The special needs of Island states.

• Author: Mahendran, Chithambaranathan
• Position: Making Good on Commitments Already Made

"Little drops of water, little grains of sand, make this mighty Ocean, and this blessed land."

Islands have always conjured up images of "paradise". My own country, Sri Lanka, is referred to as the pearl of the Indian Ocean. Serendib of ancient times: but increasingly the azure blue waters, coral reefs and lush vegetation are in stress. The United Nations has been aware of this. In May 1994, at the Global Conference on the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States (Barbados Conference), 111 nations adopted the Barbados Declaration and Programme of Action. The international community wanted very much to come to grips with the problems facing small island States, which on their own would find it impossible to reverse the danger facing the fragile ecosystems and raise their incomes to withstand the growing concerns of a complex globalized economy, as well as preserve their traditional ways of life that were among their prized assets.

The Barbados Programme calls for national, regional and international action in fourteen priority areas. These range from sectoral concerns, such as fresh water, climate change, biodiversity and marine resources, to crosscutting issues, such as human resource development and the financing and support needed to put the plan into action. The Commission on Sustainable Development has repeatedly called upon the global community to cooperate with small island States by providing effective means, including adequate, predictable new and additional financial resources (in accordance with Chapter 33 of Agenda 21).

Unfortunately, these declarations of intent have so far remained mere declarations; they have not translated into action programmes. The Kyoto Protocol on global warming is the classic example of how sustainable development can be stymied by the economically powerful States to the detriment of small island States that are disadvantaged by their size, divided into many islands grouped together, with a narrow range of resources leading to specialization, vulnerable to the vagaries of international trade, high population density, overuse of resources due to excessive population, small watersheds that limit fresh water resources, and other attendant problems of under-development. The international community is well aware of the problems, but even on the eve of the World Summit on Sustainable Development, we were nowhere near meeting the minimum basic needs in finance and technical assistance to uplift...