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Antigua and Barbuda, 10 August 2022 – Officials from across the world’s Small Islands Developing States (SIDS) in the Pacific, Caribbean, Atlantic, Indian Ocean and South China Sea (AIS) met in Antigua and Barbuda’s capital St. Johns for a two-day meeting, the , to address critical development issues for their nations.

Wadadli, meaning “our own,” represents SIDS leadership in pioneering sustainable solutions, including through local and traditional knowledge. Organized by Antigua and Barbuda, in their capacity as chair of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) and in partnership with the Governments of Denmark and the United Kingdom, the two-day event from 8 to 9 August took stock of lessons learned in the implementation of the SAMOA Pathway, the dedicated programme of action for SIDS for the decade 2014 to 2024.

The event was also an opportunity for SIDS, development partners and United Nations agencies to discuss development priorities for small island nations ahead of the Fourth International Conference on SIDS to take place in 2024.

Speaking at the opening of the meeting, the President of the United Nations General Assembly, Abdulla Shahid, called on the international community to strengthen its commitment to the sustainable development of SIDS. “SIDS are at the frontline of multiple global crises – from climate change to food security, from challenges to our marine environment to exorbitant debt.” He added, “The debt-obligations faced by SIDS globally are unsustainable and immoral.”

Also high on the agenda was the Multidimensional Vulnerability Index (MVI), currently being developed by a UN high-level panel co-chaired by Prime Minister Gaston Browne of Antigua and Barbuda and former Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg. The MVI is expected to be a vital tool to enable SIDS to access the concessional financing needed to strengthen long-term resilience.

Additionally, discussions focused on climate change and related loss and damage, developing blue economies, empowering women and youth, bridging data gaps, and leveraging indigenous intellectual capacity to build solutions, among others.

“With just over seven years remaining for the conclusion of the SDGs and one and half for the SAMOA Pathway, we are still facing startling challenges,” said E.P. Chet Greene, Minister of Foreign Affairs for Antigua and Barbuda. “If we fail to act, if the international community continues to fail us, we will soon see unprecedented scales of movements of people forced to flee their homes because of climate change, because of poverty and economic hardship.”

The Wadadli Action Platform was preceded by a two-day meeting of SIDS National Focal Points organized by the UN Office for the Most Vulnerable States (OHRLLS). The national focal points, government representatives from SIDS, met with UN agencies to review national efforts in the implementation of the SAMOA Pathway and emerging sustainable development priorities ahead of the Fourth International Conference on SIDS in 2024.?The national focal points went on to represent their respective countries in the Wadadli Action Platform.

With multiple crises swirling, SIDS are being forced to choose between investments with long term benefits, like the blue economy, versus more immediate needs.??

The COVID-19 pandemic has hampered development gains with declines in economic performance seen across most SIDS. In 2020, SIDS’ GDP dropped by 6.9% versus 4.8% in all other developing countries. Some SIDS also witnessed unprecedented double-digit declines in real GDP and a slower recovery due to their heavy dependence on tourism and fisheries.?

Furthermore, according to the OECD, SIDS make up two thirds of countries that suffer the highest relative losses – between 1 and 9 percent of their GDP each year – from natural disasters.

With limited resources and less than a decade to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals while being on the frontlines of the climate emergency, the stakes couldn’t be higher for this group of vulnerable nations.