Global Conference on the Sustainable Development of Small Island and Developing States

This Global Conference was called for at the Earth Summit - the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development held in Brazil in June 1992. Its goal was to put together strategies and measures to enhance the sustainable development of small islands and developing States, based on Agenda 21, the comprehensive global plan of action adopted at the Earth Summit. At the Summit, Small islands were designated as a vulnerable group warranting special international attention. The Barbados Conference was an early test of the global partnership formed at the Earth Summit, at which rich and poor countries agreed to act together to pursue sustainable development that is, development that meets present needs without jeopardizing the welfare of future generations by undermining the environment on which all life depends. There was a time when islands were self-sustaining. Now once-lush islands are being deforested and eroded, some threatened with inundation by rising sea levels. Coral reefs once brimming with life are bleached and damaged. Natural disasters have wrecked havoc in island societies. Island peoples, who for centuries lived in harmony with nature, today struggle to find there place in the global economy. When we have reached a point at which the problems have been identified, the solutions have been recommended but a gap remains in their implementation, then it becomes imperative for us to ask ourselves a few fundamental questions. The Brahma Kumaris statement for the Global Conference on the Sustatiinable Development of Small Island and Developing States; "Partnership: Human Being and Nature" discusses some of these questions.