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The South African Deputy Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, Rejoice Mabudafhasi, yesterday hailed as a success, the conclusion of international negotiations on the sustainable development and environmental issues facing more than 40 of the world's Small Island Developing States (SIDS).

The international meeting, which is taking place in Port Louis in Mauritius from January 10 to 14, 2005, was called for during the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg in 2002, and comes timely when the small islands are recuperating from the shock and mayhem of the Asian Tsunami disaster that killed more than 150 000 people and caused the yet to be conclusively measured infrastructure and economic destruction.

"Rising sea levels combined with other extreme climatic events, such as more frequent hurricanes and new patterns of cyclones, are already causing major damage in many SIDS. Most countries are already experiencing disruptive changes consistent with many of the anticipated consequences of global climate change, including extensive coastal erosion, droughts, coral bleaching, more widespread and frequent occurrence of mosquito-borne diseases," said Mabudafhasi.

"The immediate challenge and role for South Africa as 'friends of the chair' is to ensure that the Mauritius outcome capitalises on new political energy and that the strategy and other agreements reached in Johannesburg and other international meetings are implemented", added Mabudafhasi.

South Africa, will continue to champion the course of SIDS in the United Nations (UN) Commission on Sustainable Development, the Convention on Biological Diversity, the World Trade Organisation, the Global Environment Facility, the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and other international mechanisms.

Meanwhile Alf Wills, chief negotiator and deputy director-general for international cooperation and resources at the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, said that South Africa participated and supported Mauritius in this Meeting because it believed that there was a special case for these small islands, and that the interventions were not an exception to the rules but rather an instrument that will channel global focus to create an equitable, fair and level playing field.

"Our position is that the world needs to understand the vulnerabilities and challenges of these islands in competing in the world trade market, developing their communications and transport infrastructure and attracting foreign direct investment at affordable insurance premiums amidst these natural disasters they face," said Wills.

The outcome of the international meeting, which will also be the blueprint for the sustainable development of Small Island Developing States, will be formally adopted by the high level segment to be addressed by, amongst others, the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, South Africa's Deputy President Jacob Zuma and Commonwealth Secretary General Don McKinnon.

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