Island Nations’ Summit is About to Commence This Week with a Focus on Climate, Sea Level Rise, and a Sustainable Future

On September 6th, VIS2021, a virtual conference will meet for seven days to collaborate, share project successes and stories, and offer expertise and knowledge to address the challenges of island communities and nations around the world. The focus is on a number of critical areas islands face because of their unique geographies. Whether located in the tropics, mid-latitudes, Arctic or Southern Ocean, island communities are dealing with numerous sustainability challenges. These include COVID-19, sea-level rise, environmental and biodiversity degradation, growing freshwater scarcity, managing pollution and waste, ending dependence on fossil-fuel-based energy, building microgrids and renewable energy projects, creating resilient infrastructure, and restoring tourism.

Climate change is impacting small islands faster than any other communities on the planet. In coming together at this conference the island nations and communities hope to develop a single voice for the upcoming COP26 climate change conference taking place in Glasgow, Scotland this November.

The latest IPCC climate assessment describes the risk small island nations and communities are facing in the 21st century including sea-level rise, extreme weather events, increasing air and sea surface temperatures, changing rainfall patterns and more. Low-lying coastal areas and atolls are seen as most vulnerable to these multiple stressors. So are coral reefs that many island communities depend upon for fisheries, and tourism. And because islands are so diverse based on geography, location, and culture, risk profiles are not uniform requiring custom solutions to the challenges each faces.

Undertaking adaptation and mitigation programs are equally challenging because of a lack of local expertise and sufficient financial resources. The Green Climate Fund (GCF) which was founded at the time of the Paris Climate Agreement in 2015 to fund projects in Developing World countries including small island nations using money coming from the Developed World, remains chronically underfunded to date. So far, of the $33.2 billion US in approved financing, $2 billion US has been disbursed with an additional $8.8 billion allocated and $6 billion still waiting on funding agreements. This is a far cry from the $100 billion floor for the Fund that was aspirationally set back in 2015.

That’s why island nations and communities are no longer waiting for the Developed World to meet the commitments of Paris and are pressing ahead on developing collective solutions to the issues they face in the present and through the rest of the 21st century. Under an umbrella organization that goes by the acronym SIDS, which stands for Small Island Developing States, they have produced a number of initiatives focused on climate action and transitioning to a low-carbon future. Among these are:

• Implementing carbon credits for restoring mangroves to reduce coastal erosion and mitigate sea-level rise.
• Creating sustainable recovery plans for ecologically responsible tourism.
• Rehabilitating their natural environments.
• Developing collective technical and financial resources to promote long-term sustainability.
• Implementing renewable energy projects suitable for their local geographies including harvesting the energy from the sun, wind, tides, and waves.
• Building freshwater capacity for communities and farms.

Among these is the Sustainable Small Islands Initiative, a project focused on developing island community expertise in freshwater, energy, waste, biodiversity, landscapes, governance, finance, and technology.

Another goes by the acronym SMILO, standing for Small Islands Organization. It is backed by France and has as its goal to provide support to islands of less than 150 square kilometres (less than 58 square miles). Thirty island territories today are members. SMILO advocates for small islands at international forums by educating others about the unique aspects of their environments with smaller populations and a lack of important resources such as the technical expertise and finances needed to address current and future challenges.

At VIS2021 the island nations and communities of the world will share expertise and knowledge freely. A free event (you can sign up by going to the website link at the top of this article), it will feature speakers and attendees from more than 100 island communities with an opportunity to interact with both.