Keywords

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The Alliance of Small Island States was established in 1990 by a coalition of small island and low-lying coastal nations. It seeks to co-ordinate members’ lobbying efforts within the United Nations system in relation to the environmental and developmental challenges facing them—especially the adverse effects of climate change.

Organization. The AOSIS has no formal charter or permanent secretariat. However, there is a Bureau, made up of the chairperson and two vice-chairs, appointed from the UN Permanent Representatives of countries from each of the organization’s three regional groupings (the Caribbean; the Pacific; and Africa, Indian Ocean, Mediterranean and South China Sea).

Members. As of Feb. 2017 AOSIS comprised 37 nation states (plus the New Zealand dependencies of the Cook Islands and Niue): Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Cabo Verde, Comoros, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Fiji, Federated States of Micronesia, Grenada, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Kiribati, Maldives, Marshall Islands, Mauritius, Nauru, Palau, Papua New Guinea, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, Singapore, Seychelles, São Tomé and Príncipe, Solomon Islands, Suriname, Timor-Leste, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tuvalu and Vanuatu. A further five non-sovereign territories have observer status.