Agenda 21, Chapter 17, Section G
Sustainable Development of Small Islands
Since Agenda 21, the way the international community and the populations of SIDS regard the problems faced has changed. In many cases, there is an increased urgency to address the issues. This has predominated in the case of climate change, as stated in the overview. SIDS are particularly vulnerable to sea level rise with most of their land being low lying. The Caribbean SIDS are particularly vulnerable to the impacts of severe weather as they are located on the hurricane belt and are also at risk from volcanic activity.
However, in some cases, perceptions have changed regarding the importance of some issues. Two of the major issues are:
1. The �power� that SIDS now have due to their increased influence in the UN especially in terms of their coastal waters.
The majority of SIDS are members of the UN, and have been for some time, but it is only recently that their plight has been globally acknowledged. For hundreds of years, small islands states have relied heavily on marine resources. The right to work the land and coastal waters was customary. The arrival of industrial fishing gear brought by international fleets has lead to unsustainable fishing over which the islands have had little or no control. However, the formation of AOSIS, the Alliance of Small Island States, of which out of the 43 members, 36 are members of the UN, has given Small Island States increased power in the UN. Its primary function is as an informal lobbying voice between SIDS and the UN. The importance of the coastal waters of SIDS, especially in terms of global biodiversity, is now starting to be fully recognised. This alliance has ensured their entry into the Law of the Sea Convention, giving coastal states control over their waters exclusively up to 12 miles and exclusive economic rights to 200 nautical miles. SIDS now have greater legal rights over the fishing activities in their waters.
Fiji, as a South Pacific Small Island State was party to the ratification of the Law of the Sea Convention, on 12th December 1982. As well as the Law of the Sea Convention, Fiji also signed and ratified the Wellington Convention on 11th August 1993 and 18th January 1994. This policy prohibits long drift nets in the South Pacific area. Fiji�s fisheries policies also cover the conservation and exploitation of fish stocks in the Fisheries Act 158 and the Marine Species Act 158A and further legislation. This prohibits commercial fishing in traditional areas without the consent of an island�s chief.
2. The appreciation of indigenous knowledge, particularly towards management of terrestrial and coastal resources.
Traditional culture and environmental knowledge is verbally passed on between many generations. Since the arrival of Europeans, this knowledge has been rapidly lost, with only a small fraction being written down. For many years, much cultural knowledge was dismissed as superstition. However, the fact that indigenous populations have been able to live off the oceans for years sustainably, even where a resource is limited, has highlighted the effectiveness of traditional systems. Recently there has been evidence that modern approaches to management are sometimes worse for the environment. There are many rules governing fisheries. In New Caledonia for example, Guiart (1936), noted that there was a ban on fishing for the first six months of the year on the island of Ouvea. The Pacific Islanders have a complex knowledge of their fish species, especially reproductive and behavioural patterns (Johannes 1978). Customary resource rights now bound in national legislation in the Pacific, give the Islanders the right to enforce traditional bans: tapus. The Cook Islands for example, have returned to the Ra�ui management system that went out of practice half a century ago. This form of tapu allows for the banning of fishing on areas thought to be threatened. The new form is a mixture of tradition and science to impose two-, or even three-year bans and moratoriums on specific species. It is hoped that further use of traditional systems like this will help to conserve threatened or over fished stocks more successfully.
Incorporate more aspects of preparedness, flexibility, recovery and insurance against disaster for SIDS in any future programmes or policies.
As stated already, many programmes are being implemented to address climate change. This is really the only substantial disaster mitigation there has been. Effort is being put into many initiatives throughout SIDS, however, if they are not planned with forethought of any natural disaster, particularly in the Caribbean, work could be wasted and plans ruined. It is therefore essential that any development strategies and management tools incorporate flexibility and preparedness. This coupled with good recovery plans is more likely to ensure that any programmes implemented will be longer term and more beneficial to the Islands.
Strengthen regional initiatives to increase cooperation in �functional� zones such as environment, fisheries and marine pollution.
Regional initiatives, like SPREP, have made progress in integration among groups of islands. However, these alliances are often with other SIDS alone and even though they are successful in addressing common environmental and resource problems, they could be more beneficial if non-SIDS were also included. This would allow access to more established management strategies and markets, and increase the regions strength as a whole in the international community. Future regional initiatives should aim to include other States as well as those that are SIDS.
Introduce diverse insurance policies to allow for SIDS sustainable diversification and lower risk level through applying instruments to stabilise markets and enhance predictability.
Although programmes are in place to address the issues raised in Section G, few allow for unexpected conditions. The theme throughout all strategies to ensure sustainable development has been diversification. If SIDS are dependent on one resource and that is exhausted, what then? Many are turning to tourism however, even that is not 100% dependable. It is recognised that diversification is better than specification, but diversification also has it weaknesses. No matter what the product is, and how many there are, unless there is a stable market environment and strong insurance mechanisms SIDS may still be faced with problems of risk associated with small size and limited scale. More emphasis needs to put on instruments for market stabilisation, greater predictability of potential risks and insurance policies to protect investments and infrastructure.
Develop instruments to reduce the administrative costs currently deterring investors.
As SIDS are so small, their different projects relating to Agenda 21 are also. Therefore any administration costs are increased in relation to the project size. Regional, decentralised bodies should be used as a method of reducing these costs by sharing the overheads associated with implementation of such small projects. This would increase the number of investors. If more foreign investment can be encouraged in the future, more goals within Section G have a better chance of being met. Overall any projects should be well designed to limit the potential loss of investment.
Links to related sites for more information about Small Island Developing States
www.unep.ch/islands.html
www.sdnp.undp.org/~eclac/
www.aosis.org/
www.eclacpos.org/
www.sprep.org.ws/
www.SIDSnet.org
