4 February 2010 [MediaGlobal]: As countries are still submitting their emission targets to the United Nations, Small Island Developing States (SIDS) continue to face rising sea-levels and increasingly violent weather due to climate change. Along with these, longstanding development challenges like population increases, volatile economies, and long distances for transporting goods and resources are still sources of serious concern.
Ricardo Dunn, Public Information Officer for the UN Office of the High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and the Small Island Developing States (UN-OHRLLS) described some of climate change’s consequences to MediaGlobal: “For low lying states like the Maldives, Kiribati, and some of the Bahamas, the risks from sea level rise threaten their physical existence, as they would very easily be inundated by sea levels in excess of one meter above current levels – levels that can be reached by 2100 – if significant action is not taken immediately to reduce and ultimately limit the atmospheric concentration of greenhouse gases to well below 350 parts per million.” He added that other SIDS and non-island developing countries’ coastal zones – where populations and socio-economic infrastructure are often concentrated – are also threatened, as are fisheries, agriculture, and drinking water. Dunn pointed out too that in recent years “stronger tropical cyclones that can destroy years of positive development in a matter of hours” have been clearly and regularly visible to the international community, notably on Cook Islands (2005), Cuba (2008), Fiji (2008), Grenada (2004), Haiti (2004, 2008), and Niue (2004).
Though there have been some success stories among SIDS like Mauritius and Seychelles (which boast the second and third highest GDP per capita in Africa, respectively), the lukewarm follow-up to Copenhagen by the international community will likely not sufficiently protect such states from their environmental problems. Responding to the sluggish global reaction to climate change, SIDS leaders, UN-OHRLLS, and other environmental groups are seeking the political pressure needed to mitigate this phenomenon that disproportionately affects the developing world. Henoch Derbew