Latest content: Small states

Experts from the Commonwealth will this week provide a preview of an ambitious new initiative to support member countries rebuild and sustainably manage their marine resources.

Permanent and irreversible damage caused by climate change can only be tackled by collective action, Commonwealth Secretary-General Patricia Scotland has said.

The Government of Kiribati has welcomed the Commonwealth’s support as it works to strengthen its health system.

Commonwealth Secretary-General Patricia Scotland has said that climate change requires a complete regenerative revolution in the way we interact with our environment. 

Commonwealth Secretary-General Patricia Scotland spoke of the importance of the Commonwealth’s proposed Blue Charter when she met with UN Special Envoy on Oceans Peter Thomson at Marlborough House.

Storm ravaged countries need the Commonwealth’s innovative regenerative model to build back better and stronger, Secretary-General Patricia Scotland asserted last night in a powerful presentation about the Commonwealth’s importance.

Secretary-General Patricia Scotland has challenged the youth of the Commonwealth to tackle climate change through bold innovation.

Delegates to a side event on the Commonwealth Climate Finance Access Hub at COP23 in Bonn, Germany, have described the initiative as ‘remarkable’.

Commonwealth Secretary-General Patricia Scotland has called for increased funding to help member states rebuild their countries after natural disasters.

Ms. Shamoy Hajare is the founder and CEO of Jamaica School for Social Entrepreneurship (JSSE), and is passionate about the role of young people in strengthening the blue and green economies through enterprise development.

A new online resource that supports climate change law-making is to be unveiled at COP23 in Bonn this week. The Law and Climate Change Toolkit is aimed at government policy makers responsible for developing laws that help implement the Paris Agreement.

Commonwealth Secretary-General Patricia Scotland has promised to ramp up advocacy for the reform of development assistance rules which member states say are restricting aid to storm ravished countries in the Caribbean.

Secretary-General Patricia Scotland praised the resilience and resolve of Antiguans and Barbudans as she attended an independence day celebration and visited a shelter for those affected by Hurricane Irma.

Secretary-General Patricia Scotland is urging the international community to keep devastated islands in the Caribbean high on its agenda as she heads to Antigua and Barbuda today.

Ambassadors of Commonwealth countries in Geneva say the Secretariat’s Small States Office gives them a voice on the world stage. 

Commonwealth Secretary-General Patricia Scotland today expressed solidarity and concern for the Government and people of Vanuatu following the Manaro volcano eruption on the island of Ambae, and assured them of her efforts to rally whatever support may be needed to respond to the emergency.

Commonwealth ministers have met on the margins of the United Nations to discuss the decades-old border controversy between Guyana and Venezuela.

The Commonwealth and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development have strengthened their links after signing a cooperation agreement.

Commonwealth Secretary-General Patricia Scotland is convening a group of specialists from across the Commonwealth to examine how to “coordinate, create and shape a task force” to assist with mobilising international assistance

The Secretary-General and a team of specialists from the Commonwealth are in Apea, Samoa, to attend meetings in advance of the Pacific Islands Forum Leaders’ Meeting

Pacific states have a strong foundation on which to build to ensure they are on a path towards sustainable development by 2050, according to a report by the Commonwealth Secretariat.

This year the Commonwealth’s Climate Finance Access Hub began deploying experts to ministries of finance and environment to help developing countries access the billions of dollars pledged for effective climate action.

A blog by Jeff Ardron, Adviser on Ocean Governance at the Commonwealth.

A handbook to help small and less-developed countries benefit from improved digital trade has been published by the Commonwealth Secretariat.