Emerging Issues for Small Island Developing States

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Publication Date: 2014 

Sustainable development, integrating the social, economic and environmental aspects of development,is critical for the future of the planet – and nowhere is this more apparent than in Small Island Developing States (SIDS). Priority issues for SIDS sit at the nexus of these three dimensions of sustainable development, making it impossible to consider one component of development without regard for the other two.

With this in mind, the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) invited the Division for Sustainable Development of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) to undertake a joint effort to analyze and highlight emerging issues in SIDS. This work took place against the backdrop of the preparations for the Third International Conference on SIDS and is closely aligned with one of the four objectives of the Conference: to “identify new and emerging challenges and opportunities for the sustainable development of SIDS and ways and means to address them, including through the strengthening of collaborative partnerships between SIDS and the international community”.