Bluewater Blueprints ... plus five.

• Author: Ashe, John W.

Beginning at its seventh session in April, the United Nations Commission on Social Development (CSD) has been negotiating a "Declaration" of principles for adoption at the special session, and a more detailed "State of Progress and Initiatives" four future implementation of the BPOA. The Declaration recognize that: SIDS share a common aspiration for economic development and improved living standards; they are custodians of large areas of the world's oceans and have a high share of global biodiversity, and they are no the fore-front in the fight against climate change; solutions found for SIDS may provide examples beneficial to other countries of the world; and considerable efforts have been made at all levels to implement the BPOA, and that there is a need for these efforts to be further supplemented by effective support from the international community.

The Declaration also calls for: increased efforts to assist SIDS in obtaining the transfer of environmentally sound technology; support for capacity and institutional building programmes and projects in SIDS; the provision of effective means, including adequate, predictable, new and additional financial resources to support SIDS; the Secretary-General to improve existing institutional arrangements in the United Nations to effectively support SIDS; and the United Nations system to become more proactive in promoting and assisting sustainable development in SIDS.

A "State of Progress" document, among other things, emphasizes the sectoral areas which are under review, reinforces the fact that the BPOA remains a valuable and living framework for the sustainable development efforts being undertaken by SIDS, and acknowledges the action taken by all actors in support of activities relating to its implementation. As previously noted, the sectoral areas identified for urgent action include: climate change; natural and environmental disasters and climate variability; freshwater resources; coastal and marine resources; and energy and tourism. It also identifies specific "means of implementation" for several areas. These include sustainable development strategies, capacity-building resource mobilization and finance, globalization and trade liberalization, transfer of environmentally sound technology, vulnerability index, information management (SIDSnet), and international cooperation and partnership.

For the sectoral areas of climate change, the document recommends, among others, that the capacity of...