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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 103 news items in Circular Economy
    Tabarca’s dilemma: Balancing sun, sea, and sustainability
    Circular EconomySeptember 17, 2024

    Tabarca’s dilemma: Balancing sun, sea, and sustainability

    Known for its ecological importance, [Tabarca](https://euroweeklynews.com/2024/06/28/from-cauldrons-to-culinary-delight-legacy-of-tabarcas-el-caldero/) became a marine reserve in 1986. Despite its small size of 0.3 square kilometres and a population of about 60 residents, it attracts many visitors, especially in summer. In 2023, about 230,000 people visited Tabarca, with some summer days seeing over 10,000 tourists. This high number of visitors is putting pressure on the island’s fragile ecosystem. Originally, Tabarca relied on fishing, but now its economy depends on day-trippers. This shift has created an urgent need to preserve the island’s natural and cultural heritage while managing tourism sustainably.

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    BLUE ECONOMY: Draft territorial plan for the development of marine aquaculture in Saint-Martin
    Circular EconomySeptember 6, 2024

    BLUE ECONOMY: Draft territorial plan for the development of marine aquaculture in Saint-Martin

    **Development plans offer territories, particularly island territories, the opportunity to diversify their supply methods for seafood products, reduce pressure on fish stocks and ensure greater food security.** This project must be built with the entire population and in particular marine stakeholders, in order to arrive at a concerted project that meets local expectations. For the territory of Saint-Martin, this territorial plan identifies the potential species to be developed and the suitable sites for each species in order to guarantee the good development of this sector. In addition, marine aquaculture is also a relay for social and economic growth that provides sustainable jobs. This public consultation concerns the future draft territorial plan for the development of marine aquaculture in the territory. The complete file can be consulted from yesterday, Monday, September 2, until Wednesday, October 2, 2024, either on the website of the Collectivité of Saint-Martin (see information), or at the public service in the reception hall of the Collectivité hotel. Public participation in the project can be sent until October 2, 2024 by email to [[email protected]](/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection) or on the register made available in the reception hall of the Hôtel de la Collectivité.

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    Niue looks to Solomon Islands for workers
    Circular EconomyAugust 5, 2024

    Niue looks to Solomon Islands for workers

    Excerpt and Photo from abc.net.au A labour agreement between the Solomon Islands and Niue is expected to see Solomon Islanders travel to Niue to fill employment gaps there. “We have a population of less than 2,000, our people are New Zealand citizens so they can freely migrate out,” said Gaylene Tasmania, chair of Niue’s Labour Mobility Steering Committee. “In order to meet the service needs of our people, we need labour. “It just so happens Solomon Islands had an excess of workers that were ready … we need health care workers.”

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    Barbados: From Beach Paradise to Tech Haven
    Circular EconomyAugust 5, 2024

    Barbados: From Beach Paradise to Tech Haven

    In the heart of the Caribbean, an unexpected revolution is brewing. Barbados, long celebrated for its pristine beaches and vibrant culture, is rapidly transforming into a hotbed of innovation and entrepreneurship. This small island nation, barely visible on a world map, is making big waves in the global startup ecosystem, challenging perceptions and redefining its economic landscape. For decades, Barbados has relied heavily on tourism and offshore financial services to drive its economy. However, a new generation of ambitious Barbadians is writing a different story – one of technological innovation, social impact, and economic diversification. From fintech to edtech, healthtech to transportation solutions, Barbadian startups are addressing local challenges with global potential. At the forefront of this transformation is MedRegis, a startup that’s revolutionizing healthcare management in Barbados. In a country where paper-based medical records were the norm until recently, MedRegis is bringing healthcare into the 21st century with its digital platform. By digitizing medical records, MedRegis is not only improving patient care but also opening up possibilities for data-driven healthcare policies. The potential impact extends beyond Barbados, offering a model for other Caribbean nations grappling with similar healthcare challenges.

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    Closing the Caribbean Plastic Tap: propelling Caribbean SIDS towards a plastic-free future
    Circular EconomyAugust 5, 2024

    Closing the Caribbean Plastic Tap: propelling Caribbean SIDS towards a plastic-free future

    PHOTO: @JOAO SOUSA/IUCN. Retrieved from iucn.org Managing plastics, micro-plastics, and plastic waste effectively is a critical global issue. In 2017, plastic production surpassed 8.3 billion tonnes and has continued to grow annually. Packaging materials and single-use items accounted for 40% of this global plastic production, the majority of which is disposed of in landfills or the open environment. It is estimated that up to 13 million tonnes of plastic end up in the oceans annually. The Caribbean islands, which constitute one of the world’s 35 biodiversity hotspots and one of the areas with the greatest endemic biodiversity on the planet, are severely threatened by plastic pollution. The World Bank estimates that the Caribbean coasts are contaminated with an average of 2,014 objects per kilometer, one-fifth of which are plastic bottles. In this context, the Closing the Caribbean Plastic Tap project, a 2M€ initiative funded by the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS), aims at supporting the reduction in plastic waste generation and leakage in Antigua and Barbuda, Grenada, St. Lucia, St. Kitts and Nevis and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, by implementing effective, socially inclusive solutions to advance circular economy. On June 28th and July 10th, National Inception Workshops were held in Saint Lucia and St. Kitts and Nevis respectively, bringing together different stakeholders and partners at national level, and emphasizing the importance of mutual collaboration for the achievement of the project’s goal and outcomes.

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    IslandPlas initiative aims to tackle plastic pollution as African islands drown in a sea of waste
    Circular EconomyJuly 29, 2024

    IslandPlas initiative aims to tackle plastic pollution as African islands drown in a sea of waste

    Photo credit: Elgin Crea: Retrieved from dailymaverick.co.za Plastic pollution is a global problem but its impact on the shores of African islands and their communities far exceeds that of inland countries, flowing in from both countries in the global north and from within these island states. Mauritius, Cabo Verde, Comoros, Madagascar, São Tomé and Príncipe, Seychelles, and Zanzibar produce around 200,000 tons of plastic waste per year with only around 40% of it collected. To understand the scale of this, if an adult elephant weighs an average of five tons, 200,000 tons of plastic  waste would equate to 40,000 adult elephants! These small islands lack economies of scale, as well as the waste management and industry infrastructure needed to enable a robust circular economy for plastics. This results in unsustainable waste management practices such as landfilling and an increased risk for large-scale plastic leakage into the environment, especially the ocean. At the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Africa Conservation Cconference in Nairobi in June, the IslandPlas initiative was started to give these islands a fighting chance against plastic pollution on their shores by implementing waste management and recycling initiatives that reduce plastic waste leakage in the targeted seven African islands and help them transition into plastic waste-free islands.

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    IDB Lab seeks innovative solutions to mitigate Sargassum impact
    Circular EconomyJuly 29, 2024

    IDB Lab seeks innovative solutions to mitigate Sargassum impact

    IDB Lab, the innovation laboratory of the Inter-American Development Bank Group (IDB Group), in collaboration with other agencies is launching the Sargassum Innovation Quest. The initiative aims to harness the potential of the sargassum biomass and improve the resilience in Latin America and the Caribbean’s coastal communities through the use of advanced technology and innovative practice. It says since 2011, the region has faced significant challenges from the influx of sargassum, impacting tourism, fisheries and coastal ecosystems. The call is open to proposals for technological solutions from startups, corporations, foundations, non-profit organisations, and academic institutions, among others. These solutions must be already proven at an experimental level and need to be scaled to a commercial level, with business models meeting economic viability, social impact, environmental sustainability and sectoral innovation requirements.

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    Can the circular economy help the Caribbean win its war against waste?
    Circular EconomyJune 10, 2024

    Can the circular economy help the Caribbean win its war against waste?

    Image by Sandra Weiss. Retrieved from news.mongabay.com The best place to party on the Caribbean island of Curaçao is Mambo Beach, near the island’s capital, Willemstad. On weekends, DJs outperform each other, spinning the hottest music at shoreside hotels and beach clubs. Tourists and locals dance the night long, consuming beer, cocktails, rum, soft drinks, and maybe water. Then, at 4 a.m., when the last partyers have fallen asleep on the beach’s sunbeds, the [Green Phenix](https://greenphenix.com/about/) team arrives and starts collecting the garbage strewn by guests. Green Phenix is a local environmental startup that has set itself a big goal: To clean up Curaçao. This is more than a civic duty — it may also be a national imperative: Waste disposal has become a serious problem on the island, which is the size of Manhattan, and it’s getting worse. The same is true on islands across the Caribbean. “In 2020, each [Curaçao] islander produced an [average of 1,200 kilograms](https://cuatro.sim-cdn.nl/cbscuracao/uploads/curacao-environmental-statistics-compendium-2020-a_0.pdf?cb=QD13A2_h.html) [about 2,650 pounds] of waste per year,” says Ciaretta Profas, a government adviser on environmental policy. “That’s three times as much as usual in Latin America,” she adds. Of course, this isn’t because the inhabitants of Curaçao are particularly wasteful, but because all the garbage left behind by tourists is statistically attributed to the 150,000 inhabitants.

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    Inside Vanuatu’s Resilience Revolution: A Blueprint for Small Island States
    Circular EconomyMay 31, 2024

    Inside Vanuatu’s Resilience Revolution: A Blueprint for Small Island States

    Photo: Hamish Wyatt/World Bank. Retrieved from worldbank.org Over the course of 10 years of partnership, the World Bank has supported efforts by the government of Vanuatu to build the skills and institutions it needs to deal with the many volcanic eruptions and earthquakes it is prone to as well as the increasingly frequent and severe cyclones. This collaboration and institutional strengthening with one of the world’s most climate-vulnerable countries could serve as a model for other small island states as climate impacts worsen around the world. The World Bank has been working in Vanuatu since the 1980s. Over the past decade, much of its work there has focused on disaster risk management, including building on the geohazard monitoring work that Dr. Esline Garaebiti began back in 1997. Dr. Garaebiti, one of the first female geoscientists in the Pacific and a recipient of a Women’s International Network for Disaster Risk Reduction Leadership Award, is the Director General of Vanuatu’s Ministry of Climate Change. Born on a volcanic island, Esline discovered her passion for earth science as an undergraduate. In 1997, she joined a French organization implementing Vanuatu’s first geohazard monitoring. She then become the geohazards manager for the government of Vanuatu before assuming her current post, in 2020.

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