The impact of disasters on the health and wellbeing of children is well documented, with children identified as bellwethers of community recovery. It has also been demonstrated that building community-wide resilience benefits from being approached through a child-centric model of community participation. While much of this work has been focused on the USA, there is a need to develop models to adapt these approaches in international environments. Small Island Developing States (SIDS) are particularly at risk for disaster events. SIDS tend to have less diverse economies and a high dependence on climate-sensitive sectors that are vulnerable to disasters. The National Center for Disaster Preparedness at Columbia University along with Save the Children created The Resilient Children, Resilient Communities Initiative to build child-focused resilience within communities. The Initiative, which has already been applied to sites in the USA, is being adapted for the context of Dominica. The Initiative focuses on child-serving institutions and uses a Community Preparedness Index to quantify the current inventory of policies and practices related to children. The Initiative aims to implement strategies to improve the ability of the community to meet the needs of children in a disaster. This paper explores the application of these concepts surrounding the Initiative.

For decades, the world's smallest states – the structurally weakest members of the multilateral system – have been considered incapable of influencing international organisations (IOs). So, why has the label small state risen to prominence over the last two decades and become institutionalised as a formal grouping in multiple IOs? Drawing on more than eighty in-depth interviews, we explain the rise of Small Island Developing States in the United Nations system, the expansion of their agenda to the Small and Vulnerable Economies group at the World Trade Organization, and then to other IOs. The adoption of the labels is evidence of small state norm diffusion. We identify the competent performance of vulnerability within multilateral settings as the key to explaining this norm emergence and diffusion. The lesson is that diffusion ‘from below’ is not always driven by a desire to increase rank. In this case small states have gained benefits by maintaining a lowly position in a hierarchy in which large is stronger than small.

Invasive alien species (IASs) on islands have broad impacts across biodiversity, agriculture, economy, health and culture, which tend to be stronger than on continents. Across small-island developing states (SIDSs), although only a small number of IASs are widely distributed, many more, including those with greatest impact, are found on only a small number of islands. Patterns of island invasion are not consistent across SIDS geographic regions, with differences attributable to correlated patterns in island biogeography and human development. We identify 15 of the most globally prevalent IASs on islands. IAS impacts on islands are exacerbated through interactions with a number of other global change threats, including over-exploitation, agricultural intensification, urban development and climate change. Biosecurity is critical in preventing IAS invasion of islands. Eradication of IASs on islands is possible at early stages of invasion, but otherwise is largely restricted to invasive mammals, or otherwise control is the only option. Future directions in IAS management and research on islands must consider IASs within a broader portfolio of threats to species, ecosystems and people's livelihoods on islands. We advocate for stronger collaborations among island countries and territories faced with the same IASs in similar socio-ecological environments.