In the international climate change negotiations, the Small Island Developing States (SIDS) have emerged as a credible group through the AOSIS (Alliance of Small Island States) and have called for a global temperature rise of 1.5°C above preindustrial levels. Whatever the outcomes of the negotiations, they are exacerbated by climate change and a rising sea level. Many share common characteristics of small size, high population density, limited land resources, vulnerability to natural hazards, threatened biodiversity, high dependence on tourism, and limited funds and human resources. The suggestions put forward for a research agenda for the SIDS include a comprehensive assessment of the SIDS as a group, a focused attention on oceans, increased development on renewable energy, inclusion of climate adaptation under natural disaster reduction, a strategy of ‘save some islands rather than not to have any’ for some SIDS, and large-scale modular mangrove planting for coastal protection and adaptation to sea-level rise. These suggestions could provide an expanded scope of adaptation for the SIDS. WIREs Clim Change 2011 2 1–6 DOI: 10.1002/wcc.84 This article is categorized under: Vulnerability and Adaptation to Climate Change > Learning from Cases and Analogies Climate and Development > Knowledge and Action in Development