Growing vulnerability of countries
Biodiversity
Fisheries
Freshwater
Natural disasters
Management strategies
Challenges for the future
Small Island Developing States (SIDS) face
economic, social and environmental vulnerability due to factors such
as their size, geography, fragile ecosystems and dependence on imports
of essential commodities
Some well known challenges are certain to dominate debate during the
10-year review of the Barbados Programme of Action for the Sustainable
Development of Small Island Developing States (BPoA + 10) scheduled
for Mauritius from 30 August– 3 September, 2004.
SIDS are heavily dependent on a natural environment exposed to impacts
from internal and external forces, including fluctuating commodity prices
and trade regulations, and climate change. This situation is exacerbated
by the relatively low Human Development Index of many of these countries
(UNDP 2003) (Table 1).
| Table
1: Human Development Index rank for selected SIDS |
| High
ranking |
Medium
ranking |
Low
ranking |
| Bahamas, Bahrain, Barbados, Cuba, Seychelles, St.
Kitts and Nevis, Trinidad and Tobago. |
Antigua and Barbuda, Cape Verde, Comoros Dominica,
Dominican Republic, Fiji, Grenada, Jamaica, Maldives, Mauritius,
Papua New Guinea, São Tomé and Principe, Solomon Islands,
St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Vanuatu,
Western Samoa. |
Haiti, Madagascar. |
| Source: UNDP 2003 |
|
|
|
