The Inter-Regional Meeting for the Mid-Term Review of the SAMOA Pathway has released an outcomes document.

In the document, delegates who represented over 50 Small Island Developing State (SIDS) as well as associate members of the regional agencies reaffirmed their commitment to the sustainable development and full implementation of the Small Island Developing States Accelerated Modalities of Action (SAMOA) Pathway.

Key highlights of the document included a consensus that the outcome document will will serve as the basis for the preparation of the inter-governmentally agreed Political Declaration of the High Level SIDS Mid-Term Review of the SAMOA Pathway.

The delegates also agreed that the SAMOA Pathway, which is an integral part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, is a standalone overarching framework for guiding global, regional and national development efforts to achieve the sustainable development aspirations of SIDS; building on the Barbados Programme of Action (BPoA) for the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States (SIDS) and the Mauritius Strategy for Implementation.

There was also recognition by the delegates of the achievements made by SIDS in the first five years of implementation of the SAMOA Pathway, while also recognizing that there are gaps in implementation, and commit to addressing the following key priority areas over the next five years of the SAMOA Pathway with the support of the international community.

Areas in which there would be accelerated action, in terms of implementation at the national, regional and inter-regional level – as per their recent discussions in the Apia conference – were: climate change, disaster risk reduction and resilience building, conservation, protection, management and sustainable use of oceans, seas and their resources, sustainable transport and improved connectivity, renewable energy and access to affordable energy, and water and sanitation, sustainable management of waste including chemical and hazardous waste, and building of human, technical and institutional capacity; especially for data collection and statistical analysis and the production of quality data and statistics, including for research and development amongst others.

Among the concerns that were highlighted by the conference was the double burden imposed on states by communicable and non-communicable diseases, poverty and inequality, gender inequality, food insecurity, limited transport and communications networks, degradation of terrestrial, coastal and marine environments, inadequate access to or inappropriate infrastructure and the adverse impacts of climate change. 

“We call for greater international support to address these challenges that are being persistently compounded by the increasing costs of recovery associated with more frequent, intense and unpredictable natural disasters,” the delegates stated in the outcomes document.