GEO Small islands developing states outlook (original) (raw)
Related papers
2013
The Institute of International Relations (IIR) held the SIDS +20 Forum in June 2013. In keeping with the Institute's mandate and vision, it brought together regional academics, non governmental organisations and policy makers to discuss the issues relevant to Small Island Developing States in the context of the regional preparations for the Third International Conference on SIDS (SIDS+20) then taking place in the three SIDS regions: Pacific, Caribbean and Atlantic and Indian Oceans, Mediterranean and South China Seas (AIMS) regions. The SIDS +20 Conference will be held in Samoa in September 2014. It marks an evolution in the international understanding of and engagement with the issues of small states and offers a unique opportunity to SIDS to chart their own development course and the way in which the global community can engage with these islands in the medium and long term.New partnerships, the new focus on their large marine space and the value of unique marine ecosystems an...
Topographic and thematic (in)visibility of Small Island Developing States in a world map
International Journal of Maps, 2020
Many world maps visualize global data to represent the statistical and spatial relationships among countries. These maps are typically printed in reports or displayed online at a small scale. At such scale, small nations are difficult to perceive or even disappear, as is often the case for Small Island Developing States (SIDS), a group of more than fifty island states designated by the United Nations for their social, economic and environmental vulnerabilities. While the United Nations aims to address the social, economic and environmental challenges worldwide through the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), SIDS can be missing from maps presenting SDG indicator data. This constitutes five percent of the world population missing from maps. We propose maps and visual representations to address the perceptibility of SIDS and the availability of their indicator data to offer a more complete visualization of the status towards achieving the SDGs.
Development Characteristics of Small Island Developing States
2019
This rapid literature review explores whether there are specific characteristics of Small Island Developing States (SIDS), or a subgroup of SIDS, which mean that income alone is an inaccurate measure of development. The SIDS classification is a technical and political term used to identify those countries that are considered to face specific and increasing challenges due to their geographic characteristics, remoteness, small landmass, small populations, small size of economy, high exposure to external environmental and economic shocks, and due to the climate crisis 1 (World Bank, 2016; OECD, 2018). The SIDS classification began to gain currency in 1992, at the United Nations Rio Conference on Environment and Development, when it was used to identify and draw attention to the SIDS' environmental and developmental commonalities and challenges. There is no agreed definition of SIDS. Depending on the criteria and/or list used to define SIDS, the list of countries that qualify range from 29 countries to 52 countries (using the criteria of the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), or the United Nations Office of the High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States (UN-OHRLLS), respectfully) (OECD, 2018). 2 Key findings Key characteristics of SIDS include: Heterogeneity-The SIDS are a heterogeneous group of countries, spread across the world, with very distinct, and context specific, needs, opportunities and challenges. Development indicators (like income) can disguise the unique challenges faced by the different SIDS. As the development trajectories of developing countries widens, heterogeneity is increasing across all developing countries. The heterogeneity of the SIDS group may also be exacerbated by the lack of agreement on the SIDS criteria, and as membership of the SIDS group is largely by selfappointment. This rapid literature review is not able to judge whether the SIDS' commonalities are more important than their differences, and this is not a focus of the literature, however the OECD (2018) does state that the differences among SIDS "point to the need for tailored development approaches across the group", yet the common challenges they face mean there is "scope for mutual learning". The SIDS are often discussed in their regional subgroupse.g. the Pacific SIDS, the Caribbean SIDS. This rapid literature review did not find other SIDS subgroups that were the subject of extensive focus. However, Alonso, Cortez and Klasen (2014) suggest that it would be beneficial to create some smaller SIDS subgroups along issues-based categorisation. Small country size and remotely located from markets-A defining characteristic of SIDS is that most have small population sizes, and territories that are remotely located from economic markets, and whose people are often diffusely located within. Lower economies of scale and higher costs for provision of state services-Small, dispersed populations mean that domestic markets are small, and state capacity is limited, thus
Global Environment Outlook Small Island Developing States Outlook
2014
GEO SIDS Outlook is a contribution to the 2014 Third International UN Conference on Small Island Developing States, which has an overarching theme of the sustainable development of Small Island Developing States through genuine and durable partnerships. It is also an important and new contribution to UNEP’s Global Environment Outlook that looks at the drivers for change and highlights opportunities and challenges for SIDS in a rapidly changing world. GEO SIDS GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT OUTLOOK
2001
The small island states considered in this chapter are located mainly in the tropics and the subtropics. These island states span the ocean regions of the Pacific, Indian, and Atlantic, as well as the Caribbean and Mediterranean Seas. Because of the very nature of these states, the ocean exerts a major influence on their physical, natural, and socioeconomic infrastructure and activities.
Small Islands, Big Issues Crucial Issues in the Sustainable Development of Small Developing Islands
1995
Most of the world's countries are small. The definition of 'smallness' is of course not quite exact. Small states, even small developing countries differ in many respects. Still, in the case of the small, developing island states - which total 33, making up about 17 per cent of the total membership of the UN - there are many structural similarities. They are, to a large extent, dependent on foreign trade due to their limited and often very poor resource endowment. Some of them are very seriously affected by the long distances not only from the main centres of world output, but also to their neighbouring countries.