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Alliance of Small Island States

Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) is an intergovernmental organization of low-lying coastal and small island countries. AOSIS was established in 1990, ahead of the Second World Climate Conference. The main purpose of the alliance is to consolidate the voices of Small Island Developing States (SIDS) to address global warming.

Alliance of Small Island States
AbbreviationAOSIS
Established1990
TypeIntergovernmental organization
HeadquartersNew York City, New York
Membership
39 members and 5 observers
Chair
Fatumanava-o-Upolu III Pa’olelei Luteru[1]
Websitewww.aosis.org

These island countries are particularly vulnerable to climate change and its related effects on the ocean, including sea level rise, coastal erosion and saltwater intrusion. The members are among the nations least responsible for climate change, having contributed less than 1% to the world's greenhouse gas emissions.[2][3][4] These states advocate for international policy and mechanisms for addressing the inequity of climate impacts.

Organization

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AOSIS functions primarily as an ad hoc lobby and negotiating voice for SIDS through the United Nations (UN) system.[5][6] It has no regular budget, permanent secretariat or formal charter.[7] There is a Bureau, which is made up of the chair-person and two vice chairs.[8][9]

AOSIS also uses partnerships, for example with the United Nations Development Programme and the European Commission.[10]

Mission

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AOSIS' core focus areas are climate change, sustainable development and ocean conservation.[10]

SIDS are among the nations least responsible for climate change, having contributed less than 1% to the world's greenhouse gas emissions. They are particularly vulnerable to its effects, with some islands at risk of becoming uninhabitable due to sea level rise.[2][3][4][11] AOSIS has consistently raised this threat of uninhabitability created by climate change in climate negotiations.[12]

SIDS, of which AOSIS is predominantly comprised, account for less than 1% of the global GDP, territory, and population,[13] meaning that individually SIDS hold little political weight in international climate negotiations.[5] The aim of AOSIS is to amplify the voices of its members by joining together states which face similar issues. This is to increase their ability to influence climate negotiations and raise awareness for its concerns.[10]

Actions

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AOSIS has been very active from its inception. It has played a leading role in the global arena in raising awareness on climate change and advocating for action to address climate change.[12] The creation of the alliance marked the beginning of the growth in influence of SIDS in climate politics.[7] Despite their size and their relatively small economic and political weight, AOSIS member states have pulled above their weight in climate change negotiations.[12]

AOSIS played an important role in establishing the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and was an important actor in the negotiations of the Framework in 1992.[12] Its advocacy was instrumental to the inclusion of references to the greater vulnerability and special needs of SIDS in Article 4.8 of the UNFCCC.[7][14] However, AOSIS was unsuccessful in its attempts to persuade nations to include commitments to specified greenhouse gas emission reduction targets in the Framework.[7]

AOSIS continued to advocate for the special needs of SIDS during the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992[15] and the 'special case' of SIDS was recognised in Agenda 21,[16] the political action plan which resulted from the Summit. AOSIS' proposal to create an 'international insurance fund', funded by developed countries to compensate SIDS for damage caused by climate change, was turned down.[17] In Rio, AOSIS broadened its mandate beyond climate change to also include the sustainable development of SIDS. AOSIS negotiated for the inclusion of a small program area on the sustainable development of small islands in Agenda 21.[15][18] Agenda 21 was not legally binding, and some academics contend that the program was too vague to promote meaningful action.[7]

AOSIS did manage to secure the inclusion in Agenda 21 of a call for a global conference on this issue,[15][19] which led to the first Global Conference on the Sustainable Development of Small Island States, held in Barbados in 1994.[17][7] AOSIS played a prominent role at the Conference.[17] It was the first UN conference entirely devoted to SIDS. The Conference resulted in the translation of Agenda 21 into a more comprehensive programme, the Barbados Programme of Action on the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States.[20][7] The five year review of the Barbados Conference, conducted at a special session of the UN General Assembly in 1999, found that the SIDS efforts to make progress towards sustainable development had been limited,[7] while the ten year review of the Barbados Conference, which took the form of an international meeting in Mauritius in 2005, found that its implementation was largely unsuccessful.[21]

AOSIS put forward the first draft text in the Kyoto Protocol negotiations as early as 1994. AOSIS member states Fiji and Antigua and Barbuda were the first states to ratify the Kyoto Protocol in 1998.[12]

AOSIS has used formal and informal meetings scheduled in advance of UN climate change conferences to raise awareness and political momentum for its mission.[12] AOSIS has also used the media to raise awareness for its concerns. For example, in the lead up to the 2009 UN Climate Change Conference (UNFCCC) in Copenhagen, members of the cabinet of the Maldives, an AOSIS member state, held an underwater cabinet meeting to create awareness of the threat that climate change poses to the very existence of the Maldives. The stunt garnered international attention.[22][23][24]

At the UN Climate Change Conference in Berlin in 1995, AOSIS advocated very strongly for a commitment to timetables and target measures for climate change. It gained the support of developed nations including China, Brazil, and India.[17] AOSIS had advocated since 2008 for the inclusion of a temperature target to restrain global warming to 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels. Many of the AOSIS member states were present at the Conference in Copenhagen. Democracy Now! reported that members from the island state of Tuvalu interrupted a session of the Conference on 10 December 2009 to demand that global temperature rise be limited to 1.5 °C instead of the proposed 2 °C.[25][26] This advocacy continued in the lead up to the 2015 UNFCCC in Paris. AOSIS initiated the negotiating agenda item which would lead to the inclusion of the 1.5 °C target and was important in gaining support for its inclusion from vulnerable African and Asian countries and LDC countries.[12] According to writer and activist Mark Lynas, the inclusion of the 1.5 °C target in the Paris Agreement was 'almost entirely' due to the advocacy of SIDS and other developing countries.[27]

At the 2013 Warsaw climate change conference, AOSIS pushed for the establishment of an international mechanism on loss and damages stressed by the wreckage of Supertyphoon Haiyan.[28] As the existence of many AOSIS member states are put at risk by climate change, AOSIS has threatened lawsuits. The results of a recent review of the literature [29] show that potential liability for climate change-related losses for AOSIS is over $570 trillion. AOSIS raised this issue again at the 2015 UNFCCC in Paris. AOSIS was instrumental in the inclusion of Article 8 in the Paris Agreement,[12] which 'recognizes the importance of averting, minimizing and addressing loss and damage' caused by climate change,[30] although the article does not 'provide a basis for any liability of compensation'.[31] As in previous climate agreements, AOSIS members were among the first to ratify the Paris Agreement, with Fiji ratifying first, followed days later by the Republic of Marshall Islands, Palau, the Maldives, and others.[12]

AOSIS member state Fiji co-hosted the UN Oceans Conference in 2017.[32] Ministers from AOSIS member states, including Fiji, Tuvalu, and Palau used this conference to again raise awareness of the real risk that the impact of climate change poses to the very existence of their nations and to advocate for action to address climate change.[33] Fiji also presided over the 2017 UN Climate Change Conference, making it the first SIDS to preside over a UN conference on climate change,[2] although the event took place in Bonn due to Fiji's remote location, small size and limited infrastructure.[34]

Agreement was reached suddenly at the 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) on the final day. Anna Rasmussen who was the chief negotiator for AOSIS was shocked to find that the decision had been made while the AOSIS delegation was not present.[35]

AOSIS membership

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AOSIS has a membership of 39 global states, of which 37 are members of the UN while 2 (Cook Islands and Niue) participate within the UN, and an additional five states are observers. The alliance represents 28% of the developing countries, and 20% of the UN's total membership.[12] Most SIDS are AOSIS members.[36]

AOSIS has a heterogeneous membership with member states spread across many different global regions. While AOSIS' focus is on SIDS, its membership also includes several low-lying coastal countries, for example Belize and Guyana, and larger islands, for example Papua New Guinea. Member nations also vary economically, with AOSIS including both wealthy developed nations, such as Singapore, as well as least developed countries (LDCs), such as Haiti. Some scholars contend that AOSIS' heterogeneity has weakened its effectiveness, particularly in regard to its lobbying for sustainable development.[7][37]

The common factor which unites AOSIS members is their particular vulnerability to climate change.[15]

Member states

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The member states are:[38]

AOSIS also has five observers: American Samoa, Guam, Netherlands Antilles, Puerto Rico, and the United States Virgin Islands.[39]

Chairmanship

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There have been 13 chairs of AOSIS since its establishment, with the Permanent Representative of Samoa, Ambassador Pa’olelei Luteru, as the current chair.[40]

Term Duration Name Country
1 1991 – 1994 Robert Van Lierop   Vanuatu
2 1994 – 1997 Annette des Iles   Trinidad and Tobago
3 1997 – 2002 Tuiloma Neroni Slade   Samoa
4 2002 – 2005 Jagdish Koonjul   Mauritius
5 2005 – 2006 Enele Sopoaga (acting)   Tuvalu
6 2006 Julian R. Hunte   Saint Lucia
7 2006 – 2009 Angus Friday   Grenada
8 2009 – 2011 Dessima Williams   Grenada
9 2012 – 2014 Marlene Moses   Nauru
10 2015 – 2017 Ahmed Sareer   Maldives
11 2017 – 2018 Ali Naseer Mohamed   Maldives
12 2019 – 2020 Lois Michele Young   Belize
13 2021 – 2022 Walton Alfonso Webson   Antigua and Barbuda
14 2022 – present Pa’olelei Luteru   Samoa

Honours

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In 2010, AOSIS was awarded the first Frederick R. Anderson Award for Outstanding Achievement in Addressing Climate Change by the Center for International Environmental Law.[41]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Chair of AOSIS – AOSIS". Archived from the original on 2024-05-02. Retrieved 2024-04-26.
  2. ^ a b c "Small Island nations at the frontline of climate action". UNDP. Archived from the original on 2021-03-08. Retrieved 2020-11-13.
  3. ^ a b "Climate change and small islands: more scientific evidence of high risks". Climate Analytics Blog. Archived from the original on 2020-11-20. Retrieved 2020-11-13.
  4. ^ a b "Report of the Global Conference on the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States (Art 3)" (PDF). 1994. Archived (PDF) from the original on 30 May 2024. Retrieved 14 November 2020.
  5. ^ a b "Climate Change Diplomacy and Small Island Developing States – United Nations University". unu.edu. Archived from the original on 2022-05-17. Retrieved 2020-11-13.
  6. ^ Lefale, Penehuro Fatu (2016). "Climate Clubs and the alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS)". Berlin Conference on Global Environmental Change: 2. doi:10.17169/refubium-23174. Archived from the original on 2020-11-16. Retrieved 2020-11-14 – via Frei Universitat Berlin.
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i Grote, Jenny (2010). "The Changing Tides of Small Island States Discourse – A Historical Overview of the Appearance of Small Island States in the International Arena". Law and Politics in Africa, Asia and Latin America. 43 (2): 183–186. doi:10.5771/0506-7286-2010-2-164. JSTOR 43239555.
  8. ^ Nick Heath-Brown, ed. (2016). The Statesman's Yearbook. London: Palgrave Macmillan. p. 45. ISBN 978-1-137-43998-7.
  9. ^ "[:en]Bureau of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS)[:fr]Le bureau d'alliance des petits etats insulaires[:]". UN-OHRLLS. Archived from the original on 2018-11-25. Retrieved 2020-11-13.
  10. ^ a b c "About Us – AOSIS (Alliance of Small Island States)". www.aosis.org. Archived from the original on 2023-05-13. Retrieved 2020-11-13.
  11. ^ "Small island developing states in numbers; climate change edition" (PDF). 2015. Archived (PDF) from the original on 18 March 2021. Retrieved 14 November 2020.
  12. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Ourbak, Timothee; Magnan, Alexandre (2018). "The Paris Agreement and climate change negotiations: Small Islands, big players". Regional Environmental Change. 18 (8): 2201–2206. Bibcode:2018REnvC..18.2201O. doi:10.1007/s10113-017-1247-9. S2CID 158547600.
  13. ^ "Island states have had an outsized influence on climate policy". The Economist. 2019-09-19. ISSN 0013-0613. Archived from the original on 2020-11-14. Retrieved 2020-11-13.
  14. ^ "United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (Art 4.8)" (PDF). 1992. Archived (PDF) from the original on 22 May 2020. Retrieved 14 November 2020.
  15. ^ a b c d Chasek, Pamela (12 August 2005). "Margins of Power: Coalition Building and Coalition Maintenance of the South Pacific Island States and the Alliance of Small Island States". Review of European Community and International Environmental Law. 14 (2): 132. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9388.2005.00433.x. Archived from the original on 5 November 2023. Retrieved 5 November 2023 – via Wiley Online Library.
  16. ^ "Agenda 21 (Article 17.123)" (PDF). 1992. Archived (PDF) from the original on 24 November 2012. Retrieved 14 November 2020.
  17. ^ a b c d Shibuya, Eric (Winter 1996–1997). ""Roaring Mice Against the Tide": The Pacific Islands and Agenda Building on Global Warming" (PDF). Pacific Affairs, University of British Columbia. 69: 552–554. JSTOR 2761186.
  18. ^ "Agenda 21 (G. Sustainable development of small islands)" (PDF). 1992. Archived (PDF) from the original on 24 November 2012. Retrieved 14 November 2020.
  19. ^ "Agenda 21 (Art. 17.130)" (PDF). 1992. Archived (PDF) from the original on 24 November 2012. Retrieved 14 November 2020.
  20. ^ "Report of the Global Conference on the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States" (PDF). October 1994. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-02-13. Retrieved 2020-11-13.
  21. ^ "Report of the International Meeting to Review the Implementation of the Programme of Action for the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States" (PDF). 10–14 January 2005. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2008-03-06. Retrieved 2020-11-13.
  22. ^ "Maldives cabinet makes a splash". 2009-10-17. Retrieved 2020-11-13.
  23. ^ "Maldivas realiza singular junta bajo el mar" [Maldives holds unique meeting under the sea]. El Universo (in Spanish). 2009-10-17. Archived from the original on 2020-11-16. Retrieved 2020-11-13.
  24. ^ "Reunión de gabinete bajo el agua" [Underwater cabinet meeting]. La Nación (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 2020-11-16. Retrieved 2020-11-13.
  25. ^ "Citing Its Survival, Pacific Island of Tuvalu Interrupts Copenhagen Summit to Call for Binding Climate Commitments". Democracy Now!. 2009-12-10. Archived from the original on 2021-02-13. Retrieved 2023-12-14.
  26. ^ United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) (2011). Conference of the Parties – Sixteenth Session: Decision 1/CP.16: The Cancun Agreements: Outcome of the work of the Ad Hoc Working Group on Long-term Cooperative Action under the Convention (English): Paragraph 4 (PDF) (Report). UNFCCC Secretariat: Bonn, Germany: UNFCCC. p. 3. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2020-01-13. Retrieved 2015-06-29. (...) deep cuts in global greenhouse gas emissions are required according to science, and as documented in the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, with a view to reducing global greenhouse gas emissions so as to hold the increase in global average temperature below 2 °C above preindustrial levels
  27. ^ "Island states have had an outsized influence on climate policy". The Economist. 2019-09-19. ISSN 0013-0613. Retrieved 2020-11-14.
  28. ^ "For Immediate Release: Small Islands Call For Urgency in Warsaw in Wake of Deadly Typhoon". AOSIS. 11 November 2013. Archived from the original on 26 October 2014. Retrieved 12 December 2013.
  29. ^ Heidari Negin, Pearce Joshua M (2016). "A Review of Greenhouse Gas Emission Liabilities as the Value of Renewable Energy for Mitigating Lawsuits for Climate Change Related Damages". Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews. 55: 899–908. doi:10.1016/j.rser.2015.11.025. Archived from the original on 2020-07-28. Retrieved 2016-02-24.
  30. ^ "Article 8 of the Paris Agreement" (PDF). 2016. Archived (PDF) from the original on 31 October 2020. Retrieved 14 November 2020.
  31. ^ "Report of the Conference of the Parties on its twenty-first session (Art.51)" (PDF). 2015. Archived (PDF) from the original on 11 November 2020. Retrieved 14 November 2020.
  32. ^ "The Ocean Conference, 5–9 June, 2017 – United Nations, New York". www.un.org. Archived from the original on 2020-11-15. Retrieved 2020-11-13.
  33. ^ Richard Roth (7 June 2017). "At first UN Ocean Conference, island nations plead for help". CNN. Archived from the original on 2020-10-22. Retrieved 2020-11-13.
  34. ^ "Fiji and Bonn, an unusual partnership to host COP23 climate talks". France 24. 2017-11-05. Archived from the original on 2020-11-15. Retrieved 2020-11-13.
  35. ^ "Tina Stege: We put our heart and soul into climate negotiations . . . it's about survival for us". www.ft.com. Retrieved 2024-05-19.
  36. ^ Shultz, James M.; Cohen, Madeline A.; Hermosilla, Sabrina; Espinel, Zelde; McLean, Andrew (2016-01-02). "Disaster risk reduction and sustainable development for small island developing states". Disaster Health. 3 (1): 32–44. doi:10.1080/21665044.2016.1173443. ISSN 2166-5044. PMC 5314939. PMID 28229013.
  37. ^ Chasek, Pamela (12 August 2005). "Margins of Power: Coalition Building and Coalition Maintenance of the South Pacific Island States and the Alliance of Small Island States". Review of European Community and International Environmental Law. 14 (2): 133 et seqq. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9388.2005.00433.x. Archived from the original on 5 November 2023. Retrieved 5 November 2023 – via Wiley Online Library.
  38. ^ "Member states". Archived from the original on 2012-04-01. Retrieved 2019-08-16.
  39. ^ Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Support Program (PDF) (Report). United Nations Development Programme. 9 February 2021. p. 11. Archived (PDF) from the original on 10 June 2024. Retrieved 10 June 2024.
  40. ^ "About AOSIS: Chair of AOSIS". AOSIS – Alliance of Small Island States. Archived from the original on 2023-12-08. Retrieved 2023-12-11.
  41. ^ "2010 Frederick Anderson Climate Change Award Recipient – Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS)". Center for International Environmental Law. Archived from the original on 2020-11-11. Retrieved 2020-11-10.
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