Problems and constraints encountered in the process of implementation, emerging problems and issues of special concern to Pacific Small Island Developing States (Pacific SIDS).

 

During the period under review, a number of Pacific SIDS have been affected by adverse economic developments which have impaired their financial capacity to implement even priority sustainable development measures.  The need for carrying out adjustment measures in the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Cook Islands, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, to correct economic imbalances arising from past fiscal excesses and the recent economic and financial crisis in Asia have had both direct and indirect economic impacts affecting domestic output, prices of export commodities and export earnings, incomes from tourism and foreign investments.  Pacific SIDS generally are feeling the indirect impacts of the Asian crisis through decelerating growth in the economies of Australia and New Zealand to which their economies are closely interlinked.  In addition, drought conditions have appeared in several Pacific SIDS and in several instances have not been sufficiently relieved by annual wet seasons with the result that annual droughts have become progressively more severe.  The adverse impacts are reflected in declines in agricultural production and exacerbation of water shortages.  The most tragic disaster affecting SIDS was a tsunami on the north coast of Papua New Guinea. 

Although not necessarily to the same degree all Pacific SIDS share constraints in the following areas: finance, skilled human resources for the implementation of sustainable development measures, and sustainable development institutions and administrative capacity.  A common hurdle faced by Pacific SIDS is the insufficiency of financial resources relative to the enormity of the tasks to be accomplished.  As mentioned above for a number of them, the availability of domestic financial resources has actually been reduced by adverse economic developments and natural disasters.  Many critically needed infrastructural projects that require large investments such as in air and maritime transport, adaptation to sea-level rise, recycling and sound disposal of  wastes, tourism infrastructure, road and telecommunication infrastructure lie beyond the resources of most Pacific SIDS. While most SIDS have actively participated in international and regional deliberations on sustainable development and have committed themselves to international and regional legal instruments and undertaken regional initiatives and arrangements, lack of resources has seriously undermined their ability to live up to their commitments.  Participation in international and regional arrangements allows them to pursue mutually complementary objectives in a holistic manner and to benefit from the synergy generated, but it also burdens them with a multitude of obligations which further stretch their limited resources, both human and financial.  Many SIDS simply do not have the financial means to meet their international obligations without adequate financial and technical support from the international community. 

Dealing effectively with environmental problems calls for adequate human resources, both in size and level of technical sophistication.  Clearly most SIDS are constrained by small population size and therefore small man-power.  In spite of efforts, in many instances with external assistance, opportunities for higher education for sustainable development including for training in requisite specialized skills are sorely inadequate in most SIDS although the foundation for developing such skills, in terms of basic education exists in most although not all of them.  Sustainable development calls for training in a large number of technical skills and cannot be effectively pursued with the help of manpower that is merely literate at a basic level.  For instance, problems of water supply both in terms of quantity and quality, environmentally sound management of solid and liquid wastes, adaptation to climate change and sealevel rise, integrated management of coastal zones, prevention or minimization of natural and environmental disasters among others, all call for specific skills without which SIDS with the highest level of political will cannot hope to solve.  In recognition of the difficulty of building adequate levels of skills at the national level, Pacific SIDS have established an array of regional institutions by pooling their resources.  

In addition to finance and human resources, SIDS are constrained by the inadequacy of institutional infrastructure and administrative capacity, which is in effect a reflection of constraints posed by both finance and human resources.  Effective implementation of the Programme of Action calls for adequate institutions and administrative capacity to design, implement and oversee the implementation of national strategies and policies, and action plans, and to enforce environmental legislation and regulations.  Many Pacific SIDS are too small and simply do not have the manpower needed to develop a critical mass of technically qualified staff to man even the most critically needed institutions.  Due to size in some, and generally due to the imperatives of sound taxation and budgetary policies it is difficult to establish and fund the government structures and associated institutions essential for effective resource management, except over the long haul.  At the national level efforts have begun to be made to set up institutions such as ministries, development councils, environment units, but these are as yet rudimentary and need time to build up specialized manpower proportionate to their tasks.  They also need adequate budgets to function effectively, which at present is not the case. 

Pacific SIDS lack proper institutional and administrative capacity not only to meet the demands of natural resource management but also to handle specialized demands emanating from obligations of international conventions and agreements such as UNFCCC, CBD, UNCLOS and the Agreement for the Implementation of the Provisions of the Convention relating to the Conservation and Management of Straddling Fish Stocks and Highly Migratory Fish Stocks,  the FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries, and the International Coral Reef Initiative, and to handle negotiations of international treaties and agreements effectively.  An example of a major programme area that is seriously affected by inadequate institutional capacity is coastal and marine resources.  Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICAM) has not yet been successfully implemented because the system requires a minimum number of qualified individuals and appropriate institutions.

In some SIDS sectoral management institutions for particular sectors, such as waste management have been established.  That is a step in the right direction, but such institutions need to be nurtured and provided with  adequate resources to achieve their goals.  Institutions for training in appropriate specialized skills which are absolutely necessary to man national institutions for sustainable development have yet to be established in most SIDS.  In the very small SIDS, it may not be realistic to aim for the establishment of several specialized sectoral resource management and training institutions.  These countries would probably need to develop effective multi-sectoral institutions manned by staff trained overseas.