Small Island and Low-Lying States Speaking Out
During the 2024 United Nations General Assembly High Level Week in New York, we joined the heads of state of three small island and low-lying countries in conversation about how international issues were affecting their countries. They are experienced leaders in the global fight against climate change and advocates for sustainability: President Chandrikapersad Santokhi of Suriname, Prime Minister Terrance Drew of Saint Kitts, and Nevis, and Prime Minister Charlot Salwai of Vanuatu.
By way of background, Professor Radon is engaged with small states around the world to have their voices, their experience, and their learnings heard. Both of us, as a follow-up to the 2024 SIPA Capstone workshop with the Office of the President of French Polynesia, which was organized by Professor Radon, were in Tahiti in the summer of 2024 working on the known and unknown challenges deep-sea mining presents, with potential repercussions akin to the consequences of the 193 nuclear tests which took place in French Polynesia over three decades, only ending in 1996. These interviews are part of a continuous series of collaborations and events with leaders from the small island and big ocean states.
All three countries have internationally relevant perspectives on climate change, cross-border cooperation, and youth engagement that align with SIPA’s mission and which can support the research of the School’s students and faculty—Suriname is one of only three carbon negative countries in the world; Saint Kitts and Nevis is on the way to become the first sustainable island state; and Vanuatu was the first country to ban single-use plastic. Each country is a pace-maker, a model for other countries. A main theme of the interviews is what SIPA students, the young generation of future leaders around the world in politics, business and multilateralism, can learn from the experience of these dynamic leaders and their countries.
President Chandrikapersad Santokhi of Suriname
President Chandrikapersad Santokhi’s public career has been focused on the areas of justice and international cooperation. He has served as the president of the Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission and the chairman of the Caribbean Community. During our interview, Santokhi emphasized the lessons that can be drawn from Suriname’s success in achieving the status of becoming a carbon negative country. He emphasized that the country is carbon negative despite its long and ongoing industrial history and its continued-oil production.
Throughout his career, Santokhi has highlighted that the youth have to be included in decision-making. Instead of seeing youth as decision-makers of tomorrow, the President stated that they should be viewed as decision-makers of today. He highlighted the importance of cross-generational cooperation and engagement that can also be witnessed in our interview project.
Prime Minister Terrance Drew of Saint Kitts and Nevis
For the second year in a row, we have organized a Columbia SIPA student roundtable with Prime Minister Terrance Drew and his country’s team. As the leader of a small island state, he frequently encounters difficulties that some projects cannot be implemented due to the state’s small size. Against these odds, however, Saint Kitts and Nevis has successfully implemented reforms and projects to advance its vision of becoming a sustainable island state. Moreover this makes it possible for countries around the world to use the learned lessons of this small state, which is now a pace-setter in finding down-to-earth implementable solutions for globally challenging problems Drew said that the argument that Saint Kitts and Nevis was only able to accomplish sustainability due to the small size cannot be used anymore.
Our conversation covered the country’s progress to having the highest human development index in the Caribbean region and the highest vaccination rate in the world.
Prime Minister Charlot Salwai of Vanuatu
Vanuatu is a member of two of the main multilateral groups in the Pacific: the Pacific Island Forum as well as the Melanesian Spearhead Group. One of the main challenges these groups face is prospective deep-sea mining. As a follow-up to our research in French Polynesia, we asked Prime Minister Charlot Salwai about his country’s position on this issue. He highlighted the need for further exploration, study and research of the deep sea in order to make an informed decision. It was noted that at present there are too many known unknowns.
Further issues covered in the conversation are the need to protect marine ecosystems and the implementation of effective policies against plastic pollution, which has become a global problem.
We are looking forward to continuing to organize these exchanges across generations with leaders from around the world for SIPA students on an annual basis.