Natural Resource Management and Development Discourses in the Caribbean: reflections on the Guyanese and Jamaican experience

International discourses on environment and development help to shape global shared understandings of environmental issues. This paper describes the environment and development history of Guyana and Jamaica through pre-colonial, colonial, independence and market liberalisation stages. Two opposing discourses are used to frame this history: a dominant global environmental discourse characterised by technical and ‘scientific’ expertise and hierarchical governance; and a counter-discourse emphasising local control over natural resources. This analysis serves as a first step in surfacing and understanding the highly complex and multifaceted nature of environmental issues in these locations. However, we conclude with the recognition that further work should go beyond a bipolar analysis to one taking a critical, multidimensional approach, in order to promote more sustainable management of natural resources than has previously taken place.