SPECIAL FEATURE
24
13
19
2
30
14
28
27
1
22
3
4
20
8
10
2
15
1
30
5
18
9
4
21
10
16
29
15
31
3
7
13
24
19
20
12
12
28
14
26
9
37
18
29 25
27
17
22
25
34
8
32
38
33
6
35
6
26
11
17
31
39
23
5
32
21
7
6
23
36
11
16
Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States * Also defined as Least Developed Countries (LDCs)
LLDC
SIDS
1. Afghanistan* 2. Armenia 3. Azerbaijan 4. Bhutan 5. Bolivia 6. Botswana 7. Burkina Faso* 8. Burundi* 9. Central African Republic* 10. Chad*
14. Kyrgyzstan 15. Lao PDR* 16. Lesotho* 17. Malawi* 18. Mali* 19. Mongolia
28. Turkmenistan 29. Uganda* 30. Uzbekistan 31. Zambia* 32. Zimbabwe
1. A ntigua and Barbuda 2. Bahamas 3. Barbados 4. Belize 5. Cabo Verde 6. Comoros* 7. Cook Islands 8. Cuba 9. Dominica 10. Dominican Republic 11. Fiji 12. Grenada 13. Guinea-Bissau* 14. Guyana
15. Haiti* 16. Jamaica 17. Kiribati* 18. Maldives 19. Marshall Islands 20. Micronesia
28. Singapore 29. St. Kitts and Nevis 30. St. Lucia 31. S t. Vincent and the Grenadines 32. Seychelles 33. Solomon Islands* 34. Suriname 35. Timor-Leste* 36. Tonga 37. Trinidad and Tobago
20. Nepal* 21. Niger* 22. North Macedonia 23. Paraguay 24. Moldova 25. Rwanda* 26. South Sudan* 27. Tajikistan
(Federated States of) 21. Mauritius 22. Nauru 23. Niue 24. Palau 25. Papua New Guinea 26. Samoa 27. São Tomé and Príncipe*
11. Eswatini 12. Ethiopia* 13. Kazakhstan
38. Tuvalu* 39. Vanuatu
progress to close missing links and expand transport infrastructure” in the past decade, the review states that “road and rail transit networks remain largely constrained both in quality and in quantity.” The negative impact on the economy is further exacerbated by the fact that African LLDCs also remain far behind in “fully harnessing the benefits of the digital economy.” Although the number of internet users in landlocked developing countries increased from 29 percent in 2019 to 35 percent in 2021, this is still far behind the world average of 63 percent. What makes matters worse: More than 60 percent of the LLDC’s total population still does not have access to electricity and the rural- urban supply gap remains significant. The paper also notes the adverse effects of climate change and warns
that “the increasing frequency and intensity as well as the number and scale of environmental disasters and their devastating impacts are undermining” not only the implementation of the Vienna Programme of Action, but also the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda. The main answer to these concerns is money. But the fiscal space of many countries is very narrow and international support also remains behind what is needed. The UN calls for “a significant increase in financing for sustainable development, to the tune of at least US$500 billion per year, to be delivered through a combination of concessional and non-concessional finance.” Meanwhile, the SIDS’ gathering in June has already been dubbed “the most important of the decennial conferences
to have ever taken place” by the global affairs think tank ODI. Four issues that will need to be addressed are eligibility for Official Development Assistance (ODA), access to climate finance, long- term debt sustainability, and climate and environmental justice. The conference will review the Small Island Developing States Accelerated Modalities of Action (SAMOA) Pathway that expanded the mandate of UN- OHRLLS in recognition of the significant risk that sea-level rise and other adverse impacts of climate change pose to SIDS. For many of these countries, climate change represents the gravest threat to their very existence. The current debate about the future of globalization, free trade and international development funding has special significance for the SIDS. Many of those countries benefited from their
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