Ministerial Conference on

Environment and Development

in Asia and the Pacific 2000

Kitakyushu, Japan 31 August - 5 September 2000

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SIDSnet

The SIDSnet project is a direct outcome of the 1994 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development in Barbados.

SIDSnet is a global Internet project linking 42 small island states in the Pacific, Indian Ocean, African and Caribbean regions. In its first phase, which expires in December 1999, the project is providing training in the use of the Internet in 12 Pacific countries.

The SIDSnet front page mirrors sites of various regional organizations such as the South Pacific Forum Secretariat, South Pacific Regional Environment Programme, SOPAC, University of the South Pacific and the Caribbean Conservation Association.

The site and its news wire cover various themes such as trade, biodiversity and climate change and search engines allow users to search popular websites.

Taholo Kami, Manager of the Small Islands Developing States Network (SIDSnet), acknowledges that many Pacific Island media organizations do not have the resources of their international counterparts but urges media personnel to integrate partnerships to address market demands, and obtain greater outreach through innovative use of current mediums of communication.

E-commerce is about identification of the market, reaching that market, selling a product, and of course, receiving money. Subscriptions and advertising can earn money for Pacific Island websites but sponsorship (of websites) is the key. Classifieds on the front page of websites have a wide outreach and attract non-traditional investors.

Connectivity in the Pacific has been hampered by the cost of dial-up connections, identification of efficient service providers, slow connections and small local online markets.

However, this has not hindered various Pacific regional media organizations from hooking up, and news services such as PACNEWS, PINA and the Pacific Islands Report, including newspapers such as the Papua New Guinea National, Independent and Post Courier, have all gone online.

Fiji's Daily Post newspaper is also online and accessible from the front page of the Fijivillage.com website, and Wansolwara, a newspaper published by the University of the South Pacific journalism program is also online.

SUVA, FIJI Islands (August 16, 1999 – SIDSnet/Pasifik Nius/Niuswire)---One of the few Pacific Island experts on the Internet has described the medium as "God's gift to the islands" in terms of its addressing two issues pertinent to Small Island Developing States (SIDS) -- those of isolation and of small, fragmented markets.

Taholo Kami, Manager of the United Nations New York-based Small Island Developing States Network (SIDSnet) Internet project says despite being relatively expensive for the Pacific Islands in terms of access costs, the Web still works out cheaper in the long term as it provides instant access to over 150 million people in relevant markets and greatly reduces communication costs.

"In the Pacific, we are on the tip of the iceberg and are still yet to see applications apart from email and Web pages that will directly impact development. This is something that SIDSnet is interested in," he says.

"A lack of appropriate infrastructure has meant higher costs and lack of interest in development in areas most needy such as education, medicine, health, governance and even e-commerce.

The SIDSnet program has been highlighting success stories from small island states and also acting as a catalyst for specific initiatives. The network's newswire provides the only means of obtaining development news from island countries.

"For instance," explains Kami, "A Fiji-based NGO can access SIDSnet development news from Mauritius or Jamaica or the NGO can post its own news on the site. SIDSnet has also filed reports from key global conferences leading to the UN Special Session for Small Island Developing States to be held in New York next month, including the 1998 climate change (COP4) conference held in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

"The network sees a future role in providing a reporting mechanism for regional meetings through a pool of trained journalists with a development-focused mandate covering international and regional meetings.'

Kami both endorses and advocates the idea of training and institutional strengthening in the Pacific to make the web friendlier, more accessible and to provide women and women's groups with the basic skills and understanding needed to effectively utilize and become directly involved in this medium, particularly in light of next year's Beijing Plus 5 conference, marking five years since the last World Conference on Women in China in 1995.

SIDSnet is a community of 42 Pacific, Caribbean, Atlantic, Indian Ocean and African small island nations connected through a global Internet based network. It aims to improve the way in which people in developing countries live, work and communicate through increasing access to information, in particular on sustainable development issues and provides for virtual global connectedness.

In the Pacific, the project is working in the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea, Federated States of Micronesia, Kiribati, Nauru, Tuvalu, Tonga, Samoa, the Cook Islands and Tokelau.

Workshops planned for the Pacific region between now and December include the use of the Internet as a development tool in the areas of distance education and tele-medicine and general overviews of the SIDSnet project.

SIDSnet is also working with the government of Tokelau to provide local email access before the end of 1999.

When the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) agreed on the Barbados Program of Action following the SIDS meeting in Bridgetown, Barbados in 1994, they underscored the importance of information and information technology in the process of achieving sustainable development. This resulted in the concept of a global information network being developed and implemented through SIDSnet.

Last year, Pacific Island leaders from the region's 16 independent South Pacific Forum member states also endorsed SIDSnet activities in the region as part of efforts to implement the Barbados Program of Action.

Last updated: May 18, 2000.