James Ellsmoor | As global aid shifts, Caribbean countries must chart their own sustainable future

As Caribbean nations face mounting climate challenges, the future of island development rests firmly in the hands of islanders. Island communities have long fostered resilience by developing innovative local solutions to their unique challenges.

These solutions have helped these territories flourish throughout history, but as the larger existential threat of climate change looms, islands are increasingly confronted with issues requiring external support to properly mitigate and adapt.

While the international development community has helped implement local solutions, finding funding for projects has always been a hurdle to clear. Shifts within the development and financing landscape from the recent ‘vaporisation’ of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) a few years following a similar fate to the UK’s Department for International Development (UKAID) highlights that islanders cannot rely on the international community for stability.

Islanders must look to one another for long-term development and prosperity.

IDENTIFYING ROADBLOCKS

“Development and climate financing are critical for [Small Island Developing States] to promote growth and sustainable development, enhance resilience, and adapt to climate change. SIDS will very certainly fail to meet these objectives if their access to the aforementioned financing is not guaranteed,” noted José Maria Gomes Lopes, a Cabo Verdian academic, in a working paper for ODI Global.

In their conclusion, Lopes remarks that a key recommendation for SIDS and islands as a whole is the “[establishment of] national, regional and global networks of platforms for development. These networks should be allocated the necessary resources to promote scheduled events for exchange of experiences, practices and learning.”

There exist very few high-level events that cater to island communities. Save for SIDS4 - which happens once a decade – island stakeholders are mostly able to congregate in numbers at the United Nations Climate Conference (UNFCCC COP) where it can be difficult for islands to be heard amidst the larger debates and negotiations on how to fix the climate crisis.

SOLUTIONS BY ISLANDERS FOR ISLANDERS

“Our islands are the sentinels of climate change and the proving ground for sustainable development. It is with this spirit of shared responsibility and urgent action that I extend a heartfelt invitation to all leaders of island nations gathered here to come, to engage, and to commit to meaningful change,” declared St Kitts and Nevis Prime Minister Terrance Drew, during a speech at the United Nations General Assembly in which he invited world leaders to the 2025 Global Sustainable Islands Summit (GSIS).

A yearly in-person event hosted in a different island region, the GSIS bringing together international island communities to leverage and understand local expertise. This year’s summit is set to be held in St Kitts and Nevis, where Caribbean excellence will be on show, with a specific focus on the St Kitts and Nevis Government’s Sustainable Island State Agenda (SISA), as well as special forums discussing how to empower youth, develop geothermal energy, and advocate for financing for Sub-National Island Jurisdictions.

While this does not solve the overarching issue that is financing, events like the GSIS provide an opportunity for resilience-building and sustainable development specifically for communities requiring them. Forming bonds between different sectors active within these spaces such as academia, government, private and non-governmental organizations creates a nexus through which more efficient work can be carried out with limited resources.

BUILDING A RESILIENT FUTURE

Self-sufficiency has long dictated the ability for island survival. For islanders, that might need to rediscover traditional approaches, but with the support of other communities who are acutely aware of the challenges they face, and how they can fix them. As such, the future of islands rests in the hands of islanders’ ability to communicate and share their knowledge at a local, regional, and international level. It starts with events in the region like the GSIS, and culminates at conferences like the UNFCCC COPs, where island stakeholders unite in their collaborative governance and with one singular voice highlight the solutions they can provide to key development challenges.

James Ellsmoor is CEO at Island Innovation. Send feedback to james@islandinnovation.co and columns@gleanerjm.com