Trends in sustainable development: Small Island Developing States (SIDS)

Small Island Developing States (SIDS) face unique and special challenges. This report highlights key developments and recent trends for SIDS in a number of developmental areas.

The paper notes that the population in most SIDS will continue to age, due to decreasing fertility rates and longer life expectancy. In addition, urbanisation is widespread and increasing among the SIDS. However, SIDS contribute little to the problem of climate change, but greenhouse gas emissions are on the rise.

On the other hand, SIDS economies have suffered long term consequences from natural disasters. Nevertheless, resources continue to flow primarily to post-disaster activities rather than towards disaster risk reduction and the improvement of coping capacity.

The document gives the following findings: 

• the average proportion of terrestrial and marine protected areas has been steadily increasing in SIDS, but per capita renewable internal freshwater resources are decreasing
• while tourist arrivals have increased over the past two decades, tourism growth has been erratic
• the percentage of undernourished population is declining overall, but adequate nutrition remains an issue
• youth unemployment continues to be a concern for many SIDS, but the general trend is improving
• SIDS have made substantial progress in reducing child mortality and improving access to drinking water and sanitation
• enrolment in primary education shows mixed progress among the SIDS
  
  

As a result, the authors suggest the following:

• more extensive use of renewable energy in SIDS would significantly contribute towards reducing their vulnerability and building their resilience
• SIDS can be thought of as biodiversity “hot spots”
• the growing international consensus surrounding the need to support SIDS offers an unprecedented opportunity for the group to advance their sustainable development efforts