Both of these sectors are highly susceptible to price and demand fluctuations of the international market. Sizable inflows of concessionary finance, official grants and net private transfers from abroad sustain development programmes in some parts of the region. Low yields of monocrops and inability to compete with international markets have resulted in a decline in the agricultural economy in the last decade. However, tourism has grown dramatically, representing more than one quarter of the region's total export receipts. Several environmental problems have arisen from tourism, including inadequate waste management, unsustainable water and energy consumption, the use of insecticides to maintain golf courses and gardens, beach erosion and marine degradation.
Agriculture also contributes to land erosion and overuse of water and pesticides.
Economic pressures to increase export crop production, together with tourism construction and expansion, have accelerated the clearing of forests and the establishment of agricultural and urban areas on steep hillsides which are highly susceptible to erosion. This deforestation has also led to a significant loss of wildlife habitat and the subsequent reduction of species diversity. Sustainable development planning is most significantly limited by the lack of public administrative capacity. Legislative, policy and institutional infrastructures for sustainable development are inadequate or lacking. In addition, responsibility for environmental management in most governments is dispersed among various departments and ministries.