Tiempo Climate Cyberlibrary
Small Islands - Big Potential
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Ambassador Anwarul K. Chowdhury discusses the
current status of small island developing states in
the context of the Barbados Programme of Action for
the Sustainable Development of Small Island
Developing States.
The author is United Nations
Under-Secretary-General and High Representative for
the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing
Countries and Small Island Developing States and
Secretary-General of the Mauritius International
Meeting for the Review of the Barbados Programme of
Action.
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Ten years ago, the international community gathered in
Barbados to agree on a broad-based plan
of action for the sustainable development of the small
island developing states (SIDS). The plan covers 40-plus
such islands sprinkled all over our planet, ranging from
Tuvalu (with the smallest population, of 10,000) to Papua
New Guinea (the largest, with five million) - two big
concentrations being in the Caribbean and the Pacific.
Vulnerability - economic, environmental and social -
continues to be a major concern for countries in their
development efforts. No single group of countries is as
vulnerable as these small island states, and that places
them at a distinct disadvantage compared to larger
countries. Beyond their idyllic natural beauty lies a
fragility that makes these countries so vulnerable that
they needed to draw up a special global endeavour to
overcome their complex challenges and make their
development sustainable.
Their smallness is compounded by remoteness, isolation
from the mainstream of the world economy and international
trading system, ecological fragility and environmental
degradation, marine pollution, and over-dependency on
tourism as a major source of national earning. All these
factors contribute to their slow and complex development
process.
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 While images of swaying palm
trees and white-sand beaches prevail in the
world's imagination, they are only one part of
the story. In truth and in fact, the remoteness and
isolation of Palau make it a very difficult place to
develop a self-reliant economy, provide medical care
and education to its people, and deter aggression and
terrorism. Fuel and transportation prices are among
the highest in the world and our most promising hope
for the development of a sustainable economy, our
pristine environment, is threatened by factors beyond
our control, such as the failure of all
industrialized countries to come to an agreement to
implement the Kyoto Protocol.
Sandra S. Pierantozzi, Vice-President,
Palau
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SIDS contribute the least to global climate change and
sea-level rise, but suffer most from their adverse effects
and could, in some cases, become uninhabitable, as
indicated in the Barbados Programme of Action. It has been
rightly observed that "as island societies strive to
raise living standards for growing numbers of people and
struggle to survive in a complex global economy, they often
sacrifice the fragile ecosystems which are among the most
valuable assets." They continue to experience stress
that they can hardly cope with by themselves.
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 As an island nation, Sao Tome and
Principe continues to see our very existence
threatened by global warming. Our shorelines erode,
our national territory shrinks as the seas rise. Is
my small country to end up nothing but a tiny
volcanic peak sticking up above the waves with the
last of our people clinging to the land left
unclaimed by the rising sea? The Kyoto Protocol must
be implemented by all for the benefit of all.
Fradique Bandeira de Melo de Menezes, President,
Sao Tome and Principe
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Both in its Millennium
Declaration of 2000 and in the development goals
identified in that historic document, the United Nations
has recognized SIDS' special needs. The Barbados
Programme of Action of 1994 is the first ever
intergovernmental policy prescription to integrate the
small islands into the world economy. But after decade-long
serious efforts, this well-crafted and elaborate document
has remained largely unimplemented. The well-intentioned
commitments in 14 priority areas have failed to get the
required political will to turn them into real actions.
The "new and equitable partnerships for sustainable
development" promised to them have remained elusive.
The need for national-level action has been repeatedly
emphasized, but it has been often forgotten that these
countries have limited capacity to respond to the
never-ending challenges they face and to recover from
recurring disasters. Despite all the demanding
national-level actions they have undertaken, the requisite
external support has persistently evaded them.
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 Along with other low-lying island
nations, we are most vulnerable to the impacts of
climate change. We are already experiencing these
dramatic effects - sea levels are rising, weather
patterns are changing, and coral reef systems are
being harmed. Urgent action is needed at the global
level to halt and ultimately reverse the devastating
impacts of climate change. Without such global
action, our national efforts at sustainable
development will ultimately be rendered
meaningless.
Kessai Note, President, Marshall Islands
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A serious effort was made in September 1999 - at a
two-day special session of the United Nations General
Assembly - to conduct a five-year review of the Barbados
Programme, but the outcome did not have the desired effect
of galvanizing the global support the SIDS needed. Indeed
the overall disbursement of international assistance to
them has fallen from US$2.9 billion in 1994 to US$1.7
billion in 2002. Though the Millennium Declaration, the
Monterrey Consensus
and the Johannesburg Plan of
Implementation all recognized their special needs,
international support to these countries has been
minimal.
Now the General Assembly has decided to undertake a
ten-year review at the International
Meeting in Mauritius in January 2005. The host country
is also the chair of the Alliance of Small Island
States, the group that has the responsibility of
substantive negotiations on behalf of these countries. With
nearly a decade's experience of the implementation
process, the United Nations is well placed to articulate a
worthwhile outcome at Mauritius.
We must keep the focus on an outcome that is practical,
cost effective, benefits the neediest in society - and is,
above all, implementable. Focus on key priorities through
enhanced regional integration would surely be considered a
pragmatic approach. As we engage ourselves in the ten-year
review of the Barbados Programme, the prospects for
enhanced international development assistance are not in
any way significant. Hence, a greater degree of realism is
called for in the exercise we are embarking upon,
especially in the priorities that the SIDS intend to set
for themselves. Importantly, we have to determine what
worked against the effective and speedy implementation of
the Barbados Programme.
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 Grenada and Haiti are now in a
condition comparable to a massive bombardment.
Against this backdrop, I urge the United Nations -
every single nation large and small - to intervene in
those two Caribbean countries devastated by recent
hurricanes. The two Caribbean countries are
certifiably disaster areas. In this age of
globalization, where the emphasis is on bigness,
being small is definitely a disadvantage of major
magnitude. Small economies cannot easily diversify
production. Jobs are concentrated in a limited number
of industries, namely agriculture, tourism and
services. Tragically, we are now encountering a
situation where our unemployed young people are
easily induced into the drug trade.
Baldwin Spencer, Prime Minister, Antigua and
Barbuda
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The smallness and the remoteness of SIDS continue to
pose serious problems in providing international aid and
enhancing foreign investments. In many cases projects and
programmes are not viable when targeted for specific
countries. However, many of the social, economic and human
development projects and programmes could prove viable and
yield better results when SIDS band together to integrate
their economies and meet common challenges.
The small island developing countries need to increase
their efforts to hasten the pace of regional economic
integration. However, it is worth noting that, at the
regional level, they have made advances in putting
appropriate policy frameworks and arrangements into place
to integrate their economic, social and environmental
approaches to a sustainable development focus. These
actions - including significant initiatives by the Pacific
Islands Forum and the Caribbean Community - will
undoubtedly help them to maximize the opportunities
available.
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 As we begin negotiations with the
European Union for the continuation of [existing
trade] arrangements, we are finding to our dismay
that the World Trade Organization's insistence on
free and open trade will effectively mean for many
African, Caribbean and Pacific countries, including
Fiji, a massive loss in export earnings from reduced
prices. For our sugar industry, the direct
consequence will inevitably be that the price the
cane farmers receive will fall substantially below
their production costs. These WTO hurdles are made
more difficult by the loss of competitive margins
through the withdrawal of schemes like the
Generalized System of Preferences. The consequence is
that many small island developing states, already
disadvantaged by their smallness, distance from
export markets, and regular devastation from natural
disasters are now faced with serious uncertainty over
their economic prospects.
Laisenia Qarase, Prime Minister, Fiji
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Attracting more foreign direct investment to take
advantage of SIDS' economic potential and to strengthen
the hands of the domestic private sector is easier said
than done. Their inherent handicaps - particularly small
populations, lack of technological sophistication and
narrow resource bases - pose obstacles in competing for the
foreign direct investment needed if they are to avail
themselves of the opportunities offered by the
globalization process. Globalization is based on
opportunities for cost reduction and economies of scale,
which small islands cannot easily offer. Special and
creative ways and means must be found to attract foreign
investments.
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 Our Pacific island nations, including my
own country, know from bitter experience of cyclones
that regularly batter our region, of the
disheartening effect of disasters in setting back in
a matter of hours hard-earned development
achievements of many years. SIDS concerns and the
vulnerability of our nations are therefore quite
real. While we accept the primary responsibility for
achieving the goals of the [Barbados] Programme of
Action, the reality is that the support of the
international community is indispensable to success.
Trade is a vital component of sustainable development
especially for small island developing states. We
therefore continue to urge that the vulnerabilities
of small states are taken into full account in the
WTO negotiations particularly with regard to special
and differential treatment for small economies.
Tuila'Epa Sailele Malielegaoi, Prime Minister,
Samoa
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The effectiveness of the monitoring mechanism is key in
implementing any negotiated document among governments. It
is also important to set the right tone by sequencing a
congenial and practical negotiating process among all
stakeholders. Regional meetings in Samoa, Cape Verde,
Seychelles, and Trinidad and Tobago brought in an elaborate
set of recommendations, which were blended together in a
SIDS strategy paper at an interregional gathering in the
Bahamas in January this year. There was then a three-day
preparatory meeting in New York in mid-April involving SIDS
and all their development partners.
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 Today in Grenada there is no
economy, no functioning government as we have come to
accept that term, and a highly traumatized civil
society. The crisis in Grenada, occasioned by nature,
prompts St. Vincent and Grenadines to give the
highest priority to the International Conference in
Mauritius in January of next year when the specific
and distinct problems of small island developing
states will be highlighted. We will be stressing the
need for the international community to take urgent
action on the problem of global warming and climate
change which, if left unchecked, could lead in this
century to a global human and economic calamity.
Ralph Gonsalves, Prime Minister, Saint Vincent and
Grenadines
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If the Mauritius meeting is to have a meaningful outcome
that has the maximum support of the international
community, it is essential that the donor countries,
relevant United Nations entities, multilateral financial
institutions, the private sector and civil society
enthusiastically participate in and contribute to this
process. The spirit of partnership is the most important
ingredient in making the outcome worthwhile and its
realization possible. The international community, equipped
with the lessons of the last ten years, now needs to come
together to support - in real terms - the genuine
aspirations of the small island developing states and their
determined effort for a new resurgence in Mauritius to
bring true benefit and progress for the women, men and
children of this most vulnerable segment of humanity.
Recognizing this reality, our slogan for the Mauritius
International Meeting should appropriately be "Small
Islands, Big Potential".
Further information
Francois Coutu, Development Section, Strategic
Communication Division, UN Department of Public
Information, Room S-1040 G, United Nations, New York, NY
10017, USA. Email: coutu@un.org. Web: www.un.org/smallislands2005/.
Nosh Nalavala, Communications and Media Officer, UN Office
of the High Representative, 336 East 45th Street, UH-807,
New York, NY 10017, USA. Fax: +1-917-3673415. Email:
nalavala@un.org. Web:
www.un.org/ohrlls/.
On the Web
Further information concerning the review of progress in
implementing the Barbados
Programme of Action for the Sustainable Development of
Small Island Developing States can be found at the conference
website. The Tiempo Climate Cyberlibrary presents a
listing of theme
sites on Small Island Developing States.
Acknowledgements
The main text of this feature is taken, with permission,
from an article published in Our Planet (Volume 15,
Issue 1, 2004). The quotations are taken from speeches in
the opening week of the 59th Session of the United Nations
General Assembly in September 2004. A webcast of the
declarations and the full text of the statements are
available.
The editors thank Francois Coutu of the Strategic
Communication Division of the UN Department of Public
Information and Nosh Nalavala of the UN Office of the High
Representative for their assistance.
