tourism

Small tropical islands are rich in biodiversity and host a wide variety of globally threatened ecosystems. These ecosystems are important for coastal protection and tourism, but also for erosion control and making the islands resistant to climate change. At the same time, there are all kinds of factors that cause a lot of pressure on both nature and other forms of land use that crowd together on the small area, such as a growing population and tourism industry, built development, erosion, salt intrusion and climate change, the latter resulting in sea-level rise and more frequent storm events.

Small tropical island are hotspots for biodiversity. Fringing reefs, cacti fields, cloud forests, mangroves and seagrass beds are home to a vast array of exotic animals and plants. Millions of tourists are attracted by this astonishing beauty. Local communities heavily lean on tourism for their economy. At the same time, tourism and global warming put pressure on the island ecosystem.