Pacific Calls For Approach To UN Support For SIDS

Pacific Calls For New Approach To UN Support For Small Island Developing States

Vulnerabilities of Pacific SIDS not Addressed by the United Nations

New York, 24 September 2010 – Today at a high level meeting of the General Assembly, President Marcus Stephen of Nauru called for a review of United Nations support to small island developing states (SIDS). Speaking on behalf of a group of eleven Pacific island nations, President Stephen explained that the international community has consistently recognised the unique development challenges of small islands, but has been slow turning good intentions into action.

“Our special combination of geographical, economic, and environmental characteristics make many of our development challenges especially complex and severe,” said President Stephen. These include isolation from major markets, small populations and economies, vulnerability to natural disasters, fragile freshwater supplies, narrow resource bases, and extreme vulnerability to climate change and sea level rise.

The President delivered his call to action at the opening of a two-day meeting to review the Mauritius Strategy, a sustainable development strategy for small islands. Regrettably, progress has been considerably below expectations. President Stephen said, “It is alarming that the vast majority of Pacific SIDS are not on track to reduce basic-needs poverty.” Pacific islands were especially hard hit in the global economic crisis.

Many UN agencies are unable to point to any specific initiatives to address the vulnerabilities of islands. The Pacific islands have called for a comprehensive evaluation of UN support for small island developing states. They are also proposing new structural support mechanisms in the areas of trade and finance.

“We face major obstacles in accessing international finance,” said President Stephen. The Pacific islands are not always eligible for support under many international financial mechanisms - disqualified because of the small size of their projects. They also often lack the capacity to satisfy the extensive monitoring and reporting requirements of some funds. President Stephen also called on developed countries to provide 0.7 percent of their Gross National Product in development assistance, a pledge made 40 years ago and reaffirmed numerous times since.

The greatest threat to the sustainable development of small islands is climate change. President Stephen challenged the lowering of expectations for the climate change negotiations in Cancun, Mexico later this year. “I ask all nations, developed and developing alike, to arrive in Cancun ready to make progress on a fair solution that will ensure the survival of our islands,” said President Stephen. “As leaders, we have a responsibility to protect the security and well being of our people. We cannot fail them on this critical issue.”

On behalf of the Pacific, President Stephen invited the Secretary-General of the UN to visit the region and see first hand the reality of what life is really like in the islands and why UN support is needed.

The Pacific Small Island Developing States work together at the United Nations to raise issues unique to the countries in their region. The members are the missions of Fiji, Federated States of Micronesia, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu. The Republic of Nauru is the current Chair.

(1) On the recommendation of the Earth Summit, in 1992 the General Assembly called for a Global Conference on Environment and Development to address the vulnerabilities of small island developing states and translate Agenda 21 into specific policies, actions and measures to allow SIDS to achieve sustainable development.

(2) The Barbados Conference on the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States was held from 25 April to 6 May 1994 and 111 Governments adopted a Programme of Action which elaborated principles and strategies for the sustainable development for SIDS.

(3) In 2005, the international community met in Mauritius to review the implementation of the Barbados Programme of Action and adopted the Mauritius Strategy for the Further Implementation of the Programme of Action for the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States.

(4) The General Assembly called for a two day meeting to be held in September 2010 to assess progress made in addressing the vulnerabilities of small island developing states through the implementation of the Mauritius Strategy.

ENDS

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