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Showing 9 of 84 news items in Green Finance & Economy

Green Finance & EconomyDecember 18, 2023

Building plans for Cleantech Innovation Centre unveiled

Excerpt and Photo from princeedwardisland.ca Plans for the Cleantech Park in Georgetown, which include the Cleantech Innovation Centre (CIC), were made public today. CIC will house the Cleantech Academy, a joint initiative between Holland College and UPEI. Students will work collaboratively with local industry to develop cutting-edge environmental solutions that can be brought to market. Early design plans include net-zero ready elements. Demonstrating the province’s commitment to carbon sequestering, the building will use an exposed timber structural system. It will be as airtight as possible, reducing the amount of energy used by the building with passive solar windows, along with planted and reflective roof surfaces. The building’s planned solar panels will not only generate energy but will also be a roof top classroom where various types of solar panels can be installed so students and researchers can study, test and collect solar energy data in real-world conditions. Digital dashboards will be located throughout the centre to show instant readings on the building’s energy use and energy savings. The inaugural program, unveiled by the Cleantech Academy in partnership with Holland College, is the post-graduate certificate in [Sustainable Business Leadership(link is external)](https://www.hollandcollege.com/programs/sustainable-business-leadership-post-graduate-certificate.php). This program is designed to empower students with the knowledge, essential skills, and practical experience required to spearhead organizations toward sustainable practices and implement innovative cleantech solutions.

Green Finance & EconomyDecember 5, 2023

Can Avinash Persaud Convince Capitalists to Embrace Green Growth?

Avinash Persaud is impatient with his audience. “I was born into the moral imperative of development,” he tells diplomats gathered in March at the G-20 Sherpas Meeting in India. “My growing up was a realization that moral imperative is not enough.” Development officials have descended on the lush coastal state of Kerala to discuss “woman-led development,” “bridging the digital divide,” and other subjects on which moral grandstanding is endemic. Persaud seems short-tempered. He rushes through a flat personal introduction and moves on to the proposal he was invited to discuss: a plan to lower the cost of borrowing for green investment in poor countries. India, this year’s G-20 president, has asked this statesman from a tiny Caribbean island to give the keynote address. Since 2020, Persaud, who is climate envoy to Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley, has vaulted to prominence in the small and sharp-elbowed world of development finance, advising big industrializing economies such as Brazil and Pakistan. His warm reception in India is partly due to the lectures he won’t deliver. He is trying fix a lopsided global financial system, not nagging anyone to shut off coal.

Green Finance & EconomyNovember 21, 2023

Turks And Caicos Islands, The Delicate Balance Between Development And Preservation

Like myself, some citizens are often skeptical about any major developments and rapid population growth across these islands. It is seen as a danger in commoditising deeply held traditions so closely linked to individuals and our collective identity. But there is a caveat. Many still see it as the primary way to keep these tiny islands alive and to survive. Tourism is the bread and butter of this tiny British Overseas Territory, with close to US$800 million annually. This alone corresponds to approximately 75% of the country’s gross domestic product. Although Providenciales is the main hub for visitors via air travel, many are unaware that the sister islands are only a hop, skip and a jump away either by an interconnecting flight or the local ferry boats. In recent years, visitors have been flocking to the historical island of Grand Turk which is the capital of Turks and Caicos Islands, although, in terms of development, it may not appear to be. On this island in particular, over 80 percent of the residents depend to some extent on tourism. Grand Turk has a number of the amenities as most major cities, but still gives you that small town feel. Like the sister island, Salt Cay, some supplies are limited. There is a fairly large selection of groceries at the supermarkets, however, healthy foods come at a high price. What residents and visitors can depend on is fresh catch of the day, which is regularly available by the local fishermen at reasonable prices. Those in the tourism business tend to try and earn as much of their income as possible from visitors during the peak tourism season which is between November and April.

Green Finance & EconomyNovember 7, 2023

Small Islands, big problems: Can Bitcoin fix this?

Photo from cointelegraph.com Cointelegraph recently traveled to Cape Verde, West Africa, to explore whether Bitcoin could be a tool for progress. In the latest on-the-ground video documentary from Cointelegraph, global reporter Joe Hall investigates the remittances market, cash economies, and the challenges and opportunities faced by small island nations worldwide. Cape Verde, officially the Republic of Cabo Verde, is an island nation in the central Atlantic Ocean. Cape Verde comprises 10 main islands and several smaller islets, sitting 570 kilometers (350 miles) west of [Senegal, West Africa](https://cointelegraph.com/magazine/bitcoin-senegal-why-how-african-country-using-btc/). Hall discovers that more Cape Verdeans live abroad than on the country’s islands. Due to its small land mass, it struggles to cultivate and export goods abroad. The islanders of Cape Verde, especially Sal, rely on tourism to stimulate the economy, and relatives living abroad send money home. The combination of a tourism and remittance-based economy presents multiple issues. Due to the presence of tourists year-round, Sal uses three currencies: the local Escudo, the U.S. dollar, and the Euro, although Hall discovered it’s also possible to pay in British pounds. Mastercard and Visa charge upward of 4% for transaction fees in stores, which merchants often pass on to customers.

Green Finance & EconomyOctober 2, 2023

Filipino, Chilean scientists: Small islands, invasive species need research, policy attention

Filipino and Chilean scientists recently advised governments and communities of the significance of safeguarding small islands and warned them against the aggressive rates of invasive alien species that contribute to biodiversity loss. In a recently published [article](https://www.nature.com/articles/s44185-023-00023-5.epdf?sharing_token=PJTV4PPd_X9m1d__WNVrVNRgN0jAjWel9jnR3ZoTv0NDqJe5cDX93JACnlpHZmWYOMU094KNt_OFNJpLCGb8QLiQ6395LFZAms-MeJYj1K7PEh8e2uzvhTEEKM1CHnYSl9Z2A0YpXjarkBNA10vHX4plUpOuoiM-IdBF7dueUKo%3D) in the npj Biodiversity journal, Andrea Monica Ortiz, Laurice Jamero, Silvio Crespin, Cecilia Ramirez, Denise Matias, Jameela Joy Reyes, Anibal Pauchard, and Tony La Viña of the Ateneo School of Government highlighted the need to include small islands in research and policy attention. Small islands are not only more vulnerable to climate change and biodiversity loss but they also play a vital role in the ecosystem and the stability of human life on Earth. While the Small Islands Developing States (SIDS), a political group of 39 states and 18 associate members of the United Nations regional commissions, have uplifted the case of small islands in the global policy sphere, it is still limited to those part of the assemblage.

Green Finance & EconomySeptember 12, 2023

The land and sea routes to 2030: a call for greater attention on all small islands in global environmental policy

Photo by Costa Rica Drone Tours from [Pexels](https://www.pexels.com/photo/green-trees-near-blue-sea-13501101/) Islands have unique vulnerabilities to biodiversity loss and climate change. Current Nationally Determined Contributions under the Paris Agreement are insufficient to avoid the irreversible loss of critical island ecosystems. Existing research, policies, and finance also do not sufficiently address small islands’ social-environmental challenges. For instance, the new Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) mentions islands in the invasive species management target. This focus is important, as islands are at high risk to biological invasions; however, this is the only GBF target that mentions islands. There are threats of equal or greater urgency to small islands, including coastal hazards and overexploitation. Ecosystems such as coral reefs and mangroves are crucial for biodiversity, coastal protection, and human livelihoods, yet are unaddressed in the GBF. While research and global policy, including targeted financial flows, have a strong focus on Small Island Developing States (SIDS), the situation of other small islands has been largely overlooked. Here, through a review of policy developments and examples from islands in the Philippines and Chile, we urge that conservation and climate change policies place greater emphasis on acknowledging the diversity of small islands and their unique governance challenges, extending the focus beyond SIDS. Moving forward, global policy and research should include the recognition of small islands as metacommunities linked by interacting species and social-ecological systems to emphasize their connectivity rather than their isolation. Coalition-building and knowledge-sharing, particularly with local, Indigenous and traditional knowledge-holders from small islands, is needed to meet global goals on biodiversity and sustainable development by 2030.

Green Finance & EconomyAugust 22, 2023

Seychelles Pioneers Novel Financing Instruments and Taps IMF Climate Facility

Photo retrieved from imf.org Seychelles is successfully balancing conservation and economic development by tapping innovative financing instruments. The East African island nation relies largely on tourism and fishing for revenue and was the first country to issue a blue bond and to designate its fragile coastal areas for protection in return for a novel deal relieving it of part of its sovereign debt. It is now also the second African country, after Rwanda, to access the [IMF’s Resilience and Sustainability Facility](https://www.imf.org/en/About/Factsheets/Sheets/2023/Resilience-Sustainability-Facility-RSF) (RSF)—funding aimed at helping countries with limited room in their budget address long-term challenges, such as climate change and pandemic preparedness. In an interview with Country Focus, Naadir Hassan, Seychelles’ Minister of Finance, National Planning and Trade, and Calixte Ahokpossi, IMF Mission Chief, talk about the RSF and Seychelles’ innovative approach to financing its climate goals.

Green Finance & EconomyMay 18, 2023

Working with the Pacific island nations to build resilience

Image source: retrieved from aspistrategist.org.au Soon after she became foreign minister in May last year, Penny Wong went on a self-described listening tour of the Pacific. ‘I’m very happy to be here again, to listen … to the new government and to the people about your priorities,’ she said in Port Moresby. ‘Papua New Guinea’s a regional leader and … I think we want something very similar. We want a stable, resilient and prosperous Pacific. We want a region in which sovereignty is respected.’ This week’s budget, with its foreign policy boost to regional capacity building for cyber and policing, represents some practical responses to that listening. Taken together with the recent [defence strategic review](https://www.defence.gov.au/about/reviews-inquiries/defence-strategic-review) and the managed leak of the future capability plan for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Australia is moving the conversation beyond foreign aid. Rather than providing for the Pacific, we need to be working with them: sharing expertise, learning from each other, and building regional resilience—resilience being equally important for the Pacific island countries as it is to Australia. With that in mind, the budget contains some careful and canny targeting, with measures that achieve the dual purposes of meeting regional priorities while also, importantly, addressing Australia’s own needs—a neighbourhood which is more stable, more secure and more open. In parallel, there is an increasing focus on ‘statecraft’, through which we marshal our full national power to strengthen our overseas relationships and contribute to regional stability.

Green Finance & EconomyMay 5, 2023

Marshall Islands Increases Climate Change Resilience By Tackling Invasive Species On Irooj Island

Photo retrieved from islandconservation.org In its efforts to adapt to climate change impacts, the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI), an island country located near the equator in the Pacific Ocean, has taken a significant step forward in addressing the threat of invasive species on Irooj, a small islet that forms part of Majuro. In 2022 a team from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Commerce (MNRC), with support from the Secretariat for the Pacific Regional Environment Program (SPREP) and guidance from global nonprofit Island Conservation, undertook an operation to remove invasive rats from Irooj. In March 2023, the project was declared an overwhelming success. The island feels alive again,” said Kennedy Kaneko, RMI’s National Invasive Species Coordinator. “Careful monitoring showed zero signs of rats on Irooj. In fact, seabirds and crabs were found in abundance.” For decades, invasive rodents on Irooj destroyed native biodiversity and threatened vulnerable species, including seabirds, crabs and other animals that are crucial to the island-ocean ecosystem. Studies have shown that eliminating such threats allows native plants and animals to thrive, which leads to greater nutrient deposits, thereby nourishing both terrestrial and marine organisms throughout the ecosystem. It is vital for local communities relying on natural resources that this cycle be restored and protected. “Communities that live and rely on islands are particularly vulnerable to environmental changes,” said Richard Griffiths, South and West Pacific Regional Director at Island Conservation. “Destructive invasive species destroy biodiversity and upset the natural balance of an ecosystem, adding incredible risk to these already susceptible islands. By removing invasive species, we can build resilient island-ocean ecosystems that serve as a natural defense against climate change impacts.” The eradication activities are part of the Regional Predator Free Pacific program, within the Pacific Regional Invasive Species Management Support Service (PRISMSS) of which Island Conservation is a technical lead. The activities are funded under the GEF 6 Regional Invasive Project (GEF 6 RIP), which aims to develop and implement comprehensive national and regional invasive species management frameworks that help to reduce the threats from invasive species to terrestrial, freshwater, and marine biodiversity in the Pacific. The GEF 6 RIP is funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF), implemented by the United Nations Environment Programme, and executed by SPREP.