09:45 AM
Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Brown was the last speaker in the cultural segment, in a video clip from the UN General Assembly, appealing for more support for SIDS in the light of corrosive climate change.
09:35 AM
Now it’s a performance of pure joy, showcasing some of the great attractions of this jewel of the Caribbean. “Show me how much you’re loving Antigua and Barbuda so far!”, is the cry from the stage. It’s a loud and celebratory welcome to islanders from across the world.
09:25 AM
It’s been quite a show: dancing, singing, dramatic video of beauty and human suffering due to climate change – and the spectre of natural disaster in the form of hurricanes that Antigua and Barbuda knows about only too well, having suffered through Irma and Maria in 2017.
Dawn breaks over Jolly Beach, Antigua and Barbuda, as nations convene for the fourth International Conference on Small Island Developing States (SIDS4).
09:14 AM
We were just treated to a performance from the Antigua and Barbuda Symphony Orchestra. Now it’s a theatrical performance focused on the dangers of climate change for the vulnerable nations gathered in the hall. We have trees, tropical sounds and a warning that the ecosystem is way off balance…”We must give the youth of these nations a chance”, Mother Nature is saying:
“What affects small island States, affects us all. Respect all of nature or everything you know will soon disappear!”
Buses ready to ferry participants to the conference venue.
08:45 AM – It all gets going in a few minutes’ time with a cultural opening event. Luckily the sun is shining this morning, in comparison with yesterday’s debilitating rain storms that reminded everyone here of the unpredictability of increasingly extreme weather that will be one of the chief talking points this week.
You can find full coverage of the entire week and special features leading up to the conference, on our landing page here.
‘Resilient prosperity’
More than 20 world leaders, together with representatives from the private sector, civil society, academia and youth – close to 4,000 participants in all – have gathered at the verdant conference venue in the American University of Antigua close to the capital St John’s, to tackle critical issues impacting the future of SIDS.
Under the theme Charting the course toward resilient prosperity, the four-day Conference (27-30 May) will showcase new innovations and develop practical solutions to address critical SIDS-specific challenges driven by the climate emergency, spiralling debt and health crises.
For more on the conference, check out our curtain raiser story here. UN News was at one of the high level events over the weekend organized by more than 80 young changemakers from across the globe and you can check out their demand for action here.
The Conference will adopt The Antigua and Barbuda Agenda for SIDS (ABAS) – a Renewed Declaration for Resilient Prosperity, which sets out the sustainable development aspirations of small islands over the next decade and the support required from the international community to achieve them.
The SIDS across the Pacific, Caribbean and Atlantic, Indian Ocean and South China Sea are home to approximately 65 million people. They manage 19.1 per cent of the world’s Exclusive Economic Zones and the resources they hold.
Accounting for 14 per cent of the world’s coastlines, SIDS boast a high degree of biodiversity. SIDS have pioneered renewable energy solutions, championed sustainable tourism while spearheading conservation efforts and making major strides in developing ocean-based economies.