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© 2025 Island Innovation. All rights reserved.

    News

    Curated stories and analysis from islands and sustainability leaders worldwide.

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    All ThemesCircular EconomyClimate ActionConnectivity & DigitizationCulture & CommunityEnergy & TransportGreen Finance & EconomyOcean & BiodiversityPolicy & GovernanceTourism & Remote WorkWater & Food
    Showing 9 of 391 news items in Culture & Community
    Art and a children’s book for coastal adaptation and resilience in Grenada
    Culture & CommunityApril 15, 2026

    Art and a children’s book for coastal adaptation and resilience in Grenada

    Excerpt from climatecentre.org The Grenada Red Cross is creatively supporting two local communities, Woburn and Telescope, in strengthening resilience through ecosystem-based adaptation and environmental education. A children’s book, Mangrove Heroes: Saving Our Shores!, has been rolled out at the communities’ respective primary schools, introducing young readers to the critical role or mangroves in coastal protection, biodiversity and climate resilience. It was developed by the IFRC in consultation with the Grenada Red Cross Society and the Jamaica Red Cross. Mangrove Heroes is part of a broader resilience-building framework under the Ecological Connectivity and Community Resilience project, funded by the Caribbean Biodiversity Fund and is being implemented in Grenada and Jamaica. ECCR achievements to date include an enhanced Vulnerability and Capacity Assessment (eVCA) last April, a brief on community advocacy and policy, and a broader framework to guide ecosystem-based, community-led resilience.

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    Henning Larsen Proposes a "Learning Village" to Expand the Glyvra School in the Faroe Islands
    Culture & CommunityApril 8, 2026

    Henning Larsen Proposes a "Learning Village" to Expand the Glyvra School in the Faroe Islands

    Excerpt from archdaily.com Danish architecture studio Henning Larsen has been selected to redesign and expand Glyvra School in the Faroe Islands, proposing a landscape-driven educational campus that responds directly to the region's topography and climate. Conceived as a "learning village," the project rethinks the role of the school in a small coastal community, positioning architecture and outdoor space as integral parts of everyday learning. Commissioned by Runavík Municipality and developed in collaboration with engineering firm Ramboll, the project will be delivered in multiple phases to ensure the school remains fully operational throughout construction, with new facilities completed and occupied before existing structures are renovated or removed.

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    Palau Retirees Push ‘Community Bridge’ to Bolster Elder Care Without Uprooting Traditions
    Culture & CommunityApril 1, 2026

    Palau Retirees Push ‘Community Bridge’ to Bolster Elder Care Without Uprooting Traditions

    Excerpt from islandtimes.org KOROR, Palau (March 17,2026) — “Caring for elders at home is deeply rooted in Palauan culture and family responsibility,” said Madelsar, an organizer with the retirees association. Community programs can supercharge this by delivering caregiver training, medical gear, clinic rides, and health worker visits, she said, helping families tap Social Security, pensions, and resources to keep elders safe at home. These initiatives also keep retirees vibrant through storytelling, volunteering, and mentoring youth. “These efforts also keep retirees active in their communities through knowledge sharing, volunteerism, and intergenerational engagement, reinforcing the cultural value that elders remain respected contributors to society,” Madelsar said. For outer islands, mobile clinics, local leader partnerships, and retiree registries are key. “Support for elders in the outer states can be improved through mobile services, stronger coordination with local leaders, and community registries of retirees,” she explained. “Practical measures include periodic medical outreach teams, transportation assistance for clinic visits, telehealth services, and better coordination between state governments and national agencies.”

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    Indonesian communities push to reclaim lands following company permit revocations
    Culture & CommunityApril 1, 2026

    Indonesian communities push to reclaim lands following company permit revocations

    Excerpt from news.mongabay.com MEDAN, Indonesia — Sahala Pasaribu, 35, walks on customary land his family has not been able to manage for more than three decades since PT Toba Pulp Lestari (TPL), a pulpwood company, took control of it. Now, after the government decided to revoke the company’s permit in January, he hopes it’s possible. “We feel free to manage our own land without the intimidation we often faced,” said Sahala, head of Natinggir village in Indonesia’s North Sumatra province. He succeeded his father, Tomu Pasaribu, who died in 2024. He has already begun replanting the land with secondary crops, such as corn and vegetables. His family also plans to restore a customary forest, which they say is sacred. But whether he, and others from dozens of Indigenous communities whose lands were held by the company, can legally reclaim their customary lands remains unclear. At the start of 2026, the government decided to revoke PT TPL’s forest utilization permit, along with those of 27 other companies, over violating environmental and forestry regulations it said contributed to deadly floods and landslides in November 2025. But according to officials, lands under these permits will be managed by state-owned companies under the sovereign investment agency Danantara. Some companies have also indicated they will appeal the revocations of their permits. Pressure from communities on the government for clarity about whether they can take back lands has so far gone unanswered.

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    Greening quality learning: how climate education is driving curriculum reform in Madagascar
    Culture & CommunityMarch 25, 2026

    Greening quality learning: how climate education is driving curriculum reform in Madagascar

    Excerpt from unesco.org As part of ongoing efforts supported by UNESCO to strengthen climate education, educators and communities are confronting these challenges through learning that connects environmental protection with livelihoods and local realities. For educators in the region, these realities raise an urgent question: how can schools help young people understand, protect and sustain the environment, and the livelihoods, they depend on? Strengthening curriculum responses to climate challenges Education plays a critical role in building long-term resilience. Through the Climate Smart Education Systems Initiative, UNESCO is supporting Madagascar’s curriculum reform by leading the integration of climate change education across curricula, teaching and teacher professional development. This work is carried out in collaboration with Save the Children and the International Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP), with support from the Global Partnership for Education.

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    'The House of the Dragon' will be filmed in Gran Canaria: preparations begin at the Las Niñas dam
    Culture & CommunityMarch 11, 2026

    'The House of the Dragon' will be filmed in Gran Canaria: preparations begin at the Las Niñas dam

    Excerpt from canarias7.es Photo credit: Arcadio Suárez via Canarias7.es Spring will arrive in Gran Canaria brimming with fantasy . The production company behind the American blockbuster 'House of the Dragon' , one of the series in the fictional universe created from 'Game of Thrones', has selected the natural setting of the Las Niñas dam as one of the main locations to appear in the fourth season of the acclaimed international series. Several workers are already on site preparing the area to the liking of the fantasy saga's directors. From February 23rd until May 15th, the camping area and the recreational area are reserved for filming, so several restrictions can already be seen in the vicinity, such as fences or security guards , to prevent the most curious from entering the area where the series will be filmed.

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    How mountain terraces have helped Indigenous peoples live with climate uncertainty
    Culture & CommunityMarch 2, 2026

    How mountain terraces have helped Indigenous peoples live with climate uncertainty

    Excerpt from eco-business.com Indigenous communities have lived with changes to the climate for centuries. Their adaptations over those many years are based on their close observation of weather, water, soils and seasonal change, and they have been refined through generations of learning. That knowledge, though developed deep in the past, is increasingly useful in the modern world. As global temperatures rise, climate pressures are intensifying, with longer dry spells, stronger storms and more erratic rainfall. Terrace systems reflect Indigenous peoples’ long experience of living with environmental uncertainty in specific places and historical contexts. They offer ways of thinking about risk and long-term land use based on observation and intergenerational learning.

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    On Indonesia’s longest river, a Borneo community passes crucial public health milestone
    Culture & CommunityFebruary 18, 2026

    On Indonesia’s longest river, a Borneo community passes crucial public health milestone

    Excerpt from news.mongabay.com SEKADAU, Indonesia — Children’s laughter skimmed over water the color of mud as mothers wrung laundry over banks where the Sekadau joins the Kapuas, the longest river in Indonesia. Local testimony along the Kapuas River, which flows 1,143 kilometers (710 miles) east to west from Borneo’s Müller Mountains out into the Natuna Sea, suggests this river — like many flowing across the world’s largest archipelagic country — may be losing prominence as a center of community life. “The river is dirtier now and no longer a gathering place like before,” an older resident told researchers from Tanjungpura University downriver in Pontianak, the capital of West Kalimantan province, for a study published in September. But here in Sekadau, the river remains central to daily life — a place to bathe, wash vegetables, and, until recently, to defecate. Research conducted on the Kapuas from 2020-2022 and published in the Journal of Aquaculture and Fish Health last year recorded double the legal limit of lead, a heavy metal pollutant that impairs neurological development — and 24 times the maximum coliform bacteria level for rivers permitted by Indonesia’s government.

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    Displacement Capitalism in Barbuda: A Story of Greed, Resistance and Hope
    Culture & CommunityFebruary 11, 2026

    Displacement Capitalism in Barbuda: A Story of Greed, Resistance and Hope

    Excerpt from researchinginternaldisplacement.org The reality of people and even whole communities having to move due to adverse conditions has become one of the consequences of the present climate emergency. Although displacement, particularly evacuations intended to save lives, is justified in many situations, there are instances where displacement is used as ‘cover’ for something else. A catastrophic event in Barbuda, triggered by the 2017 Hurricane Irma disaster, provides insight into this other side of displacement. “For the first time in 300 years, there’s not a single living person on the island of Barbuda”. These were the words of Ronald Sanders, the ambassador of Antigua and Barbuda to the United States. He made this statement in the aftermath of Hurricane Irma and proceeded to make the case that the hurricane caused extensive damage, rendering the island, in his words and those of the administration he represents, “uninhabitable”. This conclusion, that an entire island was not fit to support its people, was arrived at even before official assessments were made by the relevant international agencies.

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