Every inch of land counts for the survival of Small Island Developing States

Every inch of land is vital for the survival of Small Islands Developing States (SIDS), which are facing growing impacts from harsher droughts and the loss of fertile soils according to an informationbrief launched during the 23rd session of the Committee for the Review of the Implementation of the Convention (CRIC 23) in Panama.

Prepared by the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), the brief warns that the SIDS’ land area affected by at least six months of extreme drought per year has increased to 17 per cent in the 2014–2023 period, up from 2 per cent between 1961–1970. Meanwhile, urbanization, unsustainable agriculture and extractive industries are fueling the degradation of precious land in some of the smallest, more isolated and poorest territories on the planet, which are also some of the most vulnerable to climate change.

SIDS are home to nearly 74 million people, around 1 per cent of the world’s population, but face unique social, economic, and environmental challenges: the loss of even tiny areas of productive land compromises their food, water and energy security; increases the transmission of infectious diseases; and undermines rural livelihoods, with women and girls being the hardest hit. Given the SIDS’ limited arable land and narrow resource base, every bit of land matters for the resilience of communities, economies and ecosystems; especially, in the face of climate-related hazards.

UNCCD Deputy Executive Secretary Andrea Meza said: “Small Island Developing States remind us that taking care of our land is an existential matter. We must urgently transform our food systems and align our policies to harness land as the basis for sustainable development, as a matter of security, and as a climate and biodiversity solution. As the world sees more extreme weather and climate events, it is imperative we invest in healthy land to reduce the vulnerability of our communities in SIDS and beyond.”

Growing challenges

The brief summarizes information from recent assessments and scientific sources, including the UNCCD data dashboard, to outline the challenges and opportunities of SIDS in relation to land and drought. Globally, SIDS encompass 39 states and 18 territories across the Caribbean, the Pacific, and the Atlantic, Indian Ocean, and South China Sea (AIS).

Food security: Food security in SIDS is challenged by the amount of arable land, costly food imports, and the triple burden of malnutrition, i.e., undernourishment, micronutrient deficiency, and obesity. In most SIDS, agricultural production is constrained by low soil fertility, high input costs, and exposure to droughts, cyclones, and salinization, which make them unable to meet domestic food demand. Land degradation compounds an already fragile scenario.

Land degradation: Unsustainable land and water management are increasing drought vulnerability in SIDS. Many land degradation processes in SIDS have their roots in the legacies of colonialism —particularly, cash crop plantations and forest industries, which displaced indigenous land use practices and led to tenure insecurity.

Drought and water scarcity: A growing concern, especially in poorer, smaller or more isolated SIDS like Haiti, Martinique, Comoros, Marshall Islands and Guam.​​Five SIDS are experiencing water scarcity (less than 1,000 m³ per person per year), and an additional three face absolute water scarcity (less than 500 m³ per person per year).

Biodiversity: SIDS cover less than 0.5 per cent of the planet’s surface area, but are home to over 20 per cent of global biodiversity. Biodiversity loss reduces soil fertility, pollination, water cycling, and coastal protection. In turn, that undermines ecosystem productivity and resilience, as well as food security and livelihoods.

Public policies and data: Local institutions tend to lack enough resources and experts to integrate nature-based solutions into land management efforts. Building and retaining technical expertise and accessing high-resolution land cover data is key to advance sustainable land management and resilience. Eight of the 20 countries that top the Human Flight and Brain Drain Index are SIDS: Jamaica, Haiti, Guyana, Grenada, Cabo Verde, Samoa, Micronesia and Fiji.

Finance: Only USD 487 million of the total development finance provided to SIDS between 2016 and 2023 was related to desertification, land degradation, and drought. Even so, this funding was unevenly distributed among SIDS, with five countries (Papua New Guinea, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Solomon Islands, and Fiji) accounting for 65 per cent of the total.

Land use governance

Land use governance is a challenge for SIDS. In the Caribbean, for example, tenure insecurity rooted in colonial times discourages investments in sustainable land and water management. That contributes to a vicious cycle of environmental degradation and poverty.

In the Pacific, many communities kept the rights to their ancestral territories, but are losing already limited arable land to unplanned urban growth. According to the brief, legal safeguards for traditional governance systems and involving communities in land-use planning and enforcement are key to halting the trend.

“Spatial planning is a powerful tool: it helps protect healthy land, reduces conflict over limited resources, and strengthens resilience to drought and climate change,” said Fred Nicholas, Project Officer for the National Environment Service in the Cook Islands. “But its success depends on government agencies, traditional leaders, and communities working together to sustainably manage land, aquifers, and coastal areas through a true ridge-to-reef approach.”

Cost-effective interventions

SIDS depend heavily on healthy landscapes to support key economic sectors like agriculture, fisheries and tourism. Today, 26 out of the 39 SIDS that are country Parties to the UNCCD have engaged in the process of setting Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) targets, including the Dominican Republic, Mauritius, Sao Tome and Principe and Papua New Guinea. This includes various approaches to protecting land and water resources and to building resilience in SIDS, such as:

Integrated land use-planning: facilitates balanced management of limited land resources, while addressing the competing needs for housing, agriculture, nature conservation, and tourism.

Indigenous farming and agroforestry practices: they are cost-effective ways to improve the SIDS’ food security, climate adaptation, and sustainable development.  For example, SIDS in all regions have traditional practices that are more resilient to droughts, floods and storms than industrial monocultures. Dual land use systems like agroforestry, agrivoltaics, and urban farming can safeguard ecosystem services and connectivity while meeting the demand for food.

SIDS have a unified voice in multilateral dialogues, such as climate change negotiations. The UNCCD SIDS Forum Workshop and side event demonstrate how SIDS are prioritizing land degradation and drought as part of their development agenda. Leaders at these meetings called for investments in land restoration, water and waste management, and underscored the need for integrated land-use planning as a matter of resilience and climate adaptation.

“SIDS know first-hand the brutal impacts of climate-related disasters, like the devastation hurricane Melissa recently caused in Jamaica,” said Calvin James, former head of PILSM and now coordinator of the UNCCD SIDS Forum.

“We must speed up land and drought action in our territories by exchanging good practices, sharing lessons learned, and raising awareness of our unique challenges and opportunities,” he explained. “We see the SIDS forum as a milestone towards COP17, where we hope that Parties formally recognize Small Island Developing States as a unified voice.”

The forthcoming Global Land Outlook on SIDS, which is expected to be published ahead of UNCCD COP17 in Mongolia, will provide a more detailed analysis of the unique land challenges and opportunities for building resilience in SIDS.