Transition from Economic Progress to Sustainable Development: Missing Links

Conventional economic models have systematically ignored the significance of environmental and natural resources in the development process. Climate change and global warming have now occupied the centre stage in the discussion on growth and development issues for the current and future generations. Consistent with this literature, this chapter focuses on issues that emerge in the systematic transition from economic progress to sustainable development. In the context of small island developing states (SIDS), we hold the view that sustainable development models should incorporate strategies for small-island-specific sectors such as tourism development, natural resource management and marine governance. International cooperation and agreements could be the additional arguments in such models as part of global environmental governance. More specifically, small islands may be adopted as experimental laboratories for climate risk management strategies, which would benefit both the threatened islands in particular and global environmental survival in general.