The report is the first major synthesis document of its kind, since the 1992 Barbados National Report to the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development. The purpose of the present report is to provide an assessment of selected key environmental resources, indicators and themes, identified by a wide range of stakeholders to be of vital importance to Barbados, if the goal of sustainable development is to be achieved. The principal themes examined are land resources, energy and mineral assets, freshwater, coastal and marine resources, biodiversity, atmosphere and climate, and waste management. All of these are intrinsically linked to Barbados economic and social development. It is the Government's wish that the report should serve as an accurate source of information to all citizens, as well as international interests. It is also designed to provide a platform on which future analyses can be built and a yardstick against which Barbados' stewardship in the area of environmental resource management can be objectively assessed.