INTRODUCTION

This monograph examines a number of environmental and economic issues relating to island development. The chapters are based on papers first presented at the Commonwealth Geographical Bureau Conference on Small Island Development held in Malta in March 1990. The conference brought together about forty researchers from fifteen Commonwealth and four non-Commonwealth countries and was pitched at a broad level, not only to ensure the widest possible geographical coverage, but also to draw comprehensive material from islands at very different stages in the development process to see what lessons could be learned and exchanged.