Dr Kevon Rhiney, Commonwealth Fellow and lecturer (Department of Geography and Geology, University of the West Indies) considers contemporary social and economic development in Jamaica, in the light of environmental vulnerability and climate change. This series of podcasts explores the contemporary Caribbean today, addressing the region's role as a crucible of modernity from pre-Columbian times, through the eras of mercantilism, slavery and colonialism to today's position of at once both globalised and insular societies, facing new economic and environmental challenges. The set of 15-minute discussions draw on the specialist knowledge of social scientists, diplomats and historians to place the Caribbean, and similar postcolonial societies, in the context of current local and global transition.