Conservation Versus Development

This episode of THE HISTORY OF THE CARIBBEAN investigates the high-stakes conflict between rapid economic development and the survival of our islands' natural ecosystems. Since the nineteen seventies, the Caribbean has undergone a radical transformation, pivoting from an agricultural past to a global tourism mandate that has reshaped our coastlines and our future. We examine the systematic dismantling of mangrove forests and the destruction of coral reefs—natural defense systems that were sacrificed to build the mega-resorts and all-inclusive enclaves that now dominate the shorelines of Jamaica, Barbados, and the Dominican Republic. This is not just a story of changing landscapes; it is an exploration of the environmental cost of progress and the privatization of our public resources.