud J. (In Press)

    Google Scholar 

  • Moran L, Rau H (2016) Mapping divergent concepts of sustainability: lay knowledge, local practices and environmental governance. Local Environ 21(3):344–360

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moseby K, Labere J, Read J (2012) Landowner surveys inform protected area management: a case study from Tetepare Island, Solomon Islands. Hum Ecol 40:227–235

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mycoo M (2014) Sustainable tourism, climate change and sea level rise adaptation policies in Barbados. Nat Res Forum 38:47–57

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ng S, Chia K, Ho J, Ramachandran S (2017) Seeking tourism sustainability – a case study of Tioman Island, Malaysia. Tour Manag 58:101–107

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • O’Garra T (2012) Economic valuation of a traditional fishing ground on the coral coast of Fiji. Ocean Coast Manag 56:44–55

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Olsson P, Galaz V, Boonstra W (2014) Sustainability transformations: a resilience perspective. Ecol Soc 19(4):1

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Petrou K, Connell J (2017) Food, morality and identity: mobility, remittances and the translocal community in Paama, Vanuatu. Aust Geogr 48(2):219–234

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Petzold J, Ratter B (2015) Climate change adaptation under a social capital approach – an analytical framework for small islands. Ocean Coast Manag 112:36–43

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pizzitutti F, Walsh S, Rindfuss R et al (2017) Scenario planning for tourism management: a participatory and system dynamics model applied to the Galapagos Islands of Ecuador. J Sustain Tour 25(8):1117–1137

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Polido A, Joao E, Ramos T (2014) Sustainability approaches and strategic environmental assessment in small islands: an integrative review. Ocean Coast Manag 96:138–148

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Polman N, Reinhard S, van Bets L, Kuhlman T (2016) Governance of ecosystem services on small islands: three contrasting cases for St Eustatius in the Dutch Caribbean. Island Stud J 11(1):265–284

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Praptiwi R, Maharja C, Fortnam M, Chaigneau T, Evans L et al (2021) Tourism-based alternative livelihoods for Small Island communities transitioning towards a blue economy. Sustainability 13(12):6655

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rantes J, Nunn P, Addinsall S (2022) Sustainable development at the policy-practice nexus: insights from South West Bay, Malakula Island, Vanuatu. Agroecol Sustain Food Syst 46(2):234–250

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ratter B, Petzold J, Sinane K (2016) Considering the locals: coastal construction and destruction in times of climate change on Anjouan, Comoros. Nat Res Forum 40:112–126

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Remling E, Veitayaki J (2016) Community-based action in Fiji’s Gau Island: a model for the Pacific? Int J Clim Change Strateg Manag 8(3):375–398

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rhodes K, Warren-Rhodes K, Sweet S et al (2015) Marine ecological footprint indicates unsustainability of the Pohnpei (Micronesia) coral reef fishery. Environ Conserv 42(2):182–190

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rodriguez-Urrego D, Caňadillas-Ramallo D, González-Dias B, Guerrero-Lemus R (2022) Analysis of the water-energy Nexus applied to an insular system: case study of Tenerife. Sustainability 14(3):1653

    Google Scholar 

  • Rudiak-Gould P (2014) Climate change and tradition in a Small Island state. In: The Rising Tide. Routledge, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Russell J, Kueffer C (2019) Island biodiversity in the Anthropocene. Annu Rev Env Resour 44:31–60

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sanchez-Canizares S, Castillo-Canalejo A (2014) Community-based island tourism: the case of Boa Vista in Cape Verde. Int J Cult Tour Hosp Res 8(2):219–233

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Scheyvens R, Hughes E (2015) Tourism and CSR in the Pacific. In: Pratt S, Harrison D (eds) Tourism in Pacific Islands. Routledge, London, pp 134–147

    Google Scholar 

  • Scoones I (2009) Livelihood perspectives and rural development. J Peasant Stud 36(1):171–196

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Scoones I (2016) The politics of sustainability and development. Annu Rev Env Resour 41:293–319

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Singh E, Milne S, Hull J (2015) Linkages between tourism and agriculture: stakeholder perspectives and online marketing and promotion on the island of Niue. In: Pratt S, Harrison D (eds) Tourism in Pacific Islands. Routledge, London, pp 165–179

    Google Scholar 

  • Slezak M (2016) The paradise island split by a furry foe. Guardian Weekly 26 February:32–33

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith MF (2002) Village on the edge: changing times in Papua New Guinea. University of Hawai’i Press, Honolulu

    Google Scholar 

  • Sroypetch S (2016) The mutual gaze: host and guest perceptions of socio-cultural impacts of backpacker tourism: a case study of the Yasawa Islands, Fiji. J Mar Island Cult 5:133–144

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Storey D, Hunter S (2010) Kiribati: An environmental perfect storm. Australian Geographer 41:167–181

    Google Scholar 

  • Thaman B, Icely J, Fragoso B, Veiteyaki J (2016) A comparison of rural community perceptions and involvement in conservation between the Fiji Islands and Southwestern Portugal. Ocean Coast Manag 133:43–52

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thomas N (1991) Entangled objects. Harvard University Press, Cambridge

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Walpole M, Goodwin H (2000) Local economic impacts of dragon tourism in Indonesia. Ann Tour Res 27:559–576

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wang K, Lee K, Mochtar M (2021) Solid waste management in small tourism islands: an evolutionary governance approach. Sustainability 13(11):5896

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Willmott L, Graci S (2012) Solid waste management in small island destinations. A case study of Gili Trawangan, Indonesia. Téoros Special Issue:71–76

    Google Scholar 

  • Wrighton N, Overton J (2012) Coping with participation in small island states: the case of aid in Tuvalu. Dev Pract 22(2):244–255

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yusuf J, Neill K, St John B et al (2016) The sea is rising … but not onto the policy agenda: a multiple streams approach to understanding sea level rise policies. Environ Plan C Govern Policy 34:228–243

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Geosciences, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia

    John Connell

Authors
  1. John Connell
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to John Connell .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL, USA

    Robert Brinkmann

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2023 The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this entry

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this entry

Connell, J. (2023). Islands and Sustainability. In: Brinkmann, R. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Global Sustainability. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-01949-4_65

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation