Excerpt from PolicyForum.net
Despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the existential threat of climate change for small island developing states (SIDS) remains. This has made SIDS step up in climate meetings to promote a green COVID-19 recovery agenda to ensure climate action remains at the forefront of international policymaking.
Historically, international climate action has often been challenged by larger players’ interests and preferences despite what has been prescribed in climate conventions. However, for decades SIDS have collectively influenced international decisions, notably through the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS).
In November 1989, 14 SIDS representatives met at the Small States Conference on Sea Level Rise in Malé, the capital city of the Maldives, to discuss their common climate concerns. The outcome of the Malé conference led to the creation of AOSIS, a grouping that had extraordinary success in pursuing SIDS’ common voice in the United Nations (UN) negotiations leading up to the 1994 UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)
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