AGENDA

Southern East Asian and Pacific islands face enormous challenges to finance projects that are essential to achieve minimum self-sufficiency and decent livelihood levels. Pollution has reached dramatic levels, compromising citizens’ health and also the tourism sector, which is the primary source of income for islands. For example, Boracay island, one of the most famous touristic destinations in the Philippines, had to be closed in order to recover from excessive air and water pollution. Innovative public and private financing mechanisms are needed to help such developing islands overcome these challenges and richer countries to reach the climate targets they have put forth in the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). Carbon pricing mechanisms such as emission trading schemes and effective carbon offset projects can represent a viable way to finance projects to enhance islands’ sustainability.

Islands increasingly need wiser and more efficient water management to address water scarcity but the methods of supplying water to the islands are of central importance both from an economic and an environmental point of view. The current global energy crisis has exacerbated the costs islands have to bear in order to produce desalinated water with diesel. Sustainable solutions must be put in place to guarantee adequate high-quality freshwater supply to their inhabitants. Providing islands with the most innovative desalination plants – today also available in small sizes – coupled with renewable and hybrid power systems is a choice of primary importance to promote their self-sufficiency and lower their servicing costs, with huge positive impacts on their communities.
Other strategic areas are the establishment of innovative rainwater collection and wastewater treatment systems to exploit the vast synergies available with other sectors like agriculture, as well as the improvement of island water grids, extending them and minimizing their losses.
Hence, it is critical that private and public finance flow into such a strategic sector, to help islands mitigate the effects of climate change. Furthermore, savings generated through innovative solutions can be invested in new adaptation projects. This webinar will analyze the particular challenges of the Caribbean islands, common also to many other islands worldwide. Good practices will be presented with a focus on optimal policies and financing mechanisms to unlock projects in the region and around the globe.

Indian ocean islands often live off tourism only. Many of them have little space available for agriculture and other activities to sustain their economies. Hence to ensure their subsistence, already endangered by climate change, a higher-quality and more responsible tourism is needed. Not only the tourism sector represents the most important source of income for islands, but at the same time it is one of the sectors that contribute most to polluting emissions. It is strictly connected to the seasonality issues: the difference in the flow of visitors between low and high season makes the design and sizing of the plants, both for power production and for seawater desalination, as well as the management of water and electricity grids and the disposal of waste more complex.
Adopting an integrated approach for the development of a sustainable tourism, it is necessary to promote new business models with the involvement of local communities, acknowledging the role of the environment as a basic asset of a responsible tourism. To accompany islands on the path to become sustainable destinations, GTI analyses islands and monitors their progress through the GTI Observatory Global Index and, thanks to the partnership with the Green Destinations Foundation, provides islands with access to a certification as sustainable islands recognized by the United Nations. The webinar will offer an overview of the GTI Certification, including its functioning and objectives, providing details with reference to practical cases.

During the closing session of the eConvention, the corporate members of the GTI Observatory will step in to give their considerations on the event and the Observatory Report. In particular, innovation providers will offer their view on the challenges and technological solutions identified, with a specific focus on what they expect from regulators and policymakers in order to boost their ability to invest and develop green projects for the islands.
Their recommendations on what is needed to allow the private sector to broaden its actions and maximize islands’ potential in the global push to decarbonization will inform the next GTI Observatory Summit in Gran Canaria, Canary Islands, in February 2023.
The Summit, which will be announced during the session, is a high-level meeting of the two leading bodies of the GTI Observatory – the Strategy Scientific Committee and the Island Advisory Committee, formed by key international institutions at scientific and representation levels for the islands – to monitor and discuss the most important aspects for islands’ self-sufficiency every year.