Island Nations

Framework

The Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) is a coalition of small island and low-lying coastal countries that share similar development challenges and concerns about the environment, especially their vulnerability to the adverse effects of global climate change. It functions primarily as an ad hoc lobby and negotiating voice for Small Island Developing States (SIDS) within the United Nations system. AOSIS functions on the basis of consultation and consensus. Major policy decisions are taken at ambassadorial-level plenary sessions. The Alliance does not have a formal charter. There is no regular budget, nor a secretariat.

AOSIS has a membership of 42 States and observers, drawn from all oceans and regions of the world: Africa, Caribbean, Indian Ocean, Mediterranean, Pacific and South China Sea.

Thirty-seven are members of the United Nations, close to 28 percent of developing countries, and 20 percent of the UN's total membership.

Together, SIDS communities constitute some five percent of the global population.

As these nations are islands, global warming driven sea level rise is the most eminent threat to their existence.

Tourism is the most important contributor to the economies of most these nations. Any effects of climate change would also affect this sector drastically.

Members of AOSIS

- Antigua and Barbuda
- Bahamas
- Barbados
- Belize
- Cape Verde
- Comoros
- Cook Islands
- Cuba
- Dominica
- Dominican Republic
- Fiji
- Federated States of Micronesia
- Grenada
- Guinea-Bissau
- Guyana
- Haiti
- Jamaica
- Kiribati
- Maldives
- Marshall Islands
- Mauritius
- Nauru
- Niue
- Palau
- Papua New Guinea
- Samoa
- Singapore
- Seychelles
- Sao Tome and Principe
- Solomon Islands
- St. Kitts and Nevis
- St. Lucia
- St. Vincent and the Grenadines
- Suriname
- Timor-Leste
- Tonga
- Trinidad and Tobago
- Tuvalu
- Vanuatu

Observers

- American Samoa
- Netherlands Antilles
- Guam
- U.S. Virgin Islands

Position and Perspective on Climate Change

- The UNFCCC as the primary international, intergovernmental forum for negotiating the global response to climate change.

- The need to reinforce the UNFCCC process by calling on the big emitters to agree to produce enough clean energy to attain the targets of limiting temperature rise to 1.5 degree Celsius and 350 parts per million of atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations.

- Reductions in global greenhouse gas emissions by more than 85% below 1990 levels by 2050. Annex I parties to the UNFCCC to reduce their collective GHG emissions by more than 45% below 1990 levels by 2020, and more than 95% below 1990 levels by 2050, given their historical responsibility.

- There is an urgent need to consider and address the security implications and the human dimensions of climate change, including where necessary, initiatives for preparing communities for relocation.

- The establishment of the Headquarters of the UNFCCC Adaptation Fund Board in Barbados.

- Establishment of a mechanism to address loss and damage from climate change comprised of a disaster risk component, insurance, and compensation funds, to help SIDS manage the financial and economic risks arising from climate impacts; to assist in the rapid recovery and rehabilitation from climate related extreme weather events and to address unavoidable damage and loss associated with the adverse effects of climate change.

- The need for an urgent and significant upscaling of the provision of financial resources and investment that is adequate, predictable and sustainable to support action on mitigation in developing country Parties for the enhanced implementation of national mitigation strategies; including positive incentives, the mobilization of public- and private-sector funding and investment and facilitation of carbon-friendly investment choices.

- The need for new, additional, predictable, transparent and adequate sources of grant-based financing to fully meet the adaptation needs of these particularly vulnerable countries, and ensure for SIDS that access is timely, direct, prioritized and simplified.

- The neccesity to provide support to SIDS to enhance their capacities to respond to the challenges brought on by climate change and to access the technologies that will be required to undertake needed mitigation actions and to adapt to the adverse impacts of climate change, noting the obligations of Annex 1 countries under the UNFCCC in this regard.

Web Resources

1. http://www.sidsnet.org/msi_5/index.shtml
2. http://www.sidsnet.org/aosis/about.html