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The Asia-Pacific region is an economic powerhouse, with some of the world’s most dynamic economies. But it has been making slower progress with some of the Millennium Development Goals. Its greatest success has been with poverty, for which the region as a whole is likely to meet the 2015 target of halving the proportion of people living in income poverty. But most countries will miss at least some of the other targets and goals, and a number will miss their goal even for poverty.

The Pacific Island Countries and Territories (PICTs) share some common characteristics with other Small Island Developing States (SIDS), including small physical size and geographical remoteness, fragile biodiversity, exposure to natural hazards, high population growth, a limited natural resource base, remoteness from world markets, and small economies of scale. However, some of these features are even more pronounced in PICTs, making them unique among SIDS. For example, PICTs are more geographically remote and have higher population densities than other SIDS. These characteristics make the environment and economies of SIDS particularly vulnerable to external pressures, as recognized in the Barbados Programme of Action for the Sustainable Development of SIDS (BPOA)and other international frameworks such as Agenda 21and the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation (JPOI).