ABSTRACT
Caribbean Small Island States encompass multiple forms of land-sea resources, and sandy beaches and riverbanks are of particular interest due to multiple pressures on these resources from tourism developments and construction activities. Access to, and appropriation of, these resources are characterised by rules in use regarding excludability and subtractability. Yet these rules undergo constant changes associated with (de)commonisation, as resource users continually challenge or reinforce the prevailing regime through their actions. These changes lead to shifts in the characterisation of resource systems across the topology of resource types from (i.e., public, private, club, and common pool resources). For example, beaches can be transformed from public resources to club resources as tourist resorts attempt to enclose public spaces. This transformation places increased pressure on sand from beaches and riverbanks through the act of sand mining, which supports the construction of infrastructure for tourism. A major concern moving forward is ensuring the institutional framework develops quickly enough, and in the proper direction, in order to avoid unsustainable resource use and its breadth of impacts in the face of processes of (de)commonisation.
