8 August 2011: The UN General Assembly has circulated an advance, unedited version of a report of the UN Secretary-General titled “Concrete recommendations to enhance the implementation of the Barbados Programme of Action and the Mauritius Strategy.” The two documents were adopted to assist small island developing States (SIDS) to achieve sustainable development goals, the report notes, but implementation has been a challenge since their adoption.

The five-year, High-level Review of the Implementation of the Mauritius Strategy for the Further Implementation (MSI) of the Programme of Action for the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States (MSI+5) requested the Secretary-General to put forward concrete recommendations to enhance the implementation of the MSI, and refocus efforts towards a results-oriented approach. This mandate (contained in General Assembly resolution A/65/2) was the first of its kind to call for measures to address SIDS vulnerabilities, as opposed to only recognising these vulnerabilities, the report notes.

The report of the Secretary-General was prepared jointly with several relevant UN agencies, and aims to synthesize views and recommendations from States, experts, and UN agencies on addressing SIDS’ “key vulnerabilities” highlighted by the MSI+5 review. To this end, the report addresses: promoting climate change adaptation, including security implications of climate change; strengthening disaster risk management capabilities in SIDS; biodiversity, including benefit-sharing; addressing energy challenges; addressing economic structural disadvantages of SIDS; addressing food security; promoting sustainable tourism; and achieving debt sustainability.

The recommendations include cross-cutting strategies to address SIDS’ challenges: access to finances, as well as scientific research and technological capacity; increased and efficient human resources; improved and expanded collection of data and additional monitoring and evaluation strategies; and political commitment and international cooperation, including North-South, South-South, SIDS-SIDS and partnerships among diverse stakeholders.

The report is to be considered at the 66th session of the General Assembly, which begins in September 2011. [Publication: Report of Secretary-General]