Home / Sources / Select Committees / International Development Com… / UK Small Island Developing States Strat…
Index live · Last sync 22 May 2026
Select Committee · International Development Committee

UK Small Island Developing States Strategy

Status: Closed Opened: 18 Apr 2023 Closed: 23 May 2024 14 recommendations 12 conclusions 1 report

Report and Government response published The House of Commons International Development Committee calls for the FCDO urgently to make a long-term commitment to SIDS. It says the UK Government must not allow funding or political support for SIDS to be de-prioritised, even in an era of multiple and growing global crises. The Committee calls out …

Clear

Reports

1 report
Title HC No. Published Items Response
Fourth Report - The UK Small Island Developing States Strat… HC 476 1 May 2024 26 Responded

Recommendations & Conclusions

4 items
4 Recommendation Fourth Report - The UK Small Island Dev… Accepted in Part

Advocate within OECD to reform ODA eligibility criteria for SIDS' vulnerabilities

The UK Government should use its membership of, and influence within, the OECD to advocate that ODA eligibility criteria be reformed to reflect SIDS’ vulnerabilities. This could take the form of a ‘small island exception’ as employed by the World Bank or a Multidimensional Vulnerability Index (MVI), such as that …

Government response. The government partly agrees, stating UK representatives are advocating within the OECD for strengthened ODA processes to better reflect SIDS' vulnerabilities, working with like-minded donors. While supporting the principle, they note further improvements are needed for the UN MVI and …
12 Recommendation Fourth Report - The UK Small Island Dev… Accepted in Part

Advocate on Loss and Damage Fund board for grant-based disbursements

Now that the agreement is in place, the UK Government should use its seat on the Loss and Damage Fund board to advocate that the Fund disburses its funding in the form of grants.

Government response. The government will use its seat on the Loss and Damage Fund Board to push for minimum allocations for vulnerable countries and explore innovative financing, and recognizes the need for highly concessional finance.
16 Recommendation Fourth Report - The UK Small Island Dev… Accepted in Part

Commit to recognising SIDS' legal statehood continuity and fixed maritime boundaries despite sea-level rise.

In the light of the ILC’s impending report on the topic, the UK Government should commit to working with like-minded states to explore ways of (i) formally recognising the continuity of Small Island Developing States’ legal statehood, should all their The UK Small Island Developing States Strategy 43 inhabitable land …

Government response. The government partly agrees, having formally accepted that maritime zone baselines may remain fixed and published a statement, but it is still carefully considering the issue of continuity of statehood, noting it will review a relevant international report in 2025.
18 Recommendation Fourth Report - The UK Small Island Dev… Accepted in Part

Commit to making multi-year funded programmes the norm in partnerships with SIDS.

In its partnerships with SIDS, the Government should therefore commit to making multi-year funded programmes the norm.

Government response. The government partly agrees, stating it currently has several multi-year programmes for SIDS and aims to strengthen them during the Spending Review, but does not commit to making them the norm, noting that multi-year programmes are always subject to financial …

Oral evidence sessions

3 sessions
Date Witnesses
24 Oct 2023 Cletus Springer · Caribbean Natural Resources Institute (CANARI), UnaMay Gordon · Climate Change, Government of Jamaica View ↗
5 Sep 2023 Alisi Rabukawaqa · International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), Christopher Pearce · National Oceanography Centre, Jeremy Raguain · Seychelles Islands Foundation (SIF) and AOSIS Fellow, Kristal Ambrose · Bahamas Plastic Movement (BPM), Martin Chong · Pacific-European Union Marine Partnership (PEUMP) Programme, Pacific Community-SPC, Vinzealhar Nen · 350.org View ↗
18 Jul 2023 Emily Wilkinson · ODI, Jean-Paul Adam · Office of the Special Adviser on Africa to the UN Secretary General View ↗

Correspondence

2 letters
DateDirectionTitle
23 Apr 2024 — Correspondence from the Minister for Development & Africa relating to the Commi…
23 Apr 2024 — Correspondence to the Minister for Development & Africa relating to the Committ…