How can Caribbean islands transition from Small Island Developing States to Big Ocean Developing States?
For Small Island Developing States (SIDS), being surrounded by the ocean can be an asset or a liability. Sustainable development ensures that being encircled by sea is indeed a virtue, and nations must leverage the sea around them in order to make the transition from SIDS, via Big Ocean Developing States (BODS), to Big Ocean Sustainable States (BOSS). But the path to becoming BOSS-level is not easy, nor clear-cut, and involves a journey that is replete with pitfalls.
In the 2020s the push and pull factors driving SIDS to become BOSS are immense, and warrant an in-depth examination of what is required to progress through the BODS stage. An understanding of this provides a framework in which Caribbean SIDS can chart a course for their growth, and substantially improve a nation’s future and fortunes on land and sea.
An Exclusive Club
The progression from SIDS to BODS is often as much an economic transition as it is a psychological one. Many islands may be small if judged only by their land mass but, to use the words of a Seychellois diplomat, “We morph into large ocean states when our Exclusive Economic Zones are factored in. Tuvalu’s EEZ, for example, is 27,000 times the size of its land. The Republic of Kiribati, the largest small island developing state in terms of ocean territory, has the 13th largest Exclusive Economic Zone on Earth. SIDS are the custodians of no fewer than 15, or 30 per cent, of the 50 largest EEZs.”
These figures evidence a simple but critical fact when assessing the future of SIDS and BODS: while the rapid advance of globalisation has embattled little states in many instances, as a result of the rate of growth in global trade and exchange, small states with huge EEZs have a rich bargaining chip within the international arena, and it is growing in value.
The Lay of the Land
As a result of this dynamic, the Caribbean family’s ongoing use and management of the EEZ for each respective nation is critical to economic performance today and into the future. Many industries, from maritime tourism to fishing and beyond, are facing unprecedented challenges owing to changing environmental conditions. Consequently, nations will now have to examine how they have used their EEZs in the past, and rethink the situation going forward.
Sustaining a Big Vision
Small nations with big EEZs do indeed have assets, but also challenges that threaten to hamper their growth. Beyond the commonly known issue of rising sea levels are other factors such as ocean acidification, overfishing and plastic pollution. Further, numerous SIDS lack a strong defence capability, like a sizable navy which will always outpace the capacity of a coast guard, so their ability to prevent maritime crime, like overfishing and illegal dumping, is limited.
Hazards on the Horizon
The framework is there for SIDS to progress their BODS goals but it would be a mistake to think it can be easily done, or could become standard practice. One issue is that there remain territorial disputes between certain nations that closely neighbour one another, and this has the potential for disputes over the boundaries of their respective EEZs.
Furthermore, in the backdrop to this optimistic vision is a brutal reality. The temptation of great powers to carry out their brand of ‘might makes right’ geopolitics has been tempered in the late 20th century and early 21st by strong organisations like the United Nations, but there is the expectation that climate change will lead to a growing scarcity of resources.
Countries with a small land mass and population, bordering other states of a greater size, may find their EEZ is increasingly tested. Such disputes are already occurring, and can indeed arise absent of climate change as their key issue. Currently Asia is playing host to an immense squabble of this variety, with China, Vietnam, the Philippines, Taiwan, Malaysia, and Brunei (among others) all holding competing claims to territorial waters.
In theory, international waters should, by international law norms, be free of aggressive military manoeuvring. In practice, as a nation’s military power increases and/or the need grows to sustain its population with resources, new claims can emerge for the expansion of a country’s EEZ, accompanied by the signal that the nation’s military will enforce the boundaries on any foreign vessel sailing within them.
This should be a further incentive for Caribbean states to move swiftly towards clear and strong development targets that shore up their partnerships with friendly nations supportive of their aims, and enhance their own ability to protect their sovereign interests.
