The tsunami wave triggered by a Dec. 26 undersea earthquake near Indonesia highlighted the vulnerability of island nations to natural disaster and pushed the issue of developing a disaster early warning system to the top of the agenda, UN officials said.

The absence of such a system left thousands of people in southeast Asia unprepared when the wave struck killing more than 150,000 people.

In the Maldives, the government says the destruction from the wave has thrown progress back by 20 years on an island already threatened by shortages of fresh water and rising sea levels. The tsunami destroyed infrastructure, fresh water stocks and disrupted fisheries there and in the Seychelles.

But even with the major focus on disaster readiness, officials are hopeful other problems will still be discussed.

"I am not sure whether the tsunami will overwhelm all the other issues," said Sekou Toure, the Africa regional director for the UN Environmental Programme.

"I still believe those issues will still be addressed, but obviously the tsunami issues will amplify everything."

UNIQUE PROBLEMS

The first small islands conference, in Barbados in 1994, focused on the unique problems facing islands -- such as rising oceans caused by global warming, natural disasters, management of fresh water, waste and land and turning tourism into a sustainable industry in the face of environmental degradation.

The small islands are also increasingly pushing to make trade part of the agenda, since the end of global trade quotas has exposed the fragile and undiversified island economies to be domination by bigger producers like China and India.

Islands argue they should be given special trade considerations, given that they are burdened by high transport costs and have limited choices of industries, but donors have been so far unreceptive.

"Trade is most definitely going to be one of the most thorny issues to tackle at this conference. Every time (small islands) bring the issue of gaining special treatment on trade, it is pushed out of the agenda by the western nations," said Pierre Encontre, an economic affairs officer with the UN Conference on Trade and Development.

"Perhaps the tsunami disaster may make the international community more sympathetic to island economies, but I think this is very unlikely."