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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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    Showing 9 of 90 news items in Green Finance & Economy
    Small Islands, big problems: Can Bitcoin fix this?
    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.

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

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

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    Seychelles Pioneers Novel Financing Instruments and Taps IMF Climate Facility
    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.

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    Working with the Pacific island nations to build resilience
    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.

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

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    Global Gateway: Team Europe provides €14 million for water infrastructure in São Tomé
    Green Finance & EconomyApril 27, 2023

    Global Gateway: Team Europe provides €14 million for water infrastructure in São Tomé

    Photo: Retrieved from international-partnerships.ec.europa.eu At the United Nations (UN) 5th Conference for Least Developed Countries (LDC5), the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the European Union (EU) announced new Team Europe support of €14 million to improve the water network on the island of São Tomé. The project, which is part of the EU’s Global Gateway strategy, is expected to bring economic, social and environmental benefits for the country and the communities concerned. More efficient water distribution will help to strengthen the island against the effects of climate change, such as variable rainfall. Managing increasingly limited freshwater resources has become an urgent challenge for small island developing states as growing demand confronts more unpredictable weather patterns. The project will contribute to better health by the provision of clean water, reducing water-borne diseases. The project is a strategic priority for São Tomé and will be managed by the country’s power and water company Empresa de Água e Eletricidade (EMAE). The project will substantially improve the level of service to existing users of the water distribution network, but also aims to connect a further 25,000 people, who currently do not have direct access. Households connected to the water network will no longer have to collect water elsewhere, freeing families – usually women and girls – from a time-consuming chore. Access to clean water and sanitation (the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal 6) is recognised as fundamental to good health. Healthy people are more able to study and work, which in turn leads to higher productivity and economic growth.

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    Changing Tides: Red Funnel unveils ambitious ‘ESG’ plan to benefit environment and Isle of Wight community
    Green Finance & EconomyApril 21, 2023

    Changing Tides: Red Funnel unveils ambitious ‘ESG’ plan to benefit environment and Isle of Wight community

    Photo: Retrieved from onthewight.com [Red Funnel](https://onthewight.com/about/red-funnel/) has launched its renewed environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) strategy, Changing Tides,  which sees the ferry operator chart its course to net zero and continue to support the Isle of Wight community for years to come. Changing Tides underpins all Red Funnel’s normal policies and procedures, defining how it operates, behaves, and reports on its performance. **Designed to achieve real and measurable results**The new ESG strategy is a framework designed to be embedded into Red Funnel’s operations to achieve real and measurable results on the environment and communities. Alongside the societal and governance priorities of ESG, the Government has set the maritime industry a clear net zero target through Maritime 2050. **Charting a course to net zero** Changing Tides will help the ferry operator chart its course to net zero, with carbon and waste management plans that will enable Red Funnel to reduce its carbon footprint, better segregate its waste streams and increase the reuse and recycling of waste materials.

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    A “Green Wave” for Fiji and the Pacific
    Green Finance & EconomyApril 21, 2023

    A “Green Wave” for Fiji and the Pacific

    Image Retrieved from asiafoundation.org It’s time for the Pacific Islands to go green. But what does that actually mean, and how can we best move forward? For families already struggling to put food on the table, just thinking about going green can be quite difficult, and for small businesses in the Pacific it can be unsustainably expensive. While most Fijian businesses express a willingness to go green, there is no guidebook, no strategic framework, to help them make the right decisions for their own operations or lobby for greener public policies. In 2020, as Covid-19 was upending daily life and disrupting global supply chains, Fiji experienced a transformation of the small-business environment. Some 115,000 Fijians lost full-time work, but drawing on their strong traditional culture, they responded with a surge in cottage industries. Family kitchens became factories. Health and beauty products and a newly emerging fusion cuisine helped households support their livelihoods. With employment and the general state of the economy in limbo, some businesses staked new claims to niche spaces or specialties. Small businesses began to look inside the country for alternative supply chains, while larger companies refocused their strategies from exports to local markets. New entrepreneurs combined traditional knowledge with e-commerce savvy to do business in new ways. Many also saw an opportunity to explore greener ways of working. In 2020, in partnership with The Asia Foundation–Pacific Islands, the Women Entrepreneurs Business Council of Fiji (WEBC) embarked on an ambitious project called Green Wave: Advancing Women’s Green Entrepreneurship in Fiji. … The Green Policy now offers these businesses a robust framework for greener practices that addresses environmental, social, and economic issues and identifies partners and suppliers that align with the policy standards. The massive achievement of the Green Policy exemplifies what a locally empowered women’s group can do to create real change for sustainability.

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