Developed. Land-locked and Island Developing Countries said that UNCTAD had played a pioneering role in mobilizing international support in favour of IDCs. He pointed out that since 1972 several resolutions had been adopted in the General Assembly, UNCTAD and other international forums which had reiterated the particular difficulties which IDCs encountered in their development efforts. He underlined that although many of the difficulties faced by those countries were not exclusive to islands, it could be argued persuasively that many of them were more pronounced in their impact on IDCs, particularly the small ones, some of which were also least developed. He noted that a number of common problems peculiar to IDCs and particularly to the small ones included small size of the economy, geological characteristics, geographical location, fragility of ecosystems, vulnerability to natural disasters, weak indigenous technological capacity, migration, and low bargaining capability. 6. In reference to some of the critical problems facing IDCs, he made the following observations. He said that poor resources endowment was one of the main handicaps of the IDCs, particularly with respect to the small and archipelagic IDCs, where the lack of fresh water supplies, mineral and energy resources seriously threatened their economic viability. He further said that several IDCs had also not been able to exploit the potential provided by their vast exclusive economic zones acquired under the Convention on the Law of the Sea because of lack of local finance. He noted that in small and remote IDCs there was a high occurrence of natural disasters, which in many cases had had devastating effects on their economies. With respect to environmental problems, he said that global warming, climate change and sea-level rise continued to threaten the mere survival of some island and coastal States. He also noted that transport and communication facilities particularly in very 
**Analysis**
The text primarily discusses the challenges faced by land-locked and island developing countries (IDCs) in their development efforts, highlighting issues related to resource scarcity, geographical constraints, and environmental threats. The focus is on the economic and environmental difficulties that IDCs encounter, making it likely that the text falls under the categories related to economic development, natural resources, and environment.

**Category**
Economic development, Natural resources and environment