Small island nations need trade, conference finds

Climate change and rising sea levels were the greatest challenges facing Small Island Developing Countries (SIDS), in some cases threatening their very existence, delegates attending an international conference in Mauritius agreed on Friday. Some 40 island nations met this week to assess an action plan, launched in Barbados in 1994, to help the world's smallest countries deal with challenges such as trade imbalances, natural calamities and climate change. Negotiations on a final statement on climate change proved contentious until late Thursday, with Tuvalu, a low-lying island in the Pacific already affected by rising sea levels, locking horns with the United States over calls for action to curtail greenhouse gas emissions. UN spokeswoman Marie Heuze told journalists the talks "were not easy". After a number of "trade-offs", the Mauritius conference document indicated on Friday that the SIDS "believe that they are already experiencing major adverse effects of climate change", and "adaptation to adverse impacts of climate change and sea level rise remain a major priority". Industrialised countries were expected to address climate change through the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which commits 38 industrialised countries to cut their emission of greenhouse gases between 2008 and 2012 to levels that are 5.2 percent below those of 1990. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, average sea levels have risen by 10 to 20 centimetres over the past century, and are expected to rise by a further nine to 88 centimetres by the year 2100, mainly as a result of global warming. As many as 200 million people could be forced to migrate by the end of the century, as their homelands would be swamped by rising waters, a group of UN climate experts said in a 2001 report. While rising sea levels have yet to pose a serious threat to Indian Ocean SIDS, such as the Comoros, Mauritius and the Seychelles, participants from the region aknowledged that it was "vital" that the issue be included in the final Mauritius document. The director-general of the Comoran environment ministry, Dossard Bacar, told IRIN: "Our geographical location means that, while we may not be at risk right now, there is a possibility that one day our livlihoods may be threatened. Climate change has already affected us in many ways: for example, we are already experiencing unseasonal flooding in parts of the island." On trade issues, the final document recognised that most SIDS, as a result of their "smallness, persistent structural disadvantages and vulnerabilities, face specific difficulties in integrating into the global economy". SIDS have complained of ongoing economic marginalisation because of their remoteness from world economies since the Barbados meeting 10 years ago, and the declaration calls for their greater participation, especially in the decision-making process of the World Trade Organisation (WTO). "Many small island developing states either are not represented in Geneva, or are still grappling with the process of accession to WTO membership. Most small island developing states also experience serious capacity constraints in meeting WTO obligations," the declaration noted. One of the concerns was that not enough was being done to tackle the effects of liberalisation on island economies, and the erosion of trade preferences in recent years. Delegates called for the use of "appropriate long-term mechanisms" to facilitate the adjustment of SIDS to post-Doha trade liberalisation. "Without some kind of recompense for the erosion of the trade preferences, we may as well close shop - it is impossible for small economies such as ours to compete internationally," Hamid Jhumka, Mauritius Chamber of Commerce representative told IRIN. Speaking to journalists on Friday, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said SIDS would prefer to "trade themselves out of poverty instead of living on handouts".