small island developing states (sids)...

SSmmaall ll IIssllaanndd DDeevveellooppiinngg SSttaatteess ((SSIIDDSS))

SSttaatt iisstt iiccss

(Coral Island Guyam, UN Photo)

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11 DDeemmooggrraapphhyy

11..11 PPooppuullaatt iioonn With regard to the size of their population SIDS are rather small countries. Cuba is the most populated island with 11.3 million inhabitants and the least populated country is Niue with 1,500 inhabitants. The SIDS have a combined population of about 65 million, which is slightly less than one percent of the world's population. The average annual population growth rate is 1.3 percent. Most SIDS experience less than one percent or one to two percent population growth per annum. However, there are significant differences among the individual countries. For example, whereas Bahrain has a growth rate of almost 5 percent annually, Niue experiences negative growth (-2.3 percent) due to the high level of emigration to New Zealand.

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11..22 UUrrbbaann ppooppuullaatt iioonn ggrroowwtthh rraattee11

Urban population growth rates vary significantly across SIDS. Similarly as in the case of general population growth, Bahrain dominates the urban population growth Top 10 with almost 5 percent average annual growth. Unfortunately, this high-income country is immediately followed by SIDS which mostly belong to the least developed countries (LDCs) at the same time and as such are the most vulnerable ones.

1 Data on 8 SIDS are missing.

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22..11 PPooppuullaatt iioonn ll iivviinngg bbeellooww $$11..2255 aa ddaayy22 There are no data on the percentage of population living in poverty for 35 out of 52 SIDS. When looking at the remaining 17 countries on which the data are available, it can be said that there are significant differences among the SIDS. For example in Jamaica, Maldives and Seychelles less than two percent of the population has to live with less than $1.25 a day. In stark contrast to this, in Haiti there are almost 55 percent of people living below $1.25. In general, the largest share of population living in poverty can be found in low-income and lower-middle income countries.

SIDS with the highest share of population living un der $1.25 a day Haiti* 54.90%

Guinea-Bissau* 48.80%

Comoros* 46.10%

Timor-Leste* 37.40%

Papua New Guinea 35.80%

Average 26.5% Dominican Republic 4.30%

Trinidad and Tobago 4.20%

Jamaica <2.0%

Maldives <2.0% Seychelles <2.0%

2 Data on 35 SIDS are missing. Data are available on Belize, Cape Verde, Comoros*, Dominican Republic, Federated States of Micronesia, Guinea-Bissau*, Guyana, Haiti*, Jamaica, Maldives*, Papua New Guinea, São Tomé and Principe*, Seychelles, St. Lucia, Suriname, Timor-Leste*, Trinidad and Tobago.

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22..22 UUnnddeerr--ff iivvee mmoorrttaall ii ttyy rraattee33 The average under-five mortality rate for SIDS is 32.5 deaths per 1,000 births and therefore, very high. Unsurprisingly, it is the least developed countries among the SIDS that have the highest number of deaths. This considerably increases the average for the whole group. In particular, Haiti and Guinea-Bissau have extremely high under-five mortality rates – 165 and 150, respectively. By contrast, Singapore registered only 3 deaths per 1,000 births


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22..33 OOffff iicciiaall DDeevveellooppmmeenntt AAssssiissttaannccee ((OODDAA))44 In 2011, the SIDS received 160 million US$ in ODA on average, but, in reality, most SIDS were far from getting such amount. The largest recipient of aid was Haiti, one of the least developed countries among the SIDS. It received almost 1.7 billion, which constitutes 30 percent of what all SIDS received together. Without Haiti, the country average would drop to about 110 million. Still, neither this figure is telling as the differences in ODA received by individual SIDS are huge. Anguilla, for example, received only 420 thousand US$. In general, more than half (3.1 billion) of the overall amount of ODA that aimed at SIDS (5.75 billion) went to the ten least developed countries** among the SIDS. All SIDS together received only four percent of the overall ODA that went to the developing states.

SIDS receiving the highest and the lowest ODA Haiti* 1.698 million Papua New Guinea 658 million Solomon Islands* 338 million Dominican Republic 288 million Timor-Leste* 279 million Average 140 million Niue 21 million St. Kitts and Nevis 20 million Antigua and Barbuda 16 million Grenada 15 million Anguilla 0.42 million


** Least Developed Countries (LDCs) among SIDS are: Comoros, Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, Kiribati, Samoa, São Tomé and Principe, Solomon Islands, Timor-Leste, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu.

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22..44 PPrrooggrreessss ttoowwaarrddss MMii ll lleennnniiuumm DDeevveellooppmmeenntt GGooaallss

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are to be achieved by 2015 and consist of the following eight goals: Eradication of extreme poverty and hunger, achievement of universal primary education, promotion of gender equality and empowerment of women, reduction of child mortality, improvement of maternal health, combat against HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases, environmental sustainability and a global partnership for development. Furthermore, these goals consist of sub-goals. For example, goal 8 consists of six sub-goals with 8C being specifically targeted at landlocked developing countries and SIDS. It states that the special needs of the SIDS should be met through the implementation of the Program of Action for the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States. It is a challenging task to achieve all of these goals; however, many countries have already made significant progress. Caribbean Islands Some countries have progressed tremendously, for example, Belize and Cuba made gains in all eight goals. In contrast, Trinidad and Tobago stagnated in all eight goals and certain countries even regressed. For example, the Dominican Republic struggled with ensuring universal primary education and improving maternal health. Haiti, the poorest Caribbean island, regressed in four of the goals (e.g. reduction of child mortality). Pacific Islands Similar to the Caribbean islands, the pacific islands show large discrepancies regarding the progress towards the MDG goals. The Cook Islands and Niue saw significant improvements in all eight goals. In contrast, the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), Kiribati and the Solomon Islands fell back in several points. The least progress has been made in Papua New Guinea: It fell back completely. AIMS The AIMS group is very diverse. There is Singapore, a high income country in the South China Sea, and poor islands such as Comoros. The latter belongs to a group of fragile and conflict inflicted countries that have met one or more goals. Bahrain has made progress as well and managed to eradicate extreme poverty.

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33..11 GGrroossss DDoommeesstt iicc PPrroodduucctt ((GGDDPP))55 GDP varies significantly among the SIDS. Singapore has the highest one (222.7 billion) and Tuvalu has with only $31.4 million the lowest GDP. The average GDP for the SIDS equals $13.7 billion, however only 7 countries have a GDP higher than this amount. 81 percent of SIDS have their GDP lower than $13.7 billion, 54 percent have it even lower than $1 billion. Among the top 10 SIDS with regard to the GDP rates, we can find predominantly the Caribbean states.

SIDS with the highest and lowest GDP Singapore 222.7 billion

Puerto Rico 96.3 billion

Cuba 62.7 billion

Dominican Republic 51.6 billion

Bahrain 20.6 billion

Average 13.7 billion

Anguilla 175.4 million

Palau 169.7 million

Marshall Islands 155 million

Kiribati* 151.2 million Tuvalu* 31.4 million


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33..22 IInnccoommee ggrroouupp The SIDS are a highly diverse group. For analytical purposes it is also useful to divide them into categories based on the gross national income (GNI). Then, they can be classified as low-income, middle-income and high-income economies. The middle-income category may be subdivided into upper-middle-income and lower-middle-income. Most SIDS, 64 percent, fall into the category of middle income countries. Thereby, 31 percent of SIDS can be labelled as lower-middle-income and 33 percent as upper-middle-income economies. 29 percent of SIDS are high-income economies and only 7 percent are classified as low-income countries.

Upper-middle income Lower-middle income High-income Low-income

American Samoa Belize Aruba Comoros

Antigua and Barbuda Cape Verde Bahamas Guinea-Bissau

Cuba Fiji Bahrain Haiti Dominica Guyana Barbados Dominican Republic Kiribati French Polynesia Grenada Marshall Islands Guam

Jamaica FSM New Caledonia

Maldives Papua New Guinea Puerto Rico Mauritius Samoa Singapore Palau São Tomé and Principe St. Kitts and Nevis Seychelles Solomon Islands Trinidad and Tobago St. Lucia Timor-Leste U.S. Virgin Islands St. Vincent and the Grenadines Tonga Suriname Vanuatu Tuvalu

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33..33 IImmppoorrttaanntt iinndduussttrr iieess Important industries The tourism industry has greatly contributed to the development of many SIDS. The contribution of the travel and tourism industry to GDP and employment is indicative of the industry’s importance. For instance, in 2012 Aruba’s travel and tourism industry made a total contribution of 26.5 percent to GDP and if the total contribution (direct and induced)6 is taken into account, the contribution amounts to 83.8 percent. Similarly, Antigua and Barbuda, the UK Virgin Islands, Anguilla, Seychelles and Vanuatu are heavily dependent on the travel and tourism industry (total contribution higher than 50%). Regarding employment, in 2012 the UK Virgin Islands topped the list with a direct contribution to employment of 32.8 percent and a total contribution (direct and induced)7 of 89.3 percent. In contrast, the travel and tourism industry in Haiti, Suriname and Papua New Guinea makes relatively small contributions to GDP and employment.

6 Total contribution: GDP generated directly by the Travel & Tourism industry plus its indirect and induced impacts. Indirect contribution: Capital investment, government collective spending and supply chain effects Induced contribution: The broader contribution to GDP and employment of spending by those who are directly or indirectly employed by Travel & Tourism 7 The number of jobs generated directly in the Travel & Tourism industry plus the indirect and induced contributions.

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Other important industries are fisheries and mining . Depending on the island the industries may be more or less relevant. For example, fisheries contributed only 0.07 percent to the GDP of Trinidad and Tobago in 2006, 2007 and 2008. On the other hand, for Tuvalu the contribution amounted to 7.2 percent in 2011 and for the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) it was 10.1 percent in 2010. When it comes to mining, Trinidad and Tobago’s mining industry contributed 45.8 percent to the island’s GDP in 2008. Many other islands have less significant mining industries, with contributions below 1 percent (e.g. Barbados, Belize, Dominica, according to data from 2007). The island of Nauru used to be highly dependent on mining; however, it exploited virtually all of its phosphate reserves. Similarly, the importance of the agricultural sector varies across countries. For example, Papua New Guinea had a contribution of 36 percent to GDP in 2012, whereas the Bahamas and Puerto Rico had a dependence of 2 percent and 1 percent, respectively. Agriculture includes forestry, hunting and fishing, cultivation of crops and livestock production. 8

8 Agriculture, Value added (% of GDP), World Bank

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33..33 EExxtteerrnnaall ddeebbtt9 The overall external debt stock that 23 Small Island Developing States accumulated was 55.8 billion US$ in 2011. On average, every country is responsible for about 2.4 billion US$. However, there are significant differences in indebtedness across SIDS. The Dominican Republic, Jamaica and Papua New Guinea, whose debts are higher than 10 billion US$, owe in comparison to other SIDS an extraordinary high amount of money. Namely, the external debt of almost half of all SIDS for which the data are available does not exceed a half billion US$. The least indebted country is Tonga that owes only 190 million US$. Yet, even the three most indebted SIDS owe a rather lower sum when compared for example with the BRICS. India’s 227 billion US$ debt is for instance four times higher than the 23 SIDS' overall debt stock.

SIDS with the highest and lowest external debt Dominican Republic 15.4 billion Jamaica 14.3 billion Papua New Guinea 12.6 billion Average 2.4 bilion Guyana 1.8 billion Seychelles 1.8 billion Solomon Islands* 255.5 million São Tomé and Principe* 231.0 million St. Kitts and Nevis 202.7 million Vanuatu* 201.8 million Tonga 190.6 million


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33..44 MMaajjoorr TTrraaddiinngg PPaarr ttnneerrss1100 In general, SIDS trade with a wide variety of countries. If we count up only the top five trading partners of the individual SIDS, we will find that SIDS as a group exchange goods and services with at least 40 various partners. Among the most important trading partners for vastly more than half of all SIDS are the EU, the United States and China. Looking directly at the regions, the most common trading partner in the top five of the Caribbean SIDS’ is the US. For nine out of 17 Caribbean states it is the largest trading partner and with the exception of Cuba, it never ranks lower than as a third major trading partner. Similarly, the EU occurs in the top five of 15 Caribbean SIDS; yet, mostly in the second or fourth place. Also, the EU is one of the major trade partners for the AIMS'† SIDS. For five of them, it is even the largest trading partner. Further, China and the US are very frequent country names in the top fives of the AIMS’ SIDS. The most common important trading partner for Pacific SIDS is then Singapore and Australia.

33 SIDS EU (27x), US (23x), China (21x),Singapore (12x)17 Caribbean SIDS US (16x), EU (15x), Trinidad and Tobago (8x), Venezuela (4x), Canada (3x)

9 AIMS SIDS EU (9x), China (5x), US (5x), India (4x)7 Pacific SIDS Australia (6x), Singapore (6x), Japan (4x), New Zealand (3x)

The most common top 5 trading partners

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Data on 19 SIDS are missing; 6 on Caribbean SIDS, 13 on Pacific SIDS. †

AIMS stands for Africa, Indian Ocean, Mediterranean and South China Sea.

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33..55 RReemmii tt ttaanncceess1111 The amount of money sent home by immigrants varies strongly across SIDS. On average, every country received about 356 million US$ in 2011, yet, when looking at individual SIDS, it becomes evident most SIDS receive a significantly smaller amount of money. 45 percent, for instance, do not get more than 50 million US$, and another 21 percent cannot expect more than 100 million. In 2011, the most remittances went to the three large Caribbean states – the Dominican Republic, Jamaica and Haiti. It is these three SIDS that are behind the high average for SIDS. Without them, it would be only about 117 million US$. The Dominican Republic as the largest recipient of remittances among SIDS received over 3.6 million US$. By contrast, the Solomon Islands got only 2 million US$.

SIDS receiving the most and the least remittances Dominican Republic 3,628 million Jamaica 2,123 million Haiti* 1,551 million French Polynesia 700 million New Caledonia 552 million Average 356 million Papua New Guinea 11 million São Tomé and Principe* 7 million Suriname 4 million Maldives 3 million Solomon Islands* 2 million

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Data on 23 SIDS are missing.

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33..66 FFoorreeiiggnn ddii rreecctt iinnvveessttmmeenntt ((FFDDII))1122 Net FDI inflows vary across the SIDS, too. For example in Timor-Leste and in the Seychelles they make almost 40 percent of their GDP, but Cuba’s net inflows equal zero and that of Suriname are even in negative numbers. Average net FDI inflows value for SIDS is 8.4 percent, and despite 70 percent of them do not receive so much FDI, the vast majority of SIDS still have higher net FDI inflows than the average middle-income or high-income countries that receive only 2.7 percent and 1.8 percent, respectively. On the one hand it is very good for SIDS, especially for the least developed ones such as Timor-Leste or the Solomon’s, to attract high levels of FDI, but on the other hand it is necessary to make sure that these investments are useful and do not cause additional problems in countries that are already facing many challenges.


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33..77 EEaassee ooff ddooiinngg bbuussiinneessss1133 With regard to the ease of doing business economies are ranked from 1 to 183, and as usually the SIDS are characterized by an enormous diversity. There are both countries with very high and very low scores. So, in contrast to Singapore which seized the first place worldwide, Guinea-Bissau for example ended up with 176. It is usually the most developed SIDS that achieve the best scores, whereas the least developed ones have the worst results. As the regulatory environment in these countries is less conducive to the starting and operation of a local firm, it presents a considerable constraint to the development of these most vulnerable SIDS. Ease of doing business (best and worst results) Singapore 1 Mauritius 23 Bahrain 38 Puerto Rico 43 St. Lucia 52 Average 94 Suriname 158 São Tomé and Principe* 163 Timor-Leste* 168 Haiti* 174 Guinea-Bissau* 176


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44 CCll iimmaattee cchhaannggee && EEnnvvii rroonnmmeennttaall vvuullnneerraabbii ll ii ttyy

44..11 LLaanndd aarreeaa bbeellooww 55 mmeetteerrss aabboovvee sseeaa lleevveell1144 On average, SIDS have 26 percent of their land area 5 meters or even less above sea level. However, there are considerable differences among these countries. Whereas the Maldives and Tuvalu have 100 percent of their total land area below 5 meters and the rising sea level threatens their very survival, other SIDS, such as for example Papua New Guinea, which has only 1.8 percent of its terrestrial area below 5 meters, are not in such a great danger. Two thirds of SIDS have less than one quarter of their total land area below this level. Yet, in 33 percent of SIDS much larger terrestrial areas may be endangered. The highest and the lowest share of land below 5 m Maldives, Tuvalu* 100% Marshall Islands 99% Kiribati* 96,70% Cook Islands 87,90% Bahamas 72% Average 26,20% Haiti* 3,90% Suriname 3,40% Timor-Leste* 2,90% Guyana 2,70% Papua New Guinea 1,80%


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44..22 PPooppuullaatt iioonn ll iivviinngg bbeellooww 55 mmeetteerrss aabboovvee sseeaa lleevveell1155 On average, in every small island developing state there is almost 30 percent of population living below 5 meters above sea level. But in reality the share of population living in these areas varies across the SIDS. In many SIDS with higher share of land area below 5m above sea level, there is also a higher percentage of population living below this altitude. Similarly, in many countries with lower shares of land area below 5 meters, less people are so close to the rising sea level. So, it is again the Maldives and Tuvalu where even 100 percent of population is living below 5 meters and Papua New Guinea where only 2 percent of population live in these areas.

The highest and the lowest share of population below 5m

Maldives, Tuvalu* 100% Marshall Islands 99,40% Kiribati* 95,20% Suriname 68,20% Average 29,30% Mauritius 5,60% Haiti* 5,40% Timor-Leste* 4,40% Dominican Republic 3% Papua New Guinea 2%


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4.3 Length of coastlines

The length of coastlines varies among the SIDS. On the one hand, there are countries with extremely short coastlines; on the other hand, there are SIDS with very long ones. Tuvalu has with only 24 km the shortest coastline and Micronesia with over 6,000 km the longest one. The average length of coastlines in SIDS is slightly more than 1,000 km, however the most common length in these countries is between 100 km and 500 km. Almost 50 percent of all SIDS fit into this category.

SIDS with the longest and the shortest coastlines FSM 6,112 km Cuba 5,746 km Solomon Islands* 5,313 km Papua New Guinea 5,152 km Bahamas 3,542 km Average 1,002 km Niue 64 km Anguilla 61 km Montserrat 40 km Nauru 30 km Tuvalu* 24 km

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44..44 EExxcclluussiivvee EEccoonnoommiicc ZZoonneess’’ ((EEEEZZss)) ssiizzee With regard to their land area size, most SIDS are relatively small countries. For illustration, New Caledonia, which is with slightly less than 20,000 square kilometre (km2) the tenth largest country among SIDS, is only the size of New Jersey.

Papua New Guinea 462,840 km2Guyana 214,970 km2Suriname 163,270 km2Cuba 110,860 km2Dominican Republic 48,380 km2Average 24,111 km2British Virgin Islands 153 km2Anguilla, Montserrat 102 km2Tuvalu* 26 km2Nauru 21 km2

SIDS with the largest and the smallest land area

Yet, if we take into account the size of SIDS’ Exclusive Economic Zones, it turns out that – in fact – SIDS have quite large territories. Namely, SIDS’ EEZs are usually in comparison to their terrestrial areas very extensive, so they considerably increase the overall territorial scope of individual SIDS. Indeed, with the exception of two Caribbean countries – Suriname and Guyana – the EEZ of each small island developing state is larger than its terrestrial area. Tuvalu’s EEZ that has slightly more than 750,000 km2 is almost 30,000 times larger than its land area. Whereas SIDS’ average land area is about 24 thousand km2, their average EEZ size is about 666 thousand km2

French Polynesia 4,767,242 km2Kiribati* 3,437,345 km2FSM 2,992,597 km2Papua New Guinea 2,396,214 km2Marshall Islands 1,992,232 km2Average 666,110 km2St. Lucia 15,484 km2St. Kitts and Nevis 10,201 km2Bahrain 8,884 km2Montserrat 7,582 km2Singapore 823 km2

SIDS with the largest and the smallest EEZ area

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44..55 MMaarriinnee PPrrootteecctteedd AArreeaass1166

On average, SIDS protect about 5.3 percent of their territorial waters. Yet, this is a very optimistic figure. In fact, 63 percent of them protect less than one percent of their marine areas. Aruba, Cape Verde, Grenada, Guyana and Haiti do not even protect a bit of them. There are several SIDS though which are much more concerned about the state of their territorial waters. For instance, Guinea-Bissau, despite being one of the least developed countries among SIDS, tries to protect almost 46 percent of its marine areas which makes it the most protective country of all SIDS. SIDS with the highest and the lowest share of marin e protected areas Guinea-Bissau* 45,80% Dominican Republic 30,40% Suriname 22,90% Kiribati* 22,60% New Caledonia 17,70% Average 5,30% Bahamas 0,40% Mauritius, Papua New Guinea 0,30% Tuvalu* 0,20% Barbados, Dominica, Fiji, French Polynesia, Solomon Islands*, St. Lucia, Vanuatu* 0,10% Aruba, Cape Verde, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti* 0%


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44..66 NNaatt iioonnaall llyy pprrootteecctteedd tteerrrreessttrr iiaall aarreeaa1177 In 52 percent of SIDS there is less than 5 percent of terrestrial area that is designated as nationally protected. Actually, 20 percent of SIDS protect less than 1 percent of their total land area. Comoros, for example, does not even have a single square kilometre of its territory protected so that the ecosystems are totally exposed to the threats presented both by global climate change and local factors. Most SIDS, 63 percent, do not exceed the SIDS' average of 9.2 percent of terrestrial area under protection. However, there are some highly protective countries such as the Seychelles that protects more than 40 percent of its land area.

SIDS with the largest and smallest terrestrial protected areas

Seychelles 42% Trinidad and Tobago 31,20% Belize 27,90% Guam 26,40% Niue 22,20% Average 9,20% Cook Islands 0,80% French Polynesia, Tuvalu* 0,40% American Samoa, Haiti* 0,30% Aruba, Barbados, Solomon Islands* 0,10% Comoros* 0%


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44..77 DDiissaasstteerr rr iisskk rreedduucctt iioonn pprrooggrreessss ssccoorree Disaster risk reduction progress scores are available only for 17 out of 52 SIDS. Still, the existing data indicate that the degree to which these countries have prioritized disaster risk reduction and the strengthening of relevant institution significantly varies among the SIDS. Some countries, such as the high-income Barbados that assessed its progress with a second best grade possible, show much greater preparedness to successfully face natural disasters than the others. It can be assumed that, in contrast to the developed countries, the least developed countries have rather low disaster risk reduction progress scores and are the most vulnerable ones as they lack the resources.

Disaster risk reduction progress score (1-5 scale, 5=best) Barbados 4 Jamaica 3,8 Cape Verde, Cook Islands, Mauritius, Samoa*, St. Ki tts and Nevis 3,5 St. Lucia 3,3 Dominican Republic 3 Antigua and Barbuda, Fiji 2,8 Maldives 2,3 Solomon Islands*, Vanuatu* 2 Comoros*, Marshall Islands 1,8 Guinea-Bissau* 1

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55 GGHHGG EEmmiissssiioonnss && EEnneerrggyy uussee

55..11 CCOO22 eemmiissssiioonnss ppeerr ccaappii ttaa1188 The highest CO2 emissions per capita among the SIDS can be attributed to high-income countries. These are immediately followed by upper-middle-income economies. Trinidad and Tobago is with 37.4 metric tons (mt) CO2 the largest emitter and significantly exceeds the SIDS average of 4.9 mt. With regard to this average value, it is necessary to notice that in 76 percent of SIDS the per capita CO2 emissions are below this threshold. In general, it is the low-income and lower-middle-income SIDS which are responsible for the lowest CO2 emissions. For example, in the least developed countries such as Comoros, Timor-Leste or Guinea Bissau, only 0.2 mt CO2 per capita are recorded.

SIDS with the most and the least CO2 emissions per capita

Trinidad and Tobago 37,4

Aruba 21,7

Bahrain 21,4

Nauru 13,9

New Caledonia 12,8

Average 4,9

São Tomé and Principe* 0,8

Cape Verde, FSM 0,6

Solomon Islands*, Vanuatu* 0,4 Haiti*, Kiribati*, Papua New Guinea 0,3

Comoros*, Guinea-Bissau*, Timor-Leste* 0,2


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55..22 CCOO22 eemmiissssiioonnss ttoottaall1199 The average value for CO2 emissions in SIDS is 4.7 mega tons (Mt). Nevertheless, the vast majority of SIDS, 86 percent, does not exceed this amount. Kiribati and Niue, for example, do not even contribute to the global GHG emissions at all as their country-level emissions equal zero. There are only 6 high-income and upper-middle-income SIDS that produce more than 5 Mt CO2. It is Trinidad and Tobago that is with almost 50 Mt the largest emitter in the SIDS group. Yet, in comparison to the 13,258 Mt produced on average by other high-income countries, Trinidad and Tobago still emits a rather negligible amount of CO2.Together, the SIDS account for less than 1 percent of global GHG emissions, but they are the ones who are most severely affected by global climate change.


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55..33 EEnneerrggyy uussee ppeerr ccaappii ttaa2200 The SIDS are a very heterogeneous group also with regard to the energy use per capita. Again, Trinidad and Tobago has with over 15 tons of oil equivalent the highest rate of all SIDS and at the same time one of the highest rates worldwide. By contrast, the energy use per capita in Timor-Leste, which is one of the least developed SIDS, is only 58 kg of oil equivalent. The average energy use per capita for SIDS is 1,520 kg, but only 7 countries surpass this value. Most SIDS do not come very close to this value. Also, the SIDS average energy use per capita is still markedly lower than the average for middle-income and high-income countries which is 1,848 kg and 4,944 kg, respectively.

Overall, the SIDS are highly dependent on imported fossil fuels for transportation and electricity. Therefore, they are constantly exposed to oil-price fluctuations, leaving their economies vulnerable. In order to increase access to renewable energy, several SIDS adopted the “Barbados Declaration”. With the adoption of the declaration the islands voluntarily committed themselves to achieve certain energy targets with the support of developed nations and the UN. For instance, Cape Verde committed itself to decrease fossil fuel imports for the production of energy by 30 percent until 2020. The Cook Islands’ aim is to increase renewable energy consumption to 100 percent for its inhabited islands by 2020. An initiative called “SIDS DOCK” aims to connect the energy sectors of the SIDS with the global finance market, sustainable energy technologies and carbon markets in the EU and US to enable emissions trading.


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