Small Island Developing States

In the International Law terminology SIDS refers to the Small Island Developing States. SIDS are the islands that are located in the Africa, Indian Ocean, South China Sea, the Caribbean and the Pacific...As per the UN website, the term SIDS collectively refers to around 40 islands that are spread across the aforementioned geographical region and have made their own substantial contribution to the world community. You may be surprised to know that Cuba, Fiji, Kiribati, Haiti, Trinidad&Tobago, Jamaica etc are some of the members of the SIDS.

So what is unique or special about the SIDS? In the 1992, Rio de Janeiro Conference on Environment and Development wherein the SIDS were called for this special status for the first time, the global community accepted that SIDS are a special case of environment and development. SIDS population are known for their innovative and indigenous approach to development and they play a crucial role in the protection of traditional knowledge. 

http://www.un.org/en/events/islands2014/smallislands.shtml The above given link will take you through the important initiatives that has been taken till date towards the protection of the SIDS from environmental hazards. You must have come across an interesting news recently where the island of Kiribati said that their nation acquired land in Fiji in order to shift their population to Fiji in the wake of the deepening environmental crisis http://www.climate.gov.ki/tag/government-of-kiribati/. The SIDS are hugely susceptible to global warming and sea level rise. Many of the member nations fear that they will lose their territories and resources to the inevitable consequences of sea level rise. More details and images of SIDS are available at  http://www.grida.no/publications/msv_tvis/page.aspx?id=4512

Considering the heightening significance surrounding SIDS, the UN General Assembly declared 2014 as the International Year of SIDS to commend these small island nations for their contribution to the world community as well as to work in synergy towards the protection of SIDS. The international year of SIDS also witnessed the 3rd International Conference in Small Island Developing States that was held in Samoa in September 2014. This Conference gave way to the SAMOA (SIDS Accelerated Modalities of Action) Pathway. The theme for this year's conference has been "The sustainable development of small island developing states through genuine and durable partnerships". The SAMOA Pathway goes on to reaffirm the global commitment that were established through the Barbados Action Plan and Mauritius Strategy towards enhancing sustainable development of SIDS. Paragraph 24 of the SAMOA Pathway produces the concise version of the commitment that was entered into.

 As it is vitally important to support the efforts of small island developing States to build resilient societies and economies, we recognize that beyond the rich ecosystems of those States, people are their greatest resource. In order to achieve sustained, inclusive and equitable growth with full and productive employment, social protection and the creation of decent work for all, small island developing States, in partnership with the international community, will seek to increase investment in the education and training of their people. Migrants and diaspora communities and organizations also play an important role in enhancing development in their communities of origin. Sound macroeconomic policies and sustainable economic management, fiscal predictability, investment and regulatory certainty, responsible borrowing and lending and debt sustainability are also critical, as is the need to address high rates of unemployment, particularly among youth, women and persons with disabilities.

The participants at the Conference have also emphasised on the concept of sustainable tourism through agritourism, ecotourism and cultural tourism and enhanced community participation. Further, towards a better regulatory mechanism to tackle climate change, the SAMOA Pathway calls for the following measures. 

(a) To build resilience to the impacts of climate change and to improve their adaptive capacity through the design and implementation of climate change adaptation measures appropriate to their respective vulnerabilities and economic, environmental and social situations;

(b) To improve the baseline monitoring of island systems and the downscaling of climate model projections to enable better projections of the future impacts on small islands;

(c) To raise awareness and communicate climate change risks, including through public dialogue with local communities, to increase human and environmental resilience to the longer-term impacts of climate change;

(d) To address remaining gaps in capacity for gaining access to and managing climate finance.

The SAMOA Pathway is a useful read for all those who are interested in further details about SIDS. The document incorporates the developments in the field since Rio de Janeiro and covers a good fraction of the multitudinal concerns pertaining to SIDS ranging from trade and sustainable transportation to poverty eradication, women empowerment and gender equality. You can find the complete text here.http://www.sids2014.org/index.php?menu=1537. The concerns surrounding SIDS was deliberated in detail in the recently concluded General Debate for the 69th UN General Assembly also.