CENTRE FOR AIR POWER STUDIES

They are spread across different geographical regions of the world, located in– the Indian Ocean, the South China Sea, the Caribbean Sea, the Pacific Ocean, and the Atlantic Ocean. [...] According to the United Nations, the SIDS population is approximately 65 million, which is not even one per cent of the global population.1 However, the challenges they face are disproportionate and much higher than their contribution to the world. [...] This will involve a shift to cleaner sources of energy, building climate- resilient infrastructure, training the local population to respond and act to the immediate effect of climate-related events, and lastly, investing in the latest technologies to monitor the related events. [...] A cost that is more expensive than the ability of the SIDS to pay, especially when the world is sitting at the cusp of two wars in progress, along with the global economic slowdown. [...] For instance, the Indian Ocean islands are covered under the Security and Growth for All in the Region (SAGAR) initiative, which is based on the bonhomie of centuries-old relations formed when many Indians were brought to these islands as plantation workers by the colonial rulers.