Programme of Action for Small Island Developing States

The United Nations has been assisting and extending cooperation to SIDS in their sustainable development efforts through the Programme of Action for the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States finalized at the Global Conference held in Barbados in 1994, known also as the Barbados Programme of Action (BPOA). This programme was reviewed and revamped at the five-year review held at the Twenty-second special session of the General Assembly in 1999, and the ten-year review held in Mauritius (10-14 January 2005). The latter outcome is known as the Mauritius Strategy for Implementation of the Programme of Action for the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States (MSI). 

In 2014, the international community met in Apia, Samoa at the Third International Conference on Small Island Developing States (September 1 – 4) to reaffirm commitments to take urgent and concrete action to address the vulnerability of small island developing States, including through the sustained implementation of the Barbados Programme of Action and the Mauritius Strategy. The Conference underscored the urgency of finding additional solutions to the major challenges facing small island developing States in a concerted manner through a multi-stakeholder approach centered on genuine and durable partnerships. 

Following the Third International Conference on SIDS, the UN General Assembly adopted in November 2014 a resolution on the outcome document of the Third International Conference on Small Island Developing States (SIDS), the ‘SIDS Accelerated Modalities of Action (SAMOA) Pathway’ (A/69/L.6).

The UN-OHRLLS mandate from the General Assembly calls upon the Office to engage in advocacy and mobilization of international support and resources for the implementation of the Programme of Action for SIDS. The mandate of the Office was expanded following the Third International Conference on Small Island Developing States, whereby under its advocacy mandate, the Office was requested to ensure the mainstreaming of the SAMOA Pathway and SIDS related issues in the work of the UN system and to enhance the coherence of SIDS issues in UN processes, including at the national, regional and global levels and likewise continue to mobilize international support and resources to support SIDS implementation of the SAMOA Pathway. [paragraph 120 of SAMOA Pathway]

Downloadable Documents