Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Waterless SIDS

The disappointment was collective. The anger was massive.  The process was the same. The SIDS were neglected (again).

By: J. Hoffmaister, ANPED

Yesterday, country delegations from Small Islands Developing States (SIDS), comprised of often less than two people, were forced to choose between two crucial issues: the issues of SIDS within this cycle, and the review of Water and Sanitation. Because the magical abilities of most delegations are limited, the voice of SIDS was only heard in one of the rooms.

This CSD leaves SIDS with the bitter impression that the Commission has decided to let go of the GA mandate to follow up on the needs of SIDS as a vulnerable group. Hopefully this was just a mistake, an oversight, and does not set precedent.

What is most unfortunate, however, is that although the time dedicated to SIDS is limited, a lot of the time was used to state the same thing, over and over again: the current mis-scheduling hurts SIDS and this is reproachable. The point is clear, and perhaps there could have been other ways to get it across (a bold statement by the chairs of AOSIS and perhaps even a letter complaining to the Secretary General or the GA). Instead, we used precious time to stress the CSD-16 mistake.

To add insult to injury, the rest of the time was used to talk about what the Mauritius Declaration and BPA already have. Everybody agrees that the Mauritius Declaration and the BPA already set the framework. The time left could have been used to engage in a dialogue (not just reading statements), openly discussing the gaps, and working together to address them. Topping it all off, the morning session then proceeded to end an hour early, as nobody had anything else to say.

One of the speakers eloquently summarized the reality of SIDS today "We have policy coming up to our ears, but action only up to our knees". The SIDS section has made it clear, there is enough policy in place, the Mauritius declaration and Barbados Action Programme are the frameworks for implementation, and implementation needs to start now.