Fourth SIDS Solutions Dialogue: Outcomes of UNFCCC COP27 and their implications for Small Island Developing States

The SIDS Solutions Dialogues series is co-organized by the FAO Liaison Offices in Geneva, Brussels and New York, and the FAO Office for Least Developed Countries and Landlocked Developing Countries. The fourth event of the series focused on the outcomes of the recent United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)  Conference of the Parties (COP27) and its implications for the agrifood systems of Small Island Developing States’ (SIDS). COP 27 marked an important milestone with the creation of a specific fund for loss and damage, which was added to the official agenda and adopted for the very first time. 

The SIDS Dialogue event provided a platform for SIDS to share their perspectives on how the international community can support their efforts to improve agrifood systems in the context of climate change.  

Opening the session, H.E. Fatumanava-o-Upolu, Chair of the Alliance of Small Islands States (AOSIS) and Permanent Representative of Samoa to the United Nations, highlighted the historic progress that COP27 has made for SIDS. “We welcome the strong outcomes of COP27, particularly the decision to explore funding arrangements for responding to loss and damages associated with adverse effects of climate change,” he said. 

The Ambassador of the Solomon Islands to the Kingdom of Belgium and Permanent Representative to the European Union, H.E Moses Kouni Mose, presented a statement on behalf of the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS) SIDS Forum. He highlighted food security and access to climate finance as two key priorities for the OACPS SIDS and stressed the need to fortify SIDS resilience to climate change and further shocks. 

FAO Deputy Director of the Office of Climate Change, Biodiversity and Environment Zitouni Ould-Dada briefed the audience on the main outcomes of COP27 and presented FAO’s key initiatives and decisions in support of agrifood systems in SIDS. He stressed the importance of elevating the role of agrifood systems as a key driver for concrete, sustainable, inclusive, and long-term responses to climate change. 

Akhilalandjee Goolaub, Assistant Director at the Food and Agricultural Research and Extension Institute in Mauritius, emphasized the need to increase SIDS adaptation to climate change and external shocks given the resulting increasingly devastating impacts on key socio-economic sectors. 

AOSIS Fellow, Zachary Philips, reflected on the COP27 funding arrangements for loss and damage, emphasizing the need for a funding mechanism that should be fit for purpose, timely, predictable, reliable and ideally grant-based to avoid continuous debt cycles in SIDS. 

Christine Mueller, Policy Officer of the European Commission, Directorate-General for Climate (DG CLIMA) stressed the importance of “putting those communities first, who have so far been left behind”. She emphasized the importance of cooperation with partner countries to raise climate ambitions globally. She also mentioned the upcoming FAO-hosted UN Food Systems Stocktaking Moment as an important occasion to reiterate the strong case for building climate resilient food systems, including in SIDS. 

In her closing remarks, FAO Deputy Director-General, Maria Helena Semedo announced the launch of a new $5 million project supported by the FAO-China South-South Cooperation (SSC) Programme that will strengthen SIDS capacities and tackle common development challenges. DDG Semedo concluded by reiterating FAO’s full support and commitment to the development of more efficient, inclusive, resilient and sustainable agrifood systems in SIDS.  

The Dialogue was moderated by Angélica María Jácome Daza, Director of the FAO Office of SIDS, LDCs and LLDCs. 

You can watch the recording here.