FAO
FSN Forum

DISCUSSION No. 150   •   FSN Forum digest No. 1349

What story can Small Island Developing States (SIDS) tell on addressing the relationship between poverty and climate change?

until 17 June 2018

iconHow to participate

Send your contribution to
FSN-moderator@fao.org
or post it on the
FSN Forum website www.fao.org/fsnforum

© FAO

Dear Members,

We are happy to share with you the first contributions received for the new online consultation
What story can Small Island Developing States (SIDS) tell on addressing the relationship between poverty and climate change?.

Please see the short summaries of the comments below or visit the discussion page to access the full versions.

Due to their geographic and economic isolation, (SIDS) share unique challenges when it comes to dealing with the effects of climate change on poverty, food security and nutrition. At the same time, these countries have developed unique coping and development strategies that can inform action also in countries outside of this group.

With this online exchange we would like to contribute to a stronger knowledge exchange among Small Island Developing States (SIDS), as well as encourage practitioners worldwide to engage in a dialogue with their colleagues from SIDS on how to tackle existing challenges to food security, proper nutrition and poverty reduction.

The full topic and the guiding questions are available on the FSN Forum website also in French and Spanish and Portuguese and your comments are welcome in any of these languages.

Looking forward to your continued participation.

Your FSN Forum team

CONTRIBUTIONS RECEIVED

iconPatrick McConney, Barbados

Patrick shares information on marine small-scale fisheries (SSF) and marine protected areas (MPAs) in Barbados. He touches upon issues such as the need for capacity development and multistakeholder dialogue when designing actions aimed at fisherfolks. He warns that conservation interests can unintentionally undermine resilience and that results of policies need to be visible quickly in order to attract buy-in.
He also argues that any action needs to be adapted to the conditions at geographic, institutional and jurisdictional levels and that it is imperative to establish a culture of testing, monitoring, evaluating, learning and adapting. 

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iconAli Mohamed Ali, Tanzania

Ali focuses on the island of Zanzibar, Tanzania arguing that future socio-economic development needs to be taken into consideration when designing actions aimed at addressing climate change impacts. Factors such as demographic changes, economic growth and land-use development will determine the extent of the effects that climate change will have. 

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iconKatinka Weinberger, UNESCAP, Thailand

Katinka highlights the problem of unplanned urban expansion into marine and coastal ecosystems in the Pacific region.
She suggests looking for solutions that are inspired and supported by the use of natural processes and structures, and are designed to address climate change and various environmental challenges.
For example, she mentions rehabilitating coastal vegetation such as mangroves and seagrass beds to reduce coastal erosion and increase resilience against flooding, while sequestering carbon and providing habitats for wildlife. 
However, such eco-engineering remains under-utilized partly due to the fragmentation of policies and incentives driving ecologically sustainable development below the waterline.
She informs us that UN ESCAP pledged its support to such initiatives during the launch of the Ocean Pathway championed by Fiji at COP23.

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iconBrandon Eisler, Nutritional Diversity, Panama

Brandon tells us about the experiences made on Isla Colón in Panama, mentioning the important role that tourism plays in sustainable development. While an ever increasing number of visitors can have detrimental effects on water consumption and waste disposal, the development it brings can also positively affect local populations. It can foster education and the exposure to innovative practices such as permaculture. If applied correctly such innovations could benefit local food production while at the same time help to curb some of the negative environmental impacts.

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