Small islands,big problems
p. 39 · Read in the full issue
CONDITIONS in small island states in cluding those of the Pacific will be put under the spotlight when the tiny Caribbean nation of Barbados hosts the Global Confer ence on sustainable development next April.
There, delegates from all over the world, will gather for the Global Conference on the sustainable Development of the Small Island Developing States (GCDSIDS). This two-week gathering from April 25 to May 6 is the first follow-up to the UNCED Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro last year and is being convened specifically to address a wide range of issues facing island states throughout the world.
Already the South Pacific Forum has underlined the importance of this gathering by urging Member Countries “to ensure they were represented at the highest possible level” at the conference in Barbados. In the communique issued after the 24th Summit in Nauru m August, the Forum noted that the Global Conference for the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing
States is a UNCED initiative (which) reflected concerns about the difficulties facing Forum island countries, especially the smaller island states”. It called upon the international community, especially Post-Forum Dialogue Partners, to co operate closely and fully with small island developing states to ensure the conference produced constructive and practical outcomes.
While it is too early to say who is going, indications are that Forum member countries will be represented at ministerial level. This is because for island nations there is so much at stake. The Suva-based South Pacific Forum Secretariat and the South Pacific Regional Environment Programme are jointly co-ordinating the Pacific island countries’ participation.
A key purpose of the conference is to put together a strategy for sustainable development specific to small islands, based on Agenda 21, the comprehensive global plan adopted at the Earth Summit in Brazil last year. Because of their size and geography, small island states were designated “ecologically vulnerable” at the Earth Summit, warranting international attention to problems unique to them.
Obstacles to a final text of the action plan for small island states will be many. Indeed, even at this early stage of preparations, many of the problems are beginning to snow.
Already, the first meeting in New York of a UN committee charged with preparing for the Barbados conference has encountered some difficulties in finalising parts of the draft action plan. Prep Com has asked the UN General Assembly, now in session, to approve a second Preparatory Conference to iron out some outstanding issues. Given the importance island states attach to the Barbados conference, UNGA approval is seen purely as a routine formality.
While agreement has in fact been reached on many elements of the draft action plan, industrialised and island nations are still at loggerheads over numerous other issues.
For instance, questions surrounding financing and transfer of technology are still to be resolved and officials attending the New York Prep Com have in fact decided to leave these for higher level discussions during the actual conference itself.
This is just part of an even larger problem. Discussions have bogged down on the entire Chapter 15 of the draft action plan the document being prepared for adoption at the Barbados conference. This chapter deals, among other things, with implementation, monitoring and review of the entire action plan.
Every single section in Chapter 15 has financial implications implications that island states including those of the Pacific region are ill-equipped to deal with on their own. Many, if not all, are already faced with dwindling financial resources to support mounting popu lation growth rates, let alone, adhere to sustainable development guidelines.
Thus far, however, this is where consen sus ends on the need for the Barbados Conference and perhaps similar ones in future. It will be pointless to produce a grand plan without the backings of the industrialised world.
Vanuatu’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Robert Van Lierop, hit the nail on the head when he addressed the New York Prepcom meeting in August on behalf of the 41-member Alliance of Small Island States. He told delegates the Barbados Conference would be “an early litmus test” of the commitments maae by governments at the Earth
Summit to pursue a partnership for sustainable development.
Of course not every industralised country has shied away from their commitments. Many have contributed to a voluntary fund to help pay for the participation of island delegates at the Barbados Conference. So far U 55154,783 have been collected from Sweden, Canada, New Zealand and Chile. Australia, Italy, the United Kingdom, and Liechten stein have pledged to provide an estimated U 55275,068 more while Japan is still considering. This is still U 55570,149 short of the US$l million the Barbados Conference is expected to cost.
A number of questions need to be asked as to why so much money is being spent hosting international conferences. For instance, what do Pacific island countries expect to get out of the Barbados Conference? How do we go aoout achieving our goal? And how is the Barbados Conference different from UNCED? Ambassador Van Lierop provided some of the answers in his speech to the New York meeting. “This process is indeed an early litmus test of the international community’s intention and resolve with respect to the broad range of commitments and undertakings that were the cornerstones of the entire UNCED process. Tnis process is also a test of how well all of us large and small, developed and developing, rich and poor, island and non-island will work together in addressing issues of sustainable development in the post- UNCED era,” he said.
The Barbados Conference is also different in one aspect from UNCED. At the Earth Summit, negotiations were between two distinct groups industrialised nations on one side and developing countries on the other. At Barbados, it will be negotiations within negotiations that is, even island nations will be grouped according to their regional locality.
This means that to be able to get anything out of the conference, Pacific island countries will need to clearly identify their special vulnerabilities and what they think the international community should do about it. The reason is obvious. Ambassador Van Lierop explains “The Global Conference presents a rather unique opportunity which we simply cannot afford to squander,”
True, it is still early days to fathom the importance, success and benefits of the Barbados Conference. If Pacific island countries can play their card right one thing is certain; our young generation and those to follow will live to appreciate the fact that we have fought long and hard to ensure that they and their children live to enjoy a meaningful lifestyle. □