AGENDA

The global agenda on Circular Economy is posing new challenges, yet disclosing new opportunities for islands: as a matter of fact, better on-site management of resources and reduction of waste may reduce the need for shipments of waste, thereby generating savings.
Sustainable management of organic waste is at the intersection of various angles of environmental sustainability: not only does it ensure a remarkable diversion from disposal, but also it restores organic fertility in soils, which in turn fights desertification, ensures sequestration of carbon in soils, thereby fighting climate change, makes agriculture and afforestation viable, and makes islands more resilient towards erosion, floods, landslides, etc. Also, proper management of organics, which are a largest part of municipal waste, and particularly in tourist areas given the large contribution by catering services provided by hotels, restaurants, may imply operational and economic optimization of waste management. As a matter of fact, recycling of organics may be done on site and also through small-scale initiatives, which remarkably trims the volumes of waste to be shipped elsewhere.
Also, the global agenda on plastics is increasingly emphasizing the importance of reuse and reduction in order to curb leakage of plastics into the environment. Coastal communities and islands are the most impacted ones by plastics leaking into oceans, which not only impacts beauty of local landscapes, but also harms fishing activities and threats the health of communities. Policies and practices to reduce plastic consumption and leakage, are therefore of primary importance to ensure long-term environmental and economic sustainability in islands.

How can sustainability and technological solutions help islands to develop a new tourism market focused on green destinations, while reducing their costs on energy, water, waste and mobility? The workshop will update on the activities of the dedicated GTI task force discussing new business approaches for island resorts to involve local communities in the sustainable transition, as well as for public islands, where workers often live and inhabitants set up distributed guesthouse models.
In a strengthened effort to accompany islands on the path to become sustainable destinations, the new Greening the Islands Certification will be presented. The GTI Observatory Global Index is an integral part of the programme, allowing to assess and monitor islands’ progress in the various sectors.

Creating sustainable agriculture models is fundamental for small islands’ self-sufficiency, economy, and transmission of their natural heritage. In fact, islands face increasing needs to achieve food security/sovereignty, restore of a fair share of agriculture in their GDP, minimize the consumption of water, commercialize their high-quality, “made in the islands” agricultural products. These issues can only be tackled by exploiting synergies with the entire primary sector and by identifying the truly sustainable innovations.
The workshop showcases the annual work of the GTI Observatory Task Force “Sustainable Agriculture in Small Islands”, run in cooperation with INSULEUR and Instituto Tecnológico de Canarias and with the esteemed support of FAO. Lately, the Task Force has brought its focus on the synergies of agriculture with livestock and the entire primary sector, as well as on formulating recommendations on the most sustainable innovations and the most effective policies for islands. It is also working to include parameters for agriculture in the GTI Global Index, such as agricultural land size, evaluation, and effective agricultural uses.
The workshop will present snapshots of synergies with different sectors and technologies drawing on research findings and good practices, focusing on the most sustainable innovations for islands and exploring how renewables, waste management, circular economy, and capacity building can contribute to a sustainable model. Nature-based solutions, agrivoltaics, agritourism, residues reuse in connection with livestock, innovative irrigation and wastewater treatment techniques are all able to assist the conservation and development of island indigenous crops and create a circular, more efficient agricultural model. Then, policy recommendations will follow for island governments and international institutions on key themes of the EU Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and the EU Farm to Fork Strategy, such as a pesticides reduction and soil management.

Islands increasingly need wiser and more efficient water management to address water scarcity. Eco-friendly solutions must be put in place to guarantee an adequate high-quality freshwater supply to island inhabitants. Seawater desalination coupled with renewable energy systems can supply freshwater while reducing diesel provision costs, with obvious positive impacts on island societies.
This workshop will offer an update on the latest innovations in the desalination sector – such as the development of new 3D membranes and solar power systems – and explore the synergies with agriculture, another central element for islands, to highlight the importance of reusing water. Successful applications on islands will be shown, alongside the main opportunities and challenges.

The session will explore for current state of affairs on geothermal energy for islands. After a scene setting presentation, two distinguished speakers are invited to present their views and perspectives of their region (Caribbean and Pacific) and bring forward ideas around how to capitalise on the enormous potential geothermal energy can bring to economic development and sustainability for and on behalf of the island communities. The Round table will be in moderated form and will be informative on policies, regulations, technological designs and forward looking in order to raise awareness for geothermal development as part of the greening the island initiative.

Low-emission transport solutions for islands are a key element for their greening. We have already 2400 inhabited in the EU and many more world-wide. Most vessels, (local) boats, buses, cars, in fact all modes of transport have to be de-carbonised and pollution in general has to stop. There is a lot to do.
In this session we will focus on 2 elements in the territorial context of the European Union:
1) What is the transport policy in general and in particular for islands, and
2) How can islands benefit from dedicated projects and funding?
Many practical solutions have already been found elsewhere and only require adaptation. In addition, several islands often face similar problems and may benefit from jointly managed projects or joint tendering to reduce admin and costs per involved island. Consequently a series of good practices are presented to illustrate the value of collaboration. The EU territory serves only as an example to concretely arrive at solutions, which possibly could be adapted to other islands, perhaps anywhere.
Concrete up-to-date policy measures as well as open calls for proposals for islands will be presented. Furthermore, the experience gained in concrete, outstanding projects on H2, ultra-charging and bio-LNG will be shown. Finally leading experts and project managers will outline their vision and planning for the coming years.
This session can by far not present all solutions and ideas but intends to serve as a welcome and starting point to all islanders (& supporters) how wish to come on board and start networking with some of the leading experts and managers for greening our world.

There is huge potential for improving cycling conditions on islands, to the advantage of both residents and tourists. Analysis of costs and benefits shows that island societies can profit from proper cycling infrastructure in several ways, as they become more sustainable, more social, safer, wealthier, healthier and happier. There is ample evidence, not only from various regions around the world but also specifically from islands that have already invested in alternatives to car dependency. Sustainable tourism, as well, is embracing more and more this sort of solution as an increasing number of visitors seek an environmentally friendly way of vacationing.
What policies can be developed and applied to promote the growth of bicycle infrastructure and move towards sustainable mobility and tourism, with economic and health implications? What good practices are in place?

Air quality is the leading global environmental risk factor for disease. Therefore, it is essential for governments and institutions to set policies to ensure healthy air for their citizens.
In order to support, design and implement such policies, it is essential to have sufficiently accurate and informative data on the concentration of air pollutants, which allow the evolution of the “health status” of the air in an area to be constantly monitored in order to highlight and address any critical issues and, at the same time, quantify the impact of policies and improvement solutions. By leveraging low-cost monitoring technologies (which are more accessible and less bulky than traditional solutions), it is possible to reach levels of capillarity that would otherwise be unattainable on islands, both for technological and economic reasons. This paradigm, promoted by important international programmes such as the UN AIR GEMS, is a true extension of the traditional approach, exploiting the emerging synergies between new technologies and conventional systems to collect increasingly accurate, accessible and informative environmental data. Monitoring is the starting point to unlock the implementation of emission reduction and indoor purification technologies by measuring their impact and promoting them to citizens through a stronger and consolidated environmental awareness.
This session aims to present the distributed environmental monitoring paradigm and the emerging clean-air technologies, with a focus on the challenges and opportunities encountered in its application in island contexts. The presentation will therefore be divided into two parts:
1. General presentation of the distributed environmental monitoring paradigm: technologies, limitations, potentials, application cases.
2. Challenges and opportunities for air quality monitoring in the case of islands.
3. Emerging emission reduction technologies and solutions that can be implemented on the islands to promote and defend clean air.
4. How outdoor air quality affects indoor environments and purification solutions to breath clean air in buildings.
This session can by far not present all solutions and ideas but intends to serve as a welcome and starting point to all islanders (& supporters) who wish to come on board and start networking with some of the leading experts and managers.

Reflecting upon the strengths and weaknesses of island’s energy transition processes, it has become obvious that although it is now widely accepted that they can be frontrunners in the energy transition and showcase innovative solutions in response to the constraints of lacking infrastructure for the energy, water, communication and transport networks, islands are also marked by top-down, highly centralized energy systems controlled by a limited number of corporate actors.

In fact, the rapid deployment of certain RES technologies has led to local opposition movements emerging in numerous island territories. So much so that local communities have been sometimes described as ‘low-carbon labs’ in terms of social acceptance.
Public opposition is seen as a significant threat to realizing the levels of renewable energy deployment foreseen in climate change mitigation policies. The most commonly cited motivations are high local costs compared to perceived local benefits, an inappropriate scale of development, and limited citizen involvement in local energy planning. Other arguments presented by opponents of large-scale RES projects such as wind farms include detrimental effects to human health, biodiversity loss, landscape degradation, and negative impacts on tourism and property prices. While such opposition is often attributed to oversimplified analyses, the reality is usually more complicated: issues of procedural, distributional, and substantive justice play a crucial role in determining the social acceptability or otherwise of energy projects and are important factors for communities when supporting or opposing RES projects in their area.

Indeed, the social dimension is of equal importance to that of technology and we need to stress the need for institutional responses that are more predisposed to participatory organisational formats. However, this will only occur when enough stakeholders are given the appropriate mix of policy tools, support mechanisms and financing that empowers them to drive project development and meaningfully engage in the low-carbon energy transition and respective policy making.
This workshop aims at exploring how local businesses in particular can contribute to the energy transition through more meaningful and engaged processes in policy making but also in processes of coproduction. It also seeks to address existing gaps in understanding between policymakers and the insular communities they affect by showcasing best practices that would mitigate these aspects.

How can local insular businesses become empowered to drive project development and meaningfully engage in the low-carbon energy transition?

A sustainable energy transition will require governance structures and organizational formats that are both participatory and inclusive and which empower businesses to become full stakeholders in the process sharing in its benefits. Generating new employment and wealth creation opportunities for a majority of local people and businesses would help shape perceptions of trust, especially when related to procedural and distributive justice. It would also contribute to wider discourses on legitimacy which can help promote greater levels of social acceptability in communities that have heretofore remained disengaged and/or skeptical of RES projects and new energy infrastructure, while also favoring RES over traditional fossil fuel configurations.
Our webinar (round table) intends to focus on these issues and examine ways for inclusive participation of local SMEs and Chambers of commerce, as representatives of local businesses which have a special interest in favor of their members, both at the level of shaping Energy transitions plans/agendas and at the level of implementing them.

By disseminating knowledge and best practices we accelerate the sustainability and self-sufficiency of islands and remote locations, acting as a catalyst in relations between private and public stakeholders. Islands are laboratories of innovation and indeed can indicate the path to decarbonization to the mainland. The 7^th Greening the Islands Awards, with applications from islands’ administrations all around the world related to Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency, Sustainable Mobility, Water, Waste, Agriculture, Sustainable tourism, Governance & Inclusion, are the occasion to identify and disseminate innovative and replicable best practices in the field of sustainability. The prestigious jury will evaluate the best projects, call attention to the importance of replicating best practices and explain how they can be divulgated in terms of policy and communications