Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS)

• DATE: Established 1991

Mission

A coalition of Small Island Developing Nations (SIDS) and low-lying coastal nations, the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) speaks collectively about environmental concerns and issues affecting economic growth. Established in 1990, AOSIS includes thirty-nine member countries and eighteen associated members. American Samoa, Guam, the Netherlands Antilles, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands act as observers.

Because of their small size and proximity to water, AOSIS nations face several common challenges as global climate change progresses. Warming seawater causes sea levels to rise, increasing the dangers of flooding and of saltwater flowing into freshwater supplies. Warmer water also increases the frequency and the intensity of tropical storms and disrupts corals and fish that are important to these nations’ economies. In addition to climate change, island and coastal nations are threatened by spills and dumping from the large freighters operated by larger industrialized nations.

Headquartered in New York City, New York, AOSIS has no formal charter or budget and works through collaboration and consensus within the structures of the United Nations. It works to present a unified voice to amplify the influence of its small member states and educate and persuade larger nations. In 1999, AOSIS hosted the Workshop on the Clean Development Mechanism of the Kyoto Protocol, with fifty participants, including guests from the Philippines, Mauritania, the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Norway, New Zealand, and Switzerland. A second workshop in 2000 produced a joint statement of cooperation between AOSIS and Italy and was followed by a third workshop in 2001—sponsored by the governments of New Zealand, Norway, and Switzerland—and the 2005 Conference of the Parties to the Climate Change Convention (COP-11).

AOSIS participates in international negotiations on climate change, particularly through the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). In 2007, AOSIS submitted a proposal for long-term cooperative action to address climate change, underscoring several basic principles: Nations must take care that activities within their control do not harm other nations; precautionary measures must be taken to protect future generations; the most vulnerable parties to the UNFCCC must be protected; and those who create the most environmental damage must assume the greatest amount of responsibility for reversing it. The goal of the AOSIS proposal was to keep long-term global temperature increases below 2 degrees Celsius.

Significance for Climate Change

AOSIS presented an active and influential voice in the drafting of the UNFCCC at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 1992. At the First Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC (COP-1), held in Berlin in 1995, AOSIS submitted a draft protocol calling for a 20 percent reduction, based on 1990 levels, of greenhouse gas emissions by 2005. Although the specifics of the so-called AOSIS Protocol were not adopted, the language and the vision of the protocol informed subsequent negotiations leading to the Berlin Mandate and the Kyoto Protocol.

AOSIS made up one of the largest unified coalitions at COP-1 and succeeded in persuading larger nations that its cause was just. At the 2013 Warsaw United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP19) and at the 2015 Paris United Nations Climate Change Conference, AOSIS continued to advocate for funding and awareness concerning the immediate dangers climate change poses to its member nations. Their efforts successfully aided in the inclusion of the Paris Agreement’s Article 8.

International climate negotiations continually improve their understanding that small nations should be represented based on the amount of risk they face, rather than on population or economic power. Although AOSIS participates actively in international education and negotiation, it is the group of nations most seriously threatened by global climate change. The member nations have benefited internally from projects leading to enhanced energy technologies, and in 2010, AOSIS was awarded the Frederick Anderson Climate Change Award by the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL). Despite the group’s repeated calls for industrialized nations to reduce their own emissions in order to slow sea-level rise, they have largely gone unheeded.

Into the mid-2020s, AOSIS remained an influential negotiating bloc in international climate diplomacy. The coalition was instrumental in securing the 1.5 degrees Celsius temperature limit in the 2015 Paris Agreement. It also spearheaded the campaign for a global Loss and Damage Fund, which was agreed to at COP27 in 2022 and made operational at COP28 in 2023. AOSIS continued to advocate for stronger emissions cuts, predictable climate finance, and ocean protection, emphasizing that the survival of its member states depends on urgent global action.

Bibliography

“About Us – AOSIS.” Alliance of Small Island States, aosis.org/about. Accessed 17 Aug. 2025.

Acharya, Anjali. “Small Islands: Awash in a Sea of Troubles.” World Watch, vol. 8, no. 6, Nov.–Dec. 1995, pp. 24–33.

Bolon, Cecelia. “1.5 To Stay Alive: The Influence of AOSIS in International Climate Negotiations.” E-International Relations, 17 Nov. 2018, www.e-ir.info/2018/11/17/1-5-to-stay-alive-the-influence-of-aosis-in-international-climate-negotiations. Accessed 17 Aug. 2025.

Bowness, Nicholas, and Alina Zyszkowski. Small Islands, Big Issues: Sustainable Development of Islands. Counterpart International, 1997.

Rasmussen, Anne. "AOSIS Joint Opening Statement Sixtieth Session of the Subsidiary Bodies of UNFCCC." Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS), 3 June 2024, www4.unfccc.int/sites/SubmissionsStaging/Documents/202406031611---AOSIS%20Joint%20Opening%20Statement%20SB60%20-%20FINAL%20for%20Upload%20-%203%20Jun%2024.pdf. Accessed 17 Aug. 2025.

Roberts, J. Timmons, and Bradley C. Parks. A Climate of Injustice: Global Inequality, North-South Politics, and Climate Policy. MIT Press, 2006.

“Submissions from Parties to the ADP (2012-2013).” United Nations Climate Change, 2013, unfccc.int/process-and-meetings/conferences/past-conferences/bangkok-climate-change-conference-august-2012/adp-1-informal-session/submissions-from-parties-to-the-adp-2012-2013. Accessed 17 Aug. 2025.

“2010 Frederick Anderson Climate Change Award Recipient - Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS).” Center for International Environmental Law, www.ciel.org/about-us/2010-frederick-anderson-climate-change-award-recipient-alliance-of-small-island-states-aosis/. Accessed 17 Aug. 2025.

Wilford, Michael. “Law: Sea-Level Rise and Insurance.” Environment, vol. 35, no. 4, May 1993, pp. 2–5.