24 May 2024 - The international community is joining together to support small islands in their bid for a better future. Opening on 27 May in Antigua and Barbuda, the is a chance for renewed commitment and transformative action in support of sustainable development with and for small island nations.

The Conference will convene world leaders, civil society, youth and other actors to address key issues confronting SIDS, including the climate emergency, spiralling debt and health crises. The global gathering comes at a decisive moment in which urgent and critical investments in SIDS development progress will not only improve their individual resilience, but bring the world closer to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The Conference will adopt    to establish the sustainable development aspirations of small islands over the next 10 years and the support required from the international community to achieve them. To succeed, partnerships will be fundamental to pair bold action from SIDS governments with support from the international community.

Under the overarching theme of “Charting the course toward resilient prosperity,” the Conference will feature over 170 side events and . UN DESA will also organize two Global Policy Dialogues on 27 and 30 May.

The first dialogue on 27 May,  “”, will explore SIDS economic trends and potential ,  drawing ondata from the (WESP) report released in January, and its launched earlier this month.

On 30 May, the second dialogue will examine “" based on the findings of the recently released report.

Ahead of the SIDS4 Conference, UN DESA has also issued a new brochure, outlining the Department’s support and partnership with SIDS. The brochure presents a range of DESA initiatives  and workstreams addressing SIDS’ unique sustainable development challenges, spanning the Department’s six priority action areas:

  1. Accelerating action on the SDGs and strengthening multilateralism
  2. Ensuring sustainable financing for recovering from the pandemic and realizing the SDGs
  3. Putting data and science to work for SDG progress
  4. Addressing poverty, inequality, and leaving no one behind in the recovery from the confluence of crises
  5. Protecting our planet through fostering synergy between implementing the 2030 Agenda and advancing climate action
  6. Strengthening the Department’s work on projection and frontier issues

 

For more information on the 4th International Conference for Small Island Developing States:


Follow the SIDS4 Conference live: webtv.un.org

Register here to join the Global Policy Dialogues: 
27 May at 3:30 pm EDT
30 May at 10 am EDT

The policy dialogues will also be livestreamed via and .

Access the new brochure to learn more about UN DESA's work with SIDS:

For more details on the issues facing SIDS: