The majority of the world's small island states are concentrated in four tropical regions: the tropical Pacific Ocean, Indian Ocean, and Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of west Africa. A few small islands are found outside these areas-for example, Malta and Cyprus, which are located in the Mediterranean Sea. This chapter principally addresses independent small island states; it does not focus on islands that are more appropriately considered to be part of another region (e.g., Singapore in Tropical Asia, Bahrain in the Middle East); the many islands that constitute part of a larger country (e.g., the thousands of small islands of Indonesia); or those that are administered by a metropolitan country, such as the United Kingdom, the United States, France, or The Netherlands. Nevertheless, many of the climate change projections and impacts detailed in this chapter apply equally to these other types of islands.
The small island states on which the discussion in this chapter focuses are
depicted in Figure 9-1. Box 9-1
provides a listing of the islands for which socioeconomic data were compiled
in Annex D.
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| Figure 9-1: Main regions of the world in which small island states are located. |
| Antigua and Barbuda The Bahamas Barbados Cape Verde Comoros Cook Islands Cuba Cyprus Dominica Dominican Republic Federated States of Micronesia Fiji Grenada Haiti Jamaica Kiribati Maldives |
Malta |
Although these islands are by no means homogeneous politically, socially, or
culturally-or in terms of physical size or stage of economic development-many
tend to share a number of common characteristics. Island states generally have
small land areas and high population densities, and large exclusive economic
zones (EEZs) (for mid-Pacific states, these zones are 1,000 times larger than
the land area); they are located predominantly in tropical and subtropical regions
of the Caribbean Sea and the Indian and Pacific Oceans (Table
9-1). The climates of most islands generally are moderated by the maritime
influence, with lower maximum and higher minimum temperatures than continental
land masses at the same latitude. Most islands also have distinct seasonal patterns
of rainfall and temperature. Although many islands are located outside the normal
tropical storm tracks, some states in the Pacific and Indian Oceans and the
Caribbean Sea periodically are subject to the devastating inflences of tropical
cyclones (i.e., hurricanes and typhoons).
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