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Environment
and development in coastal regions and in small islands |
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Environment
and development in coastal regions and in small islands |
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Coastal region and small island papers 9
Foreword
Towards
the end of the 1980s, as the world’s nations began preparations for the ‘Earth
Summit’ held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 (United Nations Conference on Environment
and Development), the concerns of small islands began to emerge as a collective
voice, demanding to be heard and not engulfed by the problems of larger, more
populous countries. The Alliance
of Small Island States (AOSIS) was established and in 1994 an historic conference,
the UN Global
Conference on Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States,
was held in Barbados with participation from small island states across the
world. During this United Nations conference, a programme of action was prepared.
Fully aware of their rich but increasingly fragile heritage, the islands demonstrated
to the world that their concerns are of global significance, and that their
agenda will ultimately be the world’s agenda.
As
a result of these concerns, the United
Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) established
an inter-sectoral and interdisciplinary platform for ‘Environment
and Development in Coastal Regions and in Small Islands’ (CSI). The
CSI platform is seeking to achieve concrete action on the ground
through its three interacting modalities: field projects,
university chairs/twinning arrangement
and an internet-based
discussion forum (user name = csi, password = wise). Ultimately, the goal
is to develop and implement wise practices for sustainable human development,
in order to effect changes in attitudes and reduce conflicts over coastal resources
and values.
It
is against this background that representatives of CSI’s small-island
activities, as well as persons from other initiatives in the Caribbean, Indian
Ocean and Pacific regions, met in Samoa in December 2000. The meeting was unique
in that participants from diverse geographical and cultural backgrounds, working
in government service, non-governmental organizations, academia or aid agencies,
came together to advance a small-island agenda built on wise coastal practices.
The similarities were more evident than the differences, pointing to the
continual and ever-pressing need for small islands to work together.
This
publication details the presentations, discussions and outcomes of the meeting,
high-lighting the need for (i) interlinking activities within and across
small-island regions; and (ii) procedures for project assessment, in order to
distil and implement ‘wise coastal practices for sustainable human
development’.
Ideas
and results from the meeting will continue to be discussed and implemented over
the years to come. Already a proposal (Small Islands’ Voice 2004) has been
prepared to ensure that the voice of civil society in small islands is heard and
taken into account such that it becomes an effective catalyst for on-the-ground
activities; and furthermore, that islanders,
often in remote and small communities, are able to play a greater and more
meaningful role in the environment-development debate at the local and national
levels, as well as within the international and intergovernmental arena.
The
well-being and very survival of some small islands and their inhabitants lies in
the recognition of global interdependence and that, as human beings, we all have
ethical responsibilities to the global community. Indeed, ours is a shared
destiny.
Dirk
G. Troost Chief CSI
Hans D. Thulstrup UNESCO
Apia
Gillian Cambers Meeting
Co-organizer
