(put Z re 4S AN INSULAR APPROACH TO SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT Norman J, Quinn', Manuel C. Sablan', and John Furey! The Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) is the 14 northern most islands in the Mariana Island chain in the Western Pacific Ocean with a coastline of over 1,400 km. It is a preeminent tourist destination with considerable natural capital such clear tropical waters, sandy beaches, coral reefs, and mountain vistas. These resources are the source of the islands’ wealth and make them a coveted place to live and visit. In the last couple of decades there has been rapid growth in the island's population and in the number of sea side hotels. However, on small islands space is limited and continued development comes with ever increasing environmental costs. The CNMI economy is heavily dependent on tourism. Agricultural and local fishing industries onty make a small contribution to the territory's economy as much of the food consumed is imported, Other than garment manufacturing and a tuna transshipment industry, there are no major industries that would help to offset the trade imbalance that is characteristic of insular, tourism based economies. Souvenirs, jewelry, and food are imported. The CNMI exhibits the classic behavior of a small, dependent economy that produces what it does not consume and consumes what it does not produce. Economists would agree that any community is in a non-sustainable situation if it consumes more than it produces. External debts will have to be repaid by future generations and this will negatively impact their development potential. Economic and ecological concerns need not be diametrically opposed. Good environmental policy is good economic development policy when the objective is sustainable economic development. For example, policies that preserve vegetation function to reduce erosion and increase the long-term prospects of continued agricultural and fishery production. Because of the nature of these issues a development policy invariably becomes a political process and not just the result of determinations of economists or ecologists. The necessity for governmental involvement in the management of environmentally sensitive land comes from the essentially public character of these resources. Citizens ‘Coastal Resource Management, Box 10000, Saipan, Mariana Islands 96950 355356 COASTAL ZONE ’95 have a right to protect a valuable resource that must be balanced with the American freedom to develop one's land. The CNMI govemment recognizes its intergenerational responsibility with regard to the environment and has developed environment management programs, such as the Coastal Resources Management (CRM) program and others, that are administrated through several government agencies. Legislation alone cannot advance the common welfare. Community awareness, support, and participation are necessary in decisions that affect island communities. The achievement of sustainable development goals must begin with education in the schools and continue throughout one's life. We need to provide citizens with information through out their life about finding a balance between sensitive ecosystems and manmade pressures including tourism, the careful use and recycling of resources, and other issues. Increased community literacy rates, unrestricted access to relevant information, and the availability of alternative technical expertise is essential in promoting an informed public discussion. Sustainable development has been defined as a process of change in which the exploitation of resources, the direction of investments, the orientation of technological development and institutional change are all in harmony and enhance both current and future potential to meet human needs and aspirations. Protection of the environmental is inherent in the concept of sustainable development and promoted the integration of economics and ecology in the decision making and lawmaking processes not just to protect the environment, but also to protect and promote development. Five basic factors determine, and therefore limit, growth on this planet and more quickly on islands - population, agricultural production, natural resources, industrial production, and pollution. The definition of sustainable development implies the determination of limits for these factors for various geopolitical areas and translates them into politically acceptable threshold values beneath which the economy has to remain. Planners suggest that if present growth trends in world population, industrializa- tion, pollution, food production, and resource depletion continue unchanged, the limits to growth on this planet will be reached within the next 100 years. We suggest that small, insular communities will reach this point well before the rest of the world. To ‘be successful, we must first shape a vision of what a healthy, tropical island community should look like environmentally and economically. We need to decide what mix of commercial, residential, industrial and undeveloped land would create a sustainable quality of life and a strong economy with full employment for its citizens. The present CNMI environmental management programs are less than perfect. However we believe that they are a significant effort to legislate a democratic, political solution to deal with the challenge of finding a sustainable development / resource management equilibrium, Small, insular communities are not alone in their problems, nor isolated from others’ problems. Global ecological and economic interdependence is challenging traditional ideas of national sovereignty. Polluters of the open ocean threaten the sustainability of this shared ecosystem. International cooperation and enforcement are needed for the global commons as many nations are interdependent upon their proper management.