The Climate Crisis And Its Disproportionate Impact On Small Island Developing States (SIDS)

SIDS are highly vulnerable to climate change due to rising sea levels, extreme weather events, and dependence on climate-sensitive sectors. They also face significant economic and environmental challenges, including high debt, weak financial resilience, inadequate infrastructure, and limited capacity to adapt. Despite their minimal contribution to global emissions, SIDS lead climate negotiations through alliances and advocacy.

by Samriddhi

The  Small Island Developing States (SIDS) are a distinct group of 39 States and 18 Associate Members of United Nations regional commissions that face unique social, economic, and environmental vulnerabilities [1]. The three geographical regions where SIDS are situated are the Caribbean Sea, Pacific Ocean, Atlantic Ocean, Indian Ocean, and South China Sea [2]. A few common characteristics include remoteness, small populations, reliance on ocean resources, dependency on imports, limited access to financing, and vulnerability to climate change impacts [3]. This article delves into the economic and environmental factors that exacerbate the climate vulnerability of SIDS, as well as the solutions they are advocating for global climate governance.

The group of nations consists of 38 United Nations (UN) Member States and 20 non-UN Member or Associate Members [4]. They are collectively home to about 73.5 million people [5, 6]. The United Nations has recognized SIDS as a special group [7], despite differences in territorial area, governance systems, economic development, and geographic characteristics [8].

Figure 1: Common characteristics shared by SIDS [9]

Why are SIDS particularly vulnerable?

Environmental and geographical factors, further exacerbated by socio-economic determinants, put SIDS at a higher risk and make them disproportionately vulnerable to climate change impacts despite their low greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions historically. The factors that contribute to the vulnerability are: 

1. Sea-Level Rise: Rising sea level shrinks habitats, changes the geographical location of coastal species, threatens biodiversity of ecosystems, and reduces ecosystem services [10]. Additionally, it elevates salinity of numerous coastal aquifers and reduces the quality of freshwater supply for already limited Pacific islands and atolls [11, 12].
2. Extreme Weather Events: Hurricanes and other extreme weather events are becoming more frequent and intense, causing substantial damage to individuals, infrastructure, and agriculture. Climate change cost SIDS nearly $153B USD from 1970 to 2020, along with increasing displacement of people [13].
3. Ocean Acidification and Coral Bleaching: Higher atmospheric CO2 changes the balance of ocean carbon stocks toward more acidic oceans. Warmer and acidified waters destroy  coral reefs, crucial for coastal protection and marine life that drive economic activities, such as fisheries and tourism [14].
4. Dependence on Tourism and Fisheries: Changing ocean temperatures have impacted fish populations as well as local businesses that rely on biodiversity and ecosystem services. Rising sea levels along with damaged reefs impact tourism, thereby impacting economic livelihoods [15].
5. High Population Density: In 2020, the global average population density was 58 people per square kilometer, while the average population density in SIDS is 361 people per square kilometer, making SIDS even more susceptible to resource scarcity due to  severe weather and natural disasters [16].
6. Weak Financial Resilience: More than 40 percent of SIDS contend with, or are on the brink of, unsustainable debt levels, significantly limiting their capacity to engage in resilience, climate action, and sustainable development [17].
7. Limited Adaptive Capacity: Natural resource scarcity, short-term adaptation programs, and insufficient public funds burden the existing infrastructure; redirecting resources from existing public programs that may increase capacity, such as sustainable development and adaptation to disaster response, intensifies vulnerability, disproportionately impacting marginalized groups [18].

What Role Are SIDS Playing in Addressing the Climate Crisis?

Global climate change negotiations have been in part steered by SIDS working to advance climate action through their active participation in key alliances such as the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS), the G77, and the High Ambition Coalition [19]. 

Through unifying toward common goals, SIDS have been able to use international legal frameworks to advocate for recognizing GHGs as marine pollutants under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) [20].

The group promotes public discourse regarding legislation that enables secure, accessible asylum pathways for climate refugees and provides assistance to internally displaced individuals who have experienced loss and damage [21]. These initiatives underscore SIDS’ fortitude and dedication to securing a sustainable future, while concurrently imploring the global community to address the situation with equity and urgency.

References:
[1] Vincent Diringer, 2021, “Small Island Developing States,” ClimaTalk, https://climatalk.org/2021/06/23/small-island-developing-states/, accessed on October 24, 2024
[2] United Nations Office of the High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States, (n.d.), “About Small Island Developing States,” https://www.un.org/ohrlls/content/about-small-island-developing-states#:~:text=Small%20Island%20Developing%20States%20(SIDS,social%2C%20economic%20and%20environmental%20vulnerabilities., accessed on November 18, 2024
[3] United Nations Development Programme, 2024, “Small Island Developing States are on the frontlines of climate change – here’s why,” https://climatepromise.undp.org/news-and-stories/small-island-developing-states-are-frontlines-climate-change-heres-why , accessed on October 29, 2024
[4] United Nations Office of the High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States, 2015, “Small Island Developing States In Numbers: Climate Change Edition 2015,” https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/2189SIDS-IN-NUMBERS-CLIMATE-CHANGE-EDITION_2015.pdf, accessed on November 20, 2024   
[5] Thomas, A., Baptiste, A., Martyr-Koller, R., Pringle, P., & Rhiney, K., 2020, “Climate Change and Small Island Developing States,” Annual Review of Environment and Resources, 45, https://www.annualreviews.org/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-environ-012320-083355, accessed on October 30, 2024.
[6] United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, “Policy Brief 159: Small Island Developing States and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development,” 2024, https://www.un.org/development/desa/pd/sites/www.un.org.development.desa.pd/files/undesa_pd_2024_policy-brief-159.pdf, accessed on November 4, 2024.
[7] Thomas, A., Baptiste, A., Martyr-Koller, R., Pringle, P., & Rhiney, K., 2020, “Climate Change and Small Island Developing States,” Annual Review of Environment and Resources, 45, https://www.annualreviews.org/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-environ-012320-083355, accessed on October 30, 2024.
[8] Department of Economic and Social Affairs, 2014, “Trends in Sustainable Development in Small Island Developing States,” New York: Dep. Econ. Soc. Aff, https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/1954TR2014.pdf, accessed on November 10, 2024.
[9] United Nations Development Programme, 2024, “Small Island Developing States are on the frontlines of climate change – here’s why,” https://climatepromise.undp.org/news-and-stories/small-island-developing-states-are-frontlines-climate-change-heres-why, accessed on October 29, 2024
[10] HO Pörtner, DC Roberts, V Masson-Delmotte, P Zhai, M Tignor et al., 2019, “Summary for Policymakers: Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate,”  Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, https://www.ipcc.ch/srocc/chapter/summary-for-policymakers/, accessed on November 20, 2024
[11] Oberle FKJ, Swarzenski PW, Storlazzi CD 2017. Atoll groundwater movement and its response to climatic and sea-level fluctuations. Water 9:9650 
[12] Thomas, A., Baptiste, A., Martyr-Koller, R., Pringle, P., & Rhiney, K., 2020, “Climate Change and Small Island Developing States,” Annual Review of Environment and Resources, 45, https://www.annualreviews.org/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-environ-012320-083355, accessed on October 30, 2024.
[13] United Nations Development Programme, 2024, “Small Island Developing States are on the frontlines of climate change – here’s why,” https://climatepromise.undp.org/news-and-stories/small-island-developing-states-are-frontlines-climate-change-heres-why, accessed on October 29, 2024
[14] ibid
[15] ibid
[16] United Nations, 2024, “About Small Island Developing States,” 4th International Conference on SIDS, https://sdgs.un.org/smallislands/about-small-island-developing-states#:~:text=The%20average%20population%20density%20in,extreme%20weather%20and%20natural%20disasters, accessed on November 26, 2024.
[17] United Nations Development Programme, 2024, “Small Island Developing States are on the frontlines of climate change – here’s why,” https://climatepromise.undp.org/news-and-stories/small-island-developing-states-are-frontlines-climate-change-heres-why, accessed on October 29, 2024
[18] Thomas, A., Baptiste, A., Martyr-Koller, R., Pringle, P., & Rhiney, K., 2020, “Climate Change and Small Island Developing States,” Annual Review of Environment and Resources, 45, https://www.annualreviews.org/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-environ-012320-083355, accessed on October 30, 2024.
[19] United Nations Development Programme, 2024, “Small Island Developing States are on the frontlines of climate change – here’s why,” https://climatepromise.undp.org/news-and-stories/small-island-developing-states-are-frontlines-climate-change-heres-why, accessed on October 29, 2024
[20] Samriddhi, 2024 “Small Island Developing States Win: GHGs Declared Ocean Pollutants,” ClimaTalk, https://climatalk.org/2024/09/09/climate-litigation-marine-pollution-ghgs-sids/, accessed on December 5, 2024.
[21] United Nations, 2024, “SIDS Civil Society Action Plan and Roadmap (2024-2034),” Developed by SIDS Civil Society Groups, including CANARI, IHO, MEPA Trust, PIANGO, SYAH, and DION, https://sdgs.un.org/sites/default/files/2024-05/SIDS%20Civil%20Society%20Action%20Plan%20and%20Roadmap%2029%20May%202024.pdf, accessed on December 12, 2024.