Sourcebook of Alternative Technologies for Freshwater Augmentation in Small Island Developing States (UNEP-IETC, 1998, 230 p.): Part A - Introduction: 5. Methodology for the identification and classification of small islands: Region of interest

Sourcebook of Alternative Technologies for Freshwater Augmentation in Small Island Developing States (UNEP-IETC, 1998, 230 p.)

Part A - Introduction

5. Methodology for the identification and classification of small islands

		(introduction...)
		Hydrological characteristics
		Climate
		Physiography
		Geology and hydrogeology
		Soils and vegetation
		Relative location
		Human-induced impacts
		Region of interest

Region of interest

This Source Book of Alternative Technologies for Freshwater Augmentation on Small Island Developing States includes technologies that may be potentially applicable to Small Island Developing States in the South Pacific Ocean, Indian Ocean, South China Sea, and Caribbean, as shown in Figure 7. These four regions of the world have been identified as containing all of the Small Island Developing States (SIDS). In the Pacific Ocean, there are nearly 30 000 small islands, over 1 000 of which are populated, and several thousand small islands in the Indian Ocean, including about 1 300 islands in the Maldives alone, of which about 200 are inhabited. Between these oceans lie many thousands of islands, including the island groups of Indonesia, Malaysia and The Philippines, and the islands of Papua New Guinea and Vietnam. In the Caribbean Sea, there are several thousand small islands, of which about 100 are inhabited.