SIDS Programme of Action

The SIDS programme of Action formally began In April 1994, when the first Global Conference on Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States  was convened in Barbados. The conference adopted the Barbados Programme of Action (BPoA), which set forth specific actions and measures to be taken at the national, regional and international levels in support of the sustainable development of SIDS. This was the first conference to translate Agenda 21 into a programme of action for a group of countries.

In September 1999, the 22nd Special Session of the United Nations General Assembly undertook a comprehensive assessment of the implementation of the Barbados Programme of Action and called for concerted efforts to support its realization. The September 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) reaffirmed the special case of SIDS and highlighted a series of SIDS-specific issues in the Johannesburg Plan of Action, adopted by the Summit. In a follow-up to WSSD, the United Nations General Assembly adopted Resolution (A/57/262), inter alia, called for a 10-year comprehensive review of the BPoA at a high-level international meeting.

In January 2005, the international community convened in Mauritius to discuss the further and successful implementation of the BPoA for the sustainable development of the small island developing States (SIDS). The Mauritius meeting unanimously adopted both the Mauritius Strategy to further implement the programme of action, and also a political declaration entitled the Mauritius Declaration.

The United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD), in the context of its multi-year thematic programme of work, continuously reviews the implementation of the Barbados Programme of Action and the Mauritius Strategy of Implementation.