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Effective domestic climate policies to protect small island states

Nature Climate Change volume 14, pages 660–661 (2024)Cite this article

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SIDS have been at the forefront of global climate policy, which evolved through milestone conferences, agreements and alliances, including the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro (Earth Summit), the 1994 Barbados Programme of Action, the 2005 Mauritius Strategy, the 2014 SAMOA Pathway, the Alliance of Small Island States, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change global gatherings and, most recently, the decision of the Conference of the Parties to establish a loss-and-damage fund to compensate poorer countries for climate change impacts. Notably, SIDS have fervently advocated in the global arena for the ambitious 1.5 °C temperature goal necessary for their survival.

Despite the appearance of a unified public front, there are considerable climate policy differences within individual island nations, especially in archipelagic contexts characterized by an uneven distribution of resources1. There are also fundamental differences in policy effectiveness between independent SIDS, which are mostly in the Pacific and comparatively resource poor, and those with strong ties to wealthier (continental) neighbours. Among the former is Vanuatu, for which a recent study showed that national (sustainability) policy had a negligible impact at the (rural) community level while serving a greater role in determining priorities for external aid2. Among the latter is Dominica, which designed a Climate Resilience and Recovery Plan that is well supported by available resources and has been heralded as a model for other Caribbean SIDS3. Across the Caribbean, innovative solutions such as the Caribbean Climate Online Risk and Adaptation Tool have been used to improve the coordination of climate action and policy at the national and regional levels4.

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Fig. 1: Known challenges and future climate policies to protect SIDS.

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Acknowledgements

This paper is part of the ‘100 papers to accelerate climate change mitigation and adaptation’ initiative led by the International Climate Change Information and Research Programme (ICCIRP).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Natural Sciences, Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, UK

    Walter Leal Filho

  2. European School of Sustainability Science and Research, Hamburg University of Applied Sciences, Hamburg, Germany

    Walter Leal Filho

  3. Graduate Research School, Alphacrucis University College, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

    Johannes M. Luetz

  4. School of Law and Society, University of the Sunshine Coast, Maroochydore, Queensland, Australia

    Johannes M. Luetz

  5. School of Social Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

    Johannes M. Luetz

  6. School of Law and Society, Indigenous and Transcultural Research Centre, University of Sunshine Coast, Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia

    Patrick D. Nunn

  7. Sustainability Research Centre, University of the Sunshine Coast, Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia

    Patrick D. Nunn

  8. Australian Centre for Pacific Islands Research, University of the Sunshine Coast, Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia

    Patrick D. Nunn

  9. Faculty of Science, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia

    Patrick D. Nunn

  10. Pacific Studies, University of the South Pacific, Suva, Fiji

    Patrick D. Nunn

  11. Faculty of Science and Technology, Solomon Islands National University, Honiara, Solomon Islands

    Patrick D. Nunn

  12. School of Public Health and Primary Care, CMNHS, Fiji National University, Suva, Fiji

    Amelia Turagabeci

  13. Department of Geography and Geology, The University of the West Indies, Kingston, Jamaica

    Donovan Campbell

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  1. Walter Leal Filho
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  2. Johannes M. Luetz
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Correspondence to Johannes M. Luetz.

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Leal Filho, W., Luetz, J.M., Nunn, P.D. et al. Effective domestic climate policies to protect small island states. Nat. Clim. Chang. 14, 660–661 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-024-02005-2

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