Addis Ababa, 04 September 2014 (ECA) - Citing efforts by the Economic Commission for Africa to profile the challenges faced by African Small Island States, Mr. Carlos Lopes told a panel session on regionalism that the physical vulnerability that characterizes African Small Island Development States (SIDS) is shifting towards social vulnerability due to increasing mobility in those Islands where tourism plays an important economic and social role.
Located in the Indian Ocean and in the Atlantic Ocean, the configuration and geographic distribution of African SIDS poses what Mr. Lopes termed as “situational challenges”, which has led masked the plight of the African SIDS in different international and regional fora.
In a bid to reverse the invisibility, he informed the session that the African Union Commission has projected its political spotlight on the African SIDS, following the Malabo Declaration this year. “Thus, the ‘blue’ economy is one of the trajectories that Africa wants to embark on in this regard,” he said.
Mr. Lopes indicated that ECA has taken the opportunity of the SIDS conference to profile the issues of the African SIDS in two reports, namely: ‘Unlocking the full potentials of the Blue economy: Are African SIDS ready to embrace the opportunities, and ‘African Small Island Development States (SIDS) – From vulnerability to resilience –The paradox of the small’.
The two publications showcase how African SIDS are embracing opportunities to transform their small and fragile economies into viable hubs for structural transformation in the context of the ‘blue and green’ economies.
He cited the case of Cape Verde, whose government is working tirelessly to unlock the full potential of the ‘blue and green’ economy. The country, he said has an ambitious plan of achieving 100% renewable energy dependency.
Panelists from the Pacific Islands indicated that the ‘Samoa Pathway’ emphasizes continuity from previous conferences on SIDS and also builds on Rio+10 and Rio+20. It is meant to create the criteria for measuring special cases of SIDS, thus catering for attributes related to (small) size.
They emphasized the need for partnerships in order to translate global initiatives into regional and national actions for implementation and stressed that existing mechanisms could be used more effectively under “differentiated mandates”. Common synergies between the UN regional commissions and UN agencies can use their comparative advantages and advance a more meaningful framework for collaboration.
The session underscored that data for development, finance and vulnerability index are emerging as critical needs for SIDS and that the EU Commission stands ready to support the development of vulnerability index by SIDS countries.
Further the Pacific region has developed a regional implementation matrix as well as a mapping of all ongoing activities. An ICT platform for data and information sharing has also been established as part of a regional coordination mechanism.
In this regard, panelists said that in light of their similarities and common needs, the Pacific region and Africa can forge a partnership.
In addition, the session noted the need for indicators to monitor progress and that addressing vulnerability through regional integration was a useful means towards overcoming size, structural and capacity constraints
The side event was organized by the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific on in the margins of the UN Samoa Small Islands Developing States Conference to discuss how regional commissions, inter-governmental organizations, and other regional partners intend to respond to the decisions of the Conference. Its broader purpose was to illustrate the added value of regional collaboration and demonstrate the shared commitment to working in regional partnership in support of the Conference outcomes.
Present at the session as a special guest was the Prime Minister of Samoa.
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