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“SIDS live with and from the Ocean,

but they are not seen as the victims”

Sania El Kadi
UNESCO representative
of the Palau delegation

What does characterise SIDS? What solutions are you studying
Sania El Kadi: SIDS are small countries, mainly to support them?
with coastal populations, often far from other na- Several options discussed during the Monaco
tions but surrounded by large marine areas, rich Ocean Week are being studied. SIDS could be
in various resources. There are forty worldwide forerunners in renewable energy (solar or wind)
and 13 in the Pacific. The Rio summit in 1992 re- if they innovate in terms of technology and bu-
cognised their significant economic fragility. siness models.
Without a doubt, we need to implement a glo-
bal approach with prospects, a roadmap to help
How is this economic fragility justified? them take control of their destiny, even if they
They are small open economies, with limited need financial and monetary stability without fis-
human capital and distant from global markets, cal inflation to do so. We need to make them less
which restricts their opportunities and supplies dependent on their neighbours and climate pro-
- with significant external dependency, making blems.
them vulnerable to asymmetric shocks. SIDS
have little food independence, little subsistence
farming and although they have access to consu- How can other countries help?
mer products thanks to significant port activity, The damage that they experience is irreversible,
their products are expensive as they never set the and the biggest countries are often the culprits. It
prices themselves. This puts them in danger in would be good if a protocol was signed between
the event of a climate disaster. the SIDS and wealthy countries to help quantify
the losses and damages and make them less re-
liant on donations and assistance. We need to be
What does the Ocean mean for SIDS? creative with regards to solutions, encouraging
They live with and from the Ocean. They are di- bottom-up local initiatives and encouraging pri-
rectly affected by the consequences of climate vate investors to take an interest.
change and the danger is imminent: two islands
in the Solomon Islands disappeared overnight,
Kiribati and the Marshall Islands have purchased
land from Fiji, and Papua New Guinea is negotia-
ting the status of climate refugees with Australia. Palau is an archipelago with over 500 islands spread across
But they are not recognised as victims! Micronesia, in the West Pacific Ocean. Palau is a classic SIDS,
with small and sparsely populated islands, at the front line
of climate change. It does not have many diplomatic

representations with large countries, but it has a voice in UNESCO,
which Sania El Kadi brought to the Monaco Ocean Week 2018.