The Protected Landscape Approach - Centre for Mediterranean ...

13. Protected landscapes and seascapes and their relevance to SIDS in the Caribbean
Conclusion
The thirst for land and the scarcity of such an essential asset in SIDS makes it impossible to
adopt the traditional models of protected areas where public ownership of all land is considered
a prerequisite. Caribbean people are aware of the need to conserve the natural and cultural
heritage of their islands, for that is all they have in a hostile global environment, which is less
friendly to their vulnerabilities. Their unique historical circumstances also make land owner -
ship a precondition to progress, and a form of negation of an exploitive mode of production that
relegated Caribbean people to “hewers of wood and drawers of water.” Land ownership is an
affirmation of self and as Cesaire (1996) has told us:
… and now we know that our land too is within the orbit of the sun, which shines on this
little plot we have willed for ourselves, that without constraint we are free to move
heaven, earth and the stars.
A protected area category that deprives Caribbean people from owning land will never be
acceptable, as it goes against their aspirations and realities. The Protected Landscape/Seascape
and Managed Resource Reserve categories are therefore most relevant as they take into
consideration the needs of Small Island Developing States.
189