sustainable development 20 years on from the ... - José Eli da Veiga

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issues, which have been incorporated into other policies such as <strong>sustainable</strong> use of water
resources and forestry. Closer working relationships are also being established between the
Convention to Combat Desertification and the Convention on Biological Diversity in order to
streamline efforts and resources.
(v) Measures for the rehabilitation of degraded land and for early warning systems to mitigate
the effects of drought have been implemented in Caribbean SIDS with notable progress. The
rehabilitation of degraded land is mostly being addressed through collaborative projects with
international organizations or non-governmental organizations (NGOs) working in the areas
of integrated coastal zone management, <strong>sustainable</strong> agricultural practices, reform and
regularization of land ownership and physical planning activities. For example, there have
been agreements among the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States for the
integration of priority activities to combat desertification (United Nations, <strong>20</strong>02).
However, because the Caribbean has not developed any standard drought and desertification
monitoring assessment method, it is difficult to report accurately on land degradation trends. Despite
reports of damage to land resources, there have been some efforts towards <strong>sustainable</strong> management of
these resources in the region. For example, the area of forest designated primarily for protection of soil
and water increased from 869,000 hectares in 1990 to 1.43 million hectares in <strong>20</strong>10 (FAO, <strong>20</strong>11). Some
Caribbean countries have begun establishing a common framework for drought, coastal erosion and soil
degradation issues within their environmental agendas.
In the Caribbean, a combination of economic and social factors has led to the persistence of poorly
planned <strong>development</strong>, un<strong>sustainable</strong> agricultural practices, water pollution and uncontrolled land clearing,
which are degrading land resources. In addition, more intense droughts, floods and other weather events
are further damaging the land and thereby worsening erosion and the loss of soil, particularly the fertile
topsoil which is critical for agricultural productivity and, consequently, food security. Another barrier to
adequate implementation of the Convention to Combat Desertification has been lack of access to basic
knowledge and appropriate technologies for managing natural resources. Many countries have also
reported difficulties in implementing the Convention successfully due to a lack of predictable financial
resources, adequate human resources and the necessary technological capacity (United Nations, <strong>20</strong>02).
B. ISSUES OF SPECIAL CONCERN TO SIDS
1. Economic challenges
Limited progress in implementing the Barbados Programme of Action and the Mauritius Strategy in the
Caribbean is due to a number of factors. Economic challenges and limited financing capacity in the
subregion are of particular concern as Caribbean SIDS suffer from vulnerability to external shocks such
as the recent global financial crisis, high indebtedness, vulnerability to extreme weather events and their
effects on public finances and infrastructure investment needs and high dependence on increasingly costly
food and fuel imports (IDB, <strong>20</strong>08). Fuel imports are especially straining on Caribbean SIDS economies’
as some countries, like Jamaica, are almost totally dependent on imported fuel (95%), which services
mining, transportation and power grid. Jamaica also reports some of the highest energy intensity rates in
the Latin America and Caribbean region, coupled with low efficiency (Ministry of Energy and Mining of
Jamaica, <strong>20</strong>09; Sampson, <strong>20</strong>06). Additional economic challenges include less favourable conditions of
trade and market access, a high dependence on narrow economies or a narrow range of exports