A political ecology analysis of tourism development and water equity in Barbados

Abstract

This article mobilizes insights from political ecology analysis. Specifically, it focuses on how power asymmetries between stakeholder groups may or may not produce uneven socio-environmental outcomes in the tourism-water nexus in Barbados. Small Island Developing States (SIDS) like Barbados, which obtains an estimated 90% of its water from groundwater aquifers, are particularly vulnerable to changing patterns of precipitation. While the data collected are preliminary, they point towards the production of uneven socio-environmental outcomes based on very prevalent power asymmetries.