The SIDSnet is a joint UNDP/UNDESA program, established to serve as a tool of communication and coordination among the Small Island Developing States. The contribution for SIDSnet follows a recent announcement by the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) that the Norwegian support of USD 200.000,- for the AOSIS Capacity Development Initiative will be used to finance the workshops in St. Kitts and Nevis (4-6 December 2000) on the Biosafety Protocol, and in Cyprus (January 2001) on energy issues.

In his address to the UN General Assembly on the 14 September 2000, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Norway, Mr. Thorbjørn Jagland pledged Norwegian assistance to the Small Island Developing States with a view to enabling them to benefit more from the legal regime of the oceans and seas established by the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.

In addition, Norway has over the past year and a half translated its commitment to the Barbados Programme of Action into concrete action through financial contributions to the following projects:

• Inter-regional adviser for Small Island Developing States in the UN secretariat

• Seven environmental projects in the Caribbean region as a direct follow-up of the SIDS Donor Conference in February 1999

• AOSIS Capacity Development Initiative

• Development of SOPAC Environmental Vulnerability Index

• University of the West Indies’ Environmental Education Programme

• Extension of UNEPnet to cover the Small Island States in the Pacific

• Program Manager for The Foundation of the Peoples of the South Pacific International

• Climate Change Workshop in Majuro, Marshall Islands July 1999

• Lofoten workshop in August 1999

For further information please contact: Mr. Geir Tønnessen, tlf. (212) 310 1542, cell. 1 917 969 3905