UN Small
Island
Developing
States
Sept 1-4, 2014

SiIDS 3
Sustainable
Development
Goals
RIO+20
UNFCCC
Mauritius
Implementation
Barbados Plan of
Action
MDG’s
Rio1992
Brundtland

THEME:
Common and Differentiated Responsibilities and Respective Capabilities
Contentious!
SDG’s:
Taking into account different national circumstances, capacities and priorities

• Indigenous knowledge contexts of SIDS Pacific
• Pacific imagination – Water continent
• Relational
• Obligation, duty, responsibility
• Community priorities
• Connection to cosmos, interdependence of all living things

Reciprocity and Leadership
Reciprocity
Water shares a genealogy with land who in turn shares a genealogy with man, the cosmos and the gods. This genealogy is sacred and invests a legacy of responsibility on all living things (trees, clouds, volcanoes, water, animals, people) to respect through reciprocity, the divine balance or harmony they share. This is what Samoans call the va
tapuia – the sacred relations. H.H. Tui Atua Tupua Tamasese Efi
Leadership
Power/wisdom is acquired through working with others and working the land. For instance Logovae refers to power as ‘both a gift and a burden’ and adds that ‘while it is a privilege, responsibilities are its constant companion

Floods, Droughts
Salination of Water &
Soils
Severity of Hazards
Climate:
A Matter of
National
Security?

Three key areas
• food security and production
• water resource management
• coastal protection.

EEZ – Ocean Territories of Pacific Nations

• Imagine if you had 2 glasses of water, and egg, two slices of toast, fruit and toast, how much water would you have used?
• (FAO) estimates that it takes 135 litres of water to produce one egg, 40 litres of water to produce one slice of bread and
65 litres per 100 grams of fruit and vegetables. Chickens, wheat, fruit and vegetables need water to grow, but not as much cows as pigs. It takes 208 litres of water for one glass of milk and 2,182 litres to produce half a kilo of pork. It is this relationship of water to food security
• In atoll countries, limited water and poor soil mean much of the fruit and vegetables people eat need to be imported, driving up costs

Sili Village
Hawaiian use of Trusteeship law
Fiji LMMNA
Vanuatu Village and Catchment strategies
Community Decision-making

Custom Law
Custom law, its institutions and processes, are being increasingly recognised in international instruments.
Articles 5 and 34 of the Declaration on the Rights of
Indigenous Peoples propose recognition of the right of indigenous people to maintain and strengthen their legal systems and juridical customs, in accordance with internationally recognised human rights standards.
Custom is a system of law for customary communities, coexisting with state-made law and drawing its authority from the fact that it is the law that preceded the state.
(Coverging Currents)

SDG’s for All Countries
• No reference to UNDRIP; Includes effects of colonization
(Para 15)
• Goal 2. End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture
• Goal 6. Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all
• Goal 10. Reduce inequality within and among countries
• Goal 12. Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns
• Goal 15. Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss

Privilege the integrated systems of Indigenous tradition in development