The roadmap towards achieving resilient prosperity for small island States adopted on Thursday in Antigua and Barbuda “marks the beginning of a new journey” and a decade of delivery for their citizens and the world, said the UN Deputy Secretary-General.
They may be small islands in size – but the countries of the Caribbean are huge exporters of culture and need to remind younger generations at home of why they should feel proud of where they come from.
That’s according to Claire Nelson, a Jamaican based in the United States and founder of the advocacy-based Institute of Caribbean Studies, who’s been attending this week’s SIDS4 conference taking place on the twin island of Antigua and Barbuda.
Climate action taken so far to help fund efforts in cash-strapped small island developing States (SIDS) “does not measure up to what has been said” in the wake of COP28 in Dubai last year.
International financing is the fuel for sustainable development, but small island States are “running on empty”, drowning in debt and rising sea levels due to climate change and through no fault of their own.
Small island developing States (SIDS) gathered in Antigua and Barbuda this week for the SIDS4 conference should not be afraid to stand up to companies seeking short-term profit at the long-term expense of human health and the environment – especially in the tourism sector.
Good morning from the blue waters and lush green hills of the Caribbean where earlier we were reporting live from the opening of the Fourth International Conference on Small Island Developing States (SIDS4) on the beautiful twin island nation of Antigua and Barbuda.
Youth activists have been meeting on the twin island nation of Antigua and Barbuda this weekend to ensure their voices and call for action is heard loud and clear by world leaders assembling for the SIDS4 conference.
With their personal “wall of commitment” around 80 passionate young changemakers attending the SIDS Global Children and Youth Action Summit have been committing themselves to more action and taking the long view that the climate crisis is make or break for their generation of small islanders.
It may be built out of recyclable cardboard boxes, but when world leaders officially open the Fourth International Conference on Small Island Developing States (SIDS4) on Monday, one of the manifestations of young people’s hopes for a better future that will greet them is a solid “wall of commitment” imploring them to take more action against the ravages of climate change.
Leaders from small island developing States worldwide will converge on the shores of Antigua and Barbuda in the Caribbean this weekend to deliver a bold new plan of action to build resilience on the road to the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Dominica is described as highly disaster-vulnerable: the country is regularly hit by hurricanes and, when the last one swept through in 2017, it caused huge devastation across the island.
The government, led by President Sylvanie Burton, the first woman and the first member of the indigenous Kalinago community to be the country’s Head of State, wants to make Dominica the world’s first ‘climate resilient country’. But, as the climate crisis threatens to lead to increasingly intense and frequent hurricanes, is this feasible?
