SIDS have been at the forefront of global climate policy, which evolved through milestone conferences, agreements and alliances, including the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro (Earth Summit), the 1994 Barbados Programme of Action, the 2005 Mauritius Strategy, the 2014 SAMOA Pathway, the Alliance of Small Island States, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change global gatherings and, most recently, the decision of the Conference of the Parties to establish a loss-and-damage fund to compensate poorer countries for climate change impacts. Notably, SIDS have fervently advocated in the global arena for the ambitious 1.5 °C temperature goal necessary for their survival.

Despite the appearance of a unified public front, there are considerable climate policy differences within individual island nations, especially in archipelagic contexts characterized by an uneven distribution of resources¹. There are also fundamental differences in policy effectiveness between independent SIDS, which are mostly in the Pacific and comparatively resource poor, and those with strong ties to wealthier (continental) neighbours. Among the former is Vanuatu, for which a recent study showed that national (sustainability) policy had a negligible impact at the (rural) community level while serving a greater role in determining priorities for external aid². Among the latter is Dominica, which designed a Climate Resilience and Recovery Plan that is well supported by available resources and has been heralded as a model for other Caribbean SIDS³. Across the Caribbean, innovative solutions such as the Caribbean Climate Online Risk and Adaptation Tool have been used to improve the coordination of climate action and policy at the national and regional levels⁴.