Small island states need international support - UNCTAD

Small Island Developing States (SIDS) need international support more than ever to build resilient economies, UNCTAD sources said in the run-up to a high-level UN conference that will tackle vulnerability issues later this year.

The UN's International Year of Small Island Developing States in New York opened recently alongside preparatory meetings for the Third International Conference on Small Island Developing States, which will be held in Samoa in September.

The specific challenges facing small island developing States result from their limited size, remoteness from large markets, and vulnerability to economic and natural shocks.

"This year offers a unique opportunity to recognise SIDS status," said UNCTAD Secretary-General Mukhisa Kituyi.

"UNCTAD welcomes the sustainable development of SIDS through genuine and durable partnerships. The most 'genuine' form of partnership in favour of SIDS would be the recognition by development partners of the validity of SIDS status," he said.

"This is a natural avenue to enacting international support measures that tackle the specific obstacles SIDS face," Dr. Kituyi said.

He said that the Third International Conference on SIDS takes place during the same month that the UN General Assembly will deliberate on the sustainable development agenda beyond 2015 - an agenda that should take into account the special vulnerabilities of small island developing States.

UNCTAD, which has pioneered special attention to these countries for 40 years, is responding to the call of UN Member States for special efforts "to address the vulnerabilities of SIDS more effectively" in accordance with two important UN resolutions adopted in 2010 and 2011.

UNCTAD research has shown that SIDS are 30 percent more economically vulnerable than developing countries that are not SIDS. One of the paramount development objectives of SIDS is to give their resilience-building efforts the best possible chances for success.

To be effective in countries with limited human and natural capacities, such as SIDS, these efforts require differentiated, special international support.

Such support is deemed particularly important in the quest for economic diversification, environmental resilience-building, and efficient risk management.

These fields of action imply measures to reduce the exposure of islands to external shocks beyond domestic control, one of the main challenges most SIDS face. UNCTAD advocates two critical UN-wide steps in the context of the International Year of SIDS: (i) building consensus on a small number of special international support measures that could be reserved for SIDS and (ii) setting up a genuine 'SIDS status' (based on agreed-upon criteria and a definition of SIDS), so that potential development partners know precisely which nations they should support.

The UN General Assembly has also underlined "the urgency of finding additional solutions to the major challenges facing" small island developing States.