Farmland Management and Biosphere Reserves in the Lesser Antilles Jim Riddle Virgin Islands National Park P.O. Box 7789, Charlotte Amalie St. Thomas, Virgin Islands 00801 USA The Man and the Biosphere Program (MAB), begun in 1971 under UNESCO, seeks to develop the ability of participating countries to manage and conserve natural resources in line with each country's social and economic features. The Biosphere Reserve on St. John, Virgin Islands has been sug- gested as the keystone area for a multiple-site Lesser Antillean Biosphere Reserve in the Lesser Antilles. The MAB Program emphasizes environmental training and education, and incor- porates an interdisciplinary approach in solving resource management problems in the field. One role of the proposed Lesser Antillean Biosphere Reserve would be to encourage im- proved agricultural practices by integrating farm management into an overall land use system in each country. The part small farm systems play in the Lesser Antillean ecological scene is an important one. Few countries can afford to lock up major por- tions of their natural resources from any form of consumptive utilization. Benefits of a Lesser Antillean Biosphere Reserve might include provision for sharing research efforts, restora- tion of degraded environments, and improved quality of life. Keywords: Biosphere Reserve, Integrated Land Use Planning, Lesser Antilles, UNESCO It is well known that no single land management unit, in an insular setting, can be managed without consideration of the other ecosystems found in the islands. Yet, planners often forget this when considering intensely-managed systems such as farmlands. The small-scale farms that dominate the scene in the Lesser Antilles are more susceptible to land use practices on surrounding lands, than are their counterparts in the Greater Antilles and on the continents. Obvious undesirable effects include clear-cutting of forests on the slopes of watersheds above farmlands and dump- ing of harmful chemicals and other pollutants into water supplies used by man and livestock. And, there are many other less ob- vious but important external threats to consider when land use plans are being prepared. External threats to farming systems in the eastern Caribbean have not gone unrecognized (Jackson, 1979; Ramdial, 1971). And, as we look for solutions to these problems, one fact is in- escapable: there is a need for land use management plans that con- sider the whole of an island's resources, not just one ecosystem or one land management zone. This need has been recognized, and there are a few useful guidelines for the preparation of multi- system management plans in the Lesser Antilles (Geoghegan, 1983; Putney, 1979). For the implementation of a successful integrated land use management plan in a particular country, several conditions must prevail: 1. Most importantly, the plan must have the support of the political system governing the country. 2. There must be financial support for the implementation of the plan. 3. The special interests affected by the plan must be willing to subordinate their immediate economic and social well- being to the good of the whole. Here we are concerned about benefits land use plans hold for one particular system: the food production farm system in the eastern Caribbean. As plans are developed (and they are being VOL. XX-PROCEEDINGS of the CARIBBEAN FOOD CROPS SOCIETY developed), it is important that the role of farms in land manage- ment plans be given appropriate consideration. All too often we see the driving forces to be preservationists on the one hand and industrialists on the other, with little input from small-scale resource users such as fishermen and farmers. A Lesser Antillean Biosphere Reserve There is a relatively new concept in planning for management of natural resources, the Biosphere Reserve. In 1971 the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) established the Man and the Biosphere (MAB) pro- gram. Its purpose "is to develop scientific knowledge with a view to the rational management and conservation of natural resources, to train qualified personnel in this field and to disseminate the knowledge acquired both to the decision-makers and the population of each country" (UNESCO, 1982). Under the MAB program there are protected areas called Biosphere Reserves. Over 200 such reserves in about 60 countries have been established to date. Criteria for site selection are varied, but the key element is that the Biosphere Reserve is representative of a particular ecosystem type. In the Antilles, only two Biosphere Reserves have been established, both on islands under the U.S. flag. The Luquillo Experimental Forest in Puerto Rico was designated in 1976, as was the Virgin Islands National Park unit (the latter, however, was not dedicated until 1983). It is recognized that these two units alone cannot represent all of the varied ecosystems (and combina- tions thereof) existing in the West Indies. Putney (1983) presents an analysis of the complex factors in- volved when considering establishment of Biosphere Reserves in the Lesser antilles. Rather than proposing additional Biosphere Resrves on an island-by-island basis, he suggests that a Virgin Islands Biosphere Reserve (encompassing parts of the U.S. and British Virgin Islands), a Leeward Island Biosphere Reserve (in- cluding portions of Guadeloupe, Barbuda, and Sint Maarten), 251