Alliance of Small Island States

Structure

AOSIS was initiated in 1991, but functions without a charter, budget, or secretariat. Member states work through their diplomatic missions to the UN, while members work through consultations and general consensus. Its member states include: Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Cape Verde, Comoros, the Cook Islands, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Fiji, the Federated States of Micronesia, Grenada, Guinea–Bissau, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Kiribati, Maldives, the Marshall Islands, Mauritius, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Singapore, the Seychelles, Sao Tome and Principe, the Solomon Islands, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Timor–Leste, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu. Four nations also serve as observers; they are American Samoa, the Netherlands Antilles, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Major decisions are made at the ambassadorial level. The consultations are directed by a chairperson who rotates into the position. AOSIS's chairpersons are as follows: Ambassador Robert Van Lierop of Vanuatu (1991–94), Ambassador Annette des Iles of Trinidad and Tobago (1994–97), Ambassador Tuiloma Neroni Slade of Samoa (1997–2002), Ambassador Jagdish Koonjul of Mauritius (2002–05), Ambassador Enele Sopoaga of Tuvalu (acting chairman 2005–06), Ambassador Julian R. Hunte of Saint Lucia (2006), Ambassador Angus Friday of Grenada (2006–09), and Dessima Williams of Grenada (2009).

AOSIS and Climate Change

Since its inception, the AOSIS has issued statements on topics related to climate change, such as consumption, tourism, and sustainable development, the health of oceans and seas, and linking science and climate change policy. AOSIS has called for measures that would keep global temperatures increases below 2.7 degrees F (1.5 degrees C) as well as for a serious reduction in the concentration of greenhouse gases (GHGs)—below 350 parts per million. The AOSIS has proposed a decrease in emissions to 85 percent below 1990 levels by 2050, continuing with reductions after 2050. Without large-scale changes, the small, low-lying AOSIS member states are vulnerable to many effects: rising sea levels, which will damage the economic base of most islands; storm surge, which will salinize drinking water and agricultural irrigation water; ocean acidification, which will destroy coral reefs (necessary as a cyclone buffer as well as tourist attraction) and fertile fishing grounds; and stronger hurricanes, which will damage fragile development projects.

Just three months before the UNFCCC COP 15 talks in Copenhagen in 2009, AOSIS convened a one-day summit and adopted the AOSIS Climate Change Declaration. The declaration calls upon the international community to undertake urgent actions to reduce emissions levels, underscores the need for immediate adaptation goals, and urges all parties to have a shared sense of urgency. It also outlines some specific mitigation activities, such as long-term stabilization of GHGs, limiting of surface temperature increases to below 2.7 degrees F (1.5 degrees C) above pre-industrial levels, peaking of global emissions by 2015 and declining thereafter, reduction of emissions by 85 percent below 1990 levels by 2050, and Annex I Parties reducing their GHG emissions by 45 percent below 1990 levels by 2020 and 95 percent by 2050. It also demands national appropriate mitigation through sustainable development supported by adequate sources of grant money to ensure success.

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