Committees

UK Small Island Developing States Strategy

Inquiry

Report and Government response published

The House of Commons International Development Committee calls for the FCDO urgently to make a long-term commitment to SIDS. It says the UK Government must not allow funding or political support for SIDS to be de-prioritised, even in an era of multiple and growing global crises.

The Committee calls out the domestic environmental policies it says are threatening the UK’s reputation as a serious partner to the SIDS. The UK is not on track to meet its own net zero targets, and the UK SIDS Strategy lacks concrete commitments or measurable objectives.

The UK should use its senior roles and influence in global development finance institutions – including its current co-chairship of the Green Climate Fund with the Dominican Republic - to improve SIDS access to climate finance, and to push for money from the new Loss and Damage Fund to be disbursed as grants, not loans. SIDS are already heavily indebted and the impact on them of external shocks – whether extreme weather events, pandemics, or global economic volatility - is larger and the recovery process slower. In 2017, Hurricane Maria wiped out the equivalent of 226% of Dominica’s GDP overnight. It is yet to fully recover.

Despite being so vulnerable to the effects of climate change, to which they have contributed so little, some SIDS are classified as too high-income to access Official Development Assistance. Applications for climate finance are prohibitively lengthy and onerous for small states with limited administrative capacity and can consume up to 5% of the total value of a project before it is even implemented.

Read the Report: UK Small Island Developing States Strategy

This inquiry is no longer accepting evidence

The deadline for submissions was Tuesday 5 December 2023.

Upcoming events

View all events

No upcoming events scheduled

Past events

Tuesday 23 January 2024
2:15pm Public
Oral evidence session 23 January 2024
FCDO and disability-inclusive development - Oral evidence
2:15pm
  • Rt Hon Andrew Mitchell MP (Minister for Development & Africa at Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office)
UK Small Island Developing States Strategy - Oral evidence
3:00pm
  • Rt Hon Andrew Mitchell MP (Minister for Development & Africa at Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office)
The Grimond Room, Portcullis House
Tuesday 24 October 2023
2:30pm Public
UK Small Island Developing States Strategy - Oral evidence 24 October 2023
2:30pm
  • Cletus Springer (Chair at Caribbean Natural Resources Institute (CANARI))
  • UnaMay Gordon (Former Principal Director at Climate Change, Government of Jamaica)
The Grimond Room, Portcullis House
Tuesday 5 September 2023
3:30pm Public
UK Small Island Developing States Strategy - Oral evidence 5 September 2023
3:30pm
  • Christopher Pearce (Principal Marine Geoscientist at National Oceanography Centre)
  • Martin Chong (Programme Coordinator at Pacific-European Union Marine Partnership (PEUMP) Programme, Pacific Community-SPC)
2:30pm
  • Kristal Ambrose (Founder and Director at Bahamas Plastic Movement (BPM))
  • Vinzealhar Nen (Co-founder, PNG Climate Change Tribe and the Sustainable Ocean Alliance PNG Hub, and PNG Coordinator at 350.org)
  • Alisi Rabukawaqa (Project Liaison Officer at International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN))
  • Jeremy Raguain (Former Communications and Outreach Coordinator at Seychelles Islands Foundation (SIF) and AOSIS Fellow)
The Grimond Room, Portcullis House
Tuesday 18 July 2023
2:30pm Public
UK Small Island Developing States Strategy - Oral evidence 18 July 2023
2:30pm
  • Jean-Paul Adam (Director for Policy and Advocacy at Office of the Special Adviser on Africa to the UN Secretary General)
  • Emily Wilkinson (Senior Research Fellow and Director, Resilient and Sustainable Islands Initiative at ODI)
Room 6, Palace of Westminster

Contact us

  • Email: indcom@parliament.uk
  • Phone: 020 7219 1223 (general enquiries) |0207 219 8969 (media enquiries)
  • Address: International Development Committee, House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA