Country Comments

Grenada is a small island nation in the South Caribbean Sea. Its current population and consumption level exceeds the carrying capacity by about 30% for the island to be sustainable. Grenada’s economy is largely dependent on tourism, agriculture and fisheries. The intensity of sand mining on beaches; mangrove harvesting for firewood; use of sensitive land and marine areas for developmental purposes without the necessary safeguards being in place are all having negative environmental impacts on Grenada’s environment. (1)

Grenada’s fertility rate hovers around replacement level. Since 1995, Grenada has made significant strides toward health and social equity through the building up of existing legal frameworks; continued provision of universal primary education; provision of universal primary health care services; and programmes to address poverty, sustainable development; youth programmes and leadership.Women have achieved positions of highest prominence, including Governor General and serving as President of the Senate and the upper House of Parliament. The literacy rate is currently indicated to be 98%. Grenada has reached its goal of providing equal access of girls to education. This feat was accomplished when Grenada achieved the benchmark of providing tax payer funded compulsory universal primary education to all. (2)

If Grenada can stay the course it will begin to realize a declining population in the near future and be on a positive path to achieving long term sustainability.

(1)https://www4.unfccc.int/sites/NAPC/Documents/Parties/Grenada_National%20Climate%20Change%20Policy%202017-2021.pdf National Climate Change Policy for Grenada, Carriacou and Petite Martinique (2017-2021)

UN/ECLAC (2) https://www.cepal.org/mujer/noticias/paginas/3/51823/Grenada_Review_Beijing_20.pdf