Emerging Issues for Small Island Developing States This report provides an overview of 20 issues critical to the sustainable development of SIDS. Small Island Developing States, or SIDS, all face similar environmental, economic, and socio-cultural vulnerabilities largely due to their small size, isolated locations, and coastal geographies. UNCTAD was one of the first United Nations system entities to recognize the particular challenges facing small island developing States (SIDS), particularly the acute exposure of many of them to natural and economic shocks beyond domestic control, and to call for special international responses to … Small Island Developing States (SIDS) stand at a critical juncture on their paths to sustainable development. Small Island Developing States (SIDS, deutsch Kleine Inselentwicklungsländer, oder auf kleinen Inseln gelegene Entwicklungsländer) sind nach einer Definition der Vereinten Nationen eine Gruppe von aktuell 39 kleinen Inselstaaten und flachen Küstenanrainerstaaten in Afrika, der Karibik und Ozeanien, die eine vergleichbare sozialökonomische Situation teilen und denselben Gefahren ausgesetzt sind. The SIDS classification is a technical and political term used to identify those countries that are Small Island Developing States (SIDS) are in the front line, encapsulating the range of acute to long-term risks, from more extreme floods and storms, to increased risks of water-, vector- and food-borne infectious diseases, Both governments plan to highlight the issue at the upcoming UN summit in Apia, Samoa, (1-4 September), the Third International Conference on Small Island Developing States. Economic growth, human development and vulnerability indicators point to specific challenges facing SIDS, and suggest that new development solutions and approaches are needed to chart the course to prosperity for their people and their environments. The findings reveal that SIDS are faced with several serious environmental challenges, mostly related to climate change, including sea-level rise and loss of biodiversity and ecosystem goods and services. Small Island Developing States – UNESCO’s Action Plan 2016-2021 The UNESCO SIDS Action Plan, adopted in 2016, embraces the “Samoa Pathway” and integrates its priorities across all the Organization’s programmes. This rapid literature review explores whether there are specific characteristics of Small Island Developing States (SIDS), or a subgroup of SIDS, which mean that income alone is an inaccurate measure of development. A lack of international support for research and innovation in small island developing states (SIDS) is holding back development agendas, government ministers from Mauritius and the Seychelles have told SciDev.Net.