The Great Caribbean Region covers the Caribbean Sea, the Gulf of Mexico and adjacent waters of the Atlantic Ocean, being a partly enclosed mass of water, with a total surface of 431 million square kilometres. It is composed by 28 countries and 10 territories of diverse extensions and structures, with a great variety of cultures and political systems representing countries of different degrees of economical. A significant portion of the region�s economical activity is related to its natural resources (UNEP, 1992 ).

The insular Caribbean is inhabited by almost 35 million people, whose economy is highly dependant on coastal and marine areas, mainly through important economical sectors such as tourism and fisheries.

This region represents a combination of the most important geographical and biological diversity of the planet. The diversity of the Caribbean environment contains a significant part of the biological diversity of the tropics.

This work presents a general characterisation of the Caribbean region and identifies the main environmental problems deriving from economical development programmes, highlighting common elements that require joint actions among the different countries of the region.

Taking into account that the two main economical sectors are tourism and fisheries, which are directly related to the conservation and sustainable use of coastal and marine biological diversity, this work refers to the important problems and consequences of those sectors. At the same time proposing basic guidelines and priority actions to harmonise their role in relation to the economical development respectful of the principles of sustainable use of the coastal and marine resources.

Additionally, it presents the Cuban experience on fisheries and tourism development, in which adequate planing and integration of the environmental dimension plays a significant role in the design of sectoral development plans, taking as a case study the Archipelago Sabana Camaguey, north central region of Cuba, with a rich biological diversity and one of the most important areas of fish exploitation and tourism development.