The special needs of Island states. (Making Good on Commitments Already Made).

"Little drops of water, little grains of sand, make this mighty Ocean, and this blessed land."

Islands have always conjured up images of "paradise". My own country, Sri Lanka, is referred to as the pearl of the Indian Ocean. Serendib of ancient times: but increasingly the azure blue waters, coral reefs and lush vegetation are in stress. The United Nations has been aware of this. In May 1994, at the Global Conference on the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States (Barbados Conference), 111 nations adopted the Barbados Declaration and Programme of Action. The international community wanted very much to come to grips with the problems facing small island States, which on their own would find it impossible to reverse the danger facing the fragile ecosystems and raise their incomes to withstand the growing concerns of a complex globalized economy, as well as preserve their traditional ways of life that were among their prized assets.

The Barbados Programme calls for national, regional and international action in fourteen priority areas. These range from sectoral concerns, such as fresh water, climate change, biodiversity and marine resources, to crosscutting issues, such as human resource development and the financing and support needed to put the plan into action. The Commission on Sustainable Development has repeatedly called upon the global community to cooperate with small island States by providing effective means, including adequate, predictable new and additional financial resources (in accordance with Chapter 33 of Agenda 21).

Unfortunately, these declarations of intent have so far remained mere declarations; they have not translated into action programmes. The Kyoto Protocol on global warming is the classic example of how sustainable development can be stymied by the economically powerful States to the detriment of small island States that are disadvantaged by their size, divided into many islands grouped together, with a narrow range of resources leading to specialization, vulnerable to the vagaries of international trade, high population density, overuse of resources due to excessive population, small watersheds that limit fresh water resources, and other attendant problems of under-development. The international community is well aware of the problems, but even on the eve of the World Summit on Sustainable Development, we were nowhere near meeting the minimum basic needs in finance and technical assistance to uplift the acute problems of island nations. The Summit defined commitments to be realized within two years.

The miniscule size of small island nations means that development and environment are closely interrelated and interdependent. Recent events have proved that these States have lost some of their islands to the ravages of the environment, such as global warming, due to ill-conceived development strategies. Unsustainable development threatens not only the development of people but also their cultures and their very lands.

Climate change, sea-level rise and overexploitation of marine and terrestrial living resources add to the misery of these States. Special attention has to be paid to their fragile ecosystems but, as their Ambassadors to the United Nations repeatedly tell me, their pleas fall on deaf ears. Due to improved health facilities, population growth in small island States has outstripped economic growth. This imbalance needs correction. Furthermore, the narrow resource base in crops, minerals and industries leads to additional concerns due to the fall in export earnings and unemployment. These nations are considered high-risk entities because of their size and hence, in the international trading and commercial spheres, they face manifold problems relating to investment, production costs and infrastructure development. Also, insurance is exorbitant and adds to the already heavy burden on the economy.

Development options are limited in small island nations. The most valuable asset they possess is their human resource. The United Nations should focus on the role that youth and women of these States could play in achieving the objectives of sustainable development. The international community will have to provide access to adequate, predictable new financial resources, optimizing the use of existing ones and adopting measures for supporting endogenous capacity-building, in particular for human resource development, as well as for energy-efficient and environment-friendly development programmes. Following his appointment as High Representative for Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries, and Small Island Developing States, Anwar Karim Chowdhury is engaged in setting the direction and organization for his responsibilities, to galvanize the international community, with the UN system as the core, in mobilizing the UN family to deliver. This delivery will depend on the political will of the m ost advanced and economically prosperous nations to finance the programme of action, as envisaged in Brussels in May 2001. Thus, I see a window of opportunity here, and the UN system can deliver if the affluent members of the world body make good on the commitments already made. Where there is a will, there is a way.

RELATED ARTICLE: Johannesburg Commitments for 2004

Support the availability of adequate, affordable and environmentally sound energy services for the sustainable development of small island developing States, including through strengthening efforts on energy supply and services; under take initiatives aimed at implementing the Global Programme of Action for the Protection of the Marine Environment from Land-based Activities to reduce, prevent and control waste and pollution and their health-related impacts; and develop community-based initiatives on sustainable tourism.

Focus 2002: Sustainable Development

Forty-eight States and an international organization participated in a treaty event at UN Headquarters, in conjunction with the Johannesburg Summit, when 83 actions relating to 39 treaties (5 signatures and 78 ratifications, approvals, acceptances, accessions and other treaty actions) were undertaken. In a letter to heads of State and Government, Secretary-General Kofi Annan had called on them to sign, ratify or accede to a core group of 25 multilateral treaties related to sustainable development. Palitha Kohona, Chief of the Treaty Section in the UN Office of Legal Affairs, told the Chronicle that Mr. Annan's letter had had a "significant effect", and a number of world leaders had written back and complimented the SecretaryGeneral on the initiative. Though the number of treaty actions was less than the last treaty-signing event at the time of the 2000 Millennium Summit, Mr. Kohona noted that "the smaller number of treaty actions can be explained by the fact that the conference was in Johannesburg, while the treaty event was in New York, and many leaders were at the Summit".

These treaties attracted the most number of actions:

* Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (11 ratifications/accessions). The Protocol currently has 84 signatories and 93 parties and will enter into force 90 days after at least 55 parties to the Framework Convention--incorporating parties included in Annex I which accounted for at least 55 per cent of the total carbon dioxide emissions for 1990 of the parties included in Annex I-have deposited their instruments of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession.

* Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety to the Convention on Biological Diversity (II ratifications/accessions). The Protocol, currently with 103 signatories and 34 parties, will enter into force 90 days after the deposit of the fiftieth instrument of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession.

* Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed Consent Procedures for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade (8 ratifications/accessions). It currently has 73 signatories and 32 parties, and will enter into force 90 days after the deposit of the fiftieth instrument of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession.

* Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (5 ratifications/accessions). Currently with 151 signatories and 21 parties, it will enter into force 90 days after the deposit of the fiftieth instrument of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession.

* Amendment to the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, adopted by the ninth meeting of the parties. Montreal, 17 September 1997 (3 ratifications/accessions). The Amendment, which entered into force on 10 November 1999, has 84 parties.

* Amendment to the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer. Beijing, 3 December 1999 (4 ratifications/accessions). It entered into force on 25 February 2002 and has 38 parties.

Treaty actions were also received with regard to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification in those Countries Experiencing Serious Drought and/or Desertification (3 accessions); Convention on Biological Diversity (I accession); Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal (I accession); Amendment to the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal (I ratification); and Protocol to the 1979 Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution on Persistent Organic Pollutants (2 ratifications/acceptances).

Sanjay Sethi

Ambassador Chithambaranathan Mahendran is the Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations. He has been a member of Sri Lanka's Foreign Service since 1957 and has a long and distinguished diplomatic career