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Image: UN ESCAP
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In a historic move, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution that recognizes a healthy, clean, and sustainable environment as a universal human right. This landmark move, which took place on 28 July, has the potential to bring social and economic transformation to enhance an inclusive greener and bluer recovery while fostering progress on the 2030 Agenda. This resolution comes at a time when the Small Island Developing States are facing the Triple “C” of crises; COVID-19, Climate change, and Conflict. This new UN resolution has given the license to policymakers, governments, leaders, and the private sector to act now. This has strengthened the position of SIDS to strengthen positive environmental management, while taking into consideration gender-responsive and inclusive models of sustainable development.
Future projected risks for SIDS include land degradation, rise in sea-level, tropical storms, flooding, ecosystem degradation, and extreme water level events that may double by 2050. Moreover, it has been estimated that agricultural yield could decline by 50 percent by the year 2050, and that coral bleaching is expected to decrease the availability of seafood. All these risks have significant negative impacts on SIDS’ environment, with larger economic consequences than the global average. Economic losses that result from severe environmental and climate events are dreadful. Over the past 10 years, economic losses have been estimated to be almost US$2 billion in selected SIDS. Furthermore, populations in SIDS face serious health risks due to environmental contamination and climate crisis.
Therefore, sustainable management, restoration, and preservation of clean and healthy ecosystems is crucial for SIDS to maintain the rich biodiversity which sustainable livelihoods rely on. The right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment as a human right is now part of an international legal framework, which can bring much needed benefits for addressing economic instability and inequality and enabling sustainable development and prosperity.
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Image: Sam Lawrence Photography/Shutterstock
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SIDS are innovating ways to face the threats and recover from the drastic impacts of climate change. The lives of almost 1.9 billion people in the Western Pacific are at risk due to the harmful toxic emissions. These dramatic effects are reflected in the number of deaths each year, leading to 3.5 million people in the region losing their lives as a result of indoor and outdoor air pollution. Health agencies can help to make the case for health co-benefits of reducing carbon emissions through the deployment of tools such as the AIRQ+ air pollution estimator, which supports cross-sectoral dialogue on the health effects of exposure to air pollution. Also, the Carbon Reduction Benefits on Health (CaRBonH) calculation tool helps in quantifying the physical and economic benefits of improving air quality on human health. Moreover, the GreenUr calculator for green spaces helps to quantify the health impacts of having greener spaces. There is an urgent need to invest in building climate-resilient infrastructure and technology, so that when extreme climate events hit, the health systems would still be able to function. Many SIDS are already making the transition to 100 percent renewable energy and deploying the usage of non-burning machines to get rid of medical waste in health facilities, such as Fiji and Samoa and Vanuatu. Hence, enhancing the sustainability of health services in SIDS will guarantee that health systems are able to contribute to the reduction of the environmental impact of their services, and to continue serving their people while facing the drastic effects of climate change.
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Image: Francisco Blaha
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SIDS are innovating in the Blue Economy by advancing ocean conservation through locally managed marine areas. In 2010 the Aichi Biodiversity Target 11 was adopted, calling for conserving 10 percent of the ocean through marine protected areas (MPAs) and “other effective area-based conservation measures” (OECMs), explicitly recognizing that other types of spatial conservation measures beyond areas designated as MPAs may also achieve biodiversity gains. SIDS are advancing MPA management as well as OECMs through establishing sustainable use principles, broader ecosystem management objectives, and more general biodiversity conservation goals. Many spatial management approaches with primary objectives related to fisheries sustainability provide co-benefits for biodiversity, and hence biodiversity conservation and sustainable development.
Growing demands and pressures on marine and coastal environments are resulting in inequitable and unwelcome outcomes for social–environmental systems, and the integration of effective marine management and conservation has never been greater. Commitments to using area management is prominent in both the 2030 Agenda and decadal plans for the conservation of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), including a draft target to increase the coverage of protected areas and other effective area-based conservation measures from 10 to 30 percent of the ocean by 2030. Although progress toward the global area-based management targets has accelerated, there remains skepticism regarding whether global aspirations will be met.
Well-managed MPAs have been shown to deliver effective conservation within their boundaries in many regions, strengthening calls and advocacy for MPAs to be the principal method for conserving marine biodiversity. Some studies have also highlighted their shortcomings, with MPAs receiving criticism for risks to vulnerable coastal populations reliant on the oceans for food and livelihoods, and poor design and management. One challenge in MPA management is in establishing sustainable and appropriate financial and human capital. Finding the financial support to fund biodiversity conservation is challenging, and often is successful only when linked with community livelihood opportunities.
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FAO in the Pacific 2021: Annual Report of FAO Subregional Office for the Pacific Islands
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Subregional Office for the Pacific Islands launched its 2021 Annual Report on 15 July 2022. The report highlights that like most Small Island Developing States, Pacific countries face a unique set of challenges, including remoteness and isolation, high exposure and vulnerability to natural disasters, and high dependence on imported food. These challenges are further worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic. For example, Samoa’s GDP for 2020 contracted by 9.2 percent because of COVID-19. Moreover, evidence suggests that the pandemic is reversing gains in achieving some of the Sustainable Development Goals in SIDS. However, the Pacific SIDS are also marked by numerous opportunities. For example, the countries are home to some of the world’s richest marine and terrestrial biodiversity hotspots, combined with a very high potential for innovation that can be leveraged to catalyze agri-food systems.
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State of the Climate in Latin America and the Caribbean
The State of the Climate in the Latin America and Caribbean report provides details of extreme weather and climate change impacts in the entire region. It gives information on climate indicators including temperatures, ocean heat and acidification, sea level rise and glaciers, as well as on extreme events like tropical cyclones, heatwaves, drought, heavy precipitation and cold waves. The report highlights that in Latin America and the Caribbean, more than 27 percent of the population live in coastal areas, with an estimated 6–8 percent living in areas that are at high or very high risk of being affected by coastal hazards, such as contaminated freshwater aquifers, eroded shorelines, inundated low-lying areas, and storm surges. These data have critical importance for policymaking, especially in in the areas of climate action and Blue Economy.
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The Climate Debt Crisis
As superstorms become more frequent and the planet grows hotter each year, the economic costs of climate change are adding up. Few regions are more vulnerable to the effects of climate change than the Caribbean, with its multiple climate hazards and crumbling infrastructure.
'The Climate Debt Crisis: How punishing debt stands in the way of small islands protecting themselves from climate change' virtual event will convene a panel of experts to discuss how debt stands in the way of making climate investments, how that debt accumulated and potential policy solutions.
When: 24 August 2022 at 3:00 pm EDT
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Small Island Developing States Internet Governance Forum
The Small Island Developing States Internet Governance Forum aims to establish a platform and ongoing process where SIDS can become involved, can collaborate, cooperate, share experiences and have their voices heard re: issues arising from and impacts on their countries by IG, Internet Policy and the Digital Economy without necessarily having to “join” an entity (e.g. the DC-SIDS). It also aims to create a globally visible, recognized and reputable platform for engagement, discussion, cooperation, and collaboration and consensus-building (and even possible decision making) for SIDS Internet Governance, Internet Policy and Digital Economy issues.
Register here: https://bit.ly/SIDSIGF2022
When: 25-26 August 2022
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