UNITED NATIONS, Dec 8 (AFP) - The United Nations will host an international conference on the problems faced by developing small island nations in Mauritius next month, officials said on Wednesday.
The January 10-14 gathering will be attended by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, and is to focus on reviewing progress on a UN plan put forward a decade ago in Barbados to address the sustained development of island states.
From climate change and the rise in sea level to the disruption of tourism caused by fears of terrorism, the meeting will look at a host of issues that Annan outlined in a report earlier this year.
"Their main vulnerability comes out of their smallness and their remoteness," said Anwarul Chowdhury, the UN undersecretary general for least developed countries and small island developing states.
Some, like Nauru, Tuvalu and the Maldives, "are almost threatened with going out of existence" because of rising seas caused by climate change, Chowdhury said, while others are struggling with the HIV/AIDS pandemic.
"Small islands are marginalised in global attention," he told a press conference, adding: "We will not be disheartened by the present apathy of the international community."
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