The Small Island Developing States (SIDS) Talks for a sustainable blue and green economy

Small Island Developing States (SIDS) are a heterogeneous group of states grouped in three regions: the Caribbean, the Pacific and Africa, the Indian Ocean and South Pacific region. Despite their diversity, SIDS' small size and geographic isolation underpin their unifying trait: extreme vulnerability to environmental and economic shocks, as well as great resilience and unity of vision in engaging globally towards sustainable development. In addition, small islands are so-called hotspots of climate change. Here, the adverse effects of sea-level rise, increasing temperatures, and extreme weather events are already felt, making adaptation urgent. To achieve sustainable development, SIDS have built their resilience to external shocks and are adopting development strategies that deliver economic growth, diversification and decent work. The blue economy can catalyse this process, bringing wealth and jobs to island communities while restoring ocean and inland ecosystems. The blue economy approach offers small islands the opportunity to break their dependence on a narrow range of goods and services, predominantly tourism, fisheries and agriculture, and to expand into new blue growth sectors, including marine biotechnology, aquaculture and ocean renewable energy. However, realizing the full potential of the blue economy requires securing investment and finance; an appropriately skilled workforce; and the effective inclusion of all societal groups, including marginalized and underrepresented ones. The SIDS Dialogues are organized by the ITCILO in collaboration with the ILO, UN DCO, UN OHRLLS, UN SDG Fund and the ICR Facility. OBJECTIVES The Dialogues aim to flag out opportunities and reinforce the existing network across small islands, that have long been stewards of vast ocean spaces, and provide a space for them to share, scale up and replicate national, regional and local examples of blue economy and related services in a changing climate. Through peer learning and exchanges of national, regional and local good practices, participants will identify potential solutions and synergies for accelerating progress towards the SAMOA Pathway and the 2030 Agenda. CONTENT Content The SIDS Dialogues covered the following topics: Day 1: Small Islands States, Large Oceans: Taking Stock and Looking Forward: Facing a future whose only certainty is change, SIDS are confronted with many problems and difficulties – some intrinsic and timeless, others extrinsic and new – in making progress towards sustainable development. However, small island societies have a record of thriving in challenging times. The first day of the SIDS Dialogues provided an overview of SIDS’ unique features that make them a “special case for development” and examined opportunities that SIDS have to advance the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs. Day 2: Leveraging digital in SIDS: Preparing a Workforce for the New Blue Economy The transition from the “old” blue economy—one that unfortunately still relies too heavily on oil and gas, overfishing, and unsustainable tourism—to a new economy, one that is both sustainable and built on data, information, and knowledge, requires a major transition for technology, talent, and skills too. This session provided an overview of current macroeconomic and labour market trends in SIDS, as well as an overview of the state-of-the-art and needs in digitalization in SIDS. Day 3: Financing the Blue Economy and Climate Change Adaptation in Small Islands Pursuing the blue economy requires access to affordable long-term financing at scale, yet small islands have thus far experienced limited success in catalysing public and private investments in the blue economy at scale. In addition, most SIDS are middle-income countries and many are not eligible to receive concessional finance from multilateral financial institutions. Day 3 explored the challenges faced by SIDS in accessing finance and provided an overview of current trends in climate finance, focusing on new source of funding and innovating financing. Day 4: Adapting to climate change: Climate-resilient infrastructure and nature-based solutions as pillars of SIDS blue economy For SIDS, coastal infrastructure assets are a key driver of economic development and prosperity. However, while SIDS already face high exposure to natural disasters. Therefore, enhanced climate resilience and adaptation for critical infrastructure is a matter of strategic socio-economic importance and will be key in achieving progress on many of the SDGs. Also nature-based solutions can help to restore natural ecosystems and reduce disaster risks, while at the same time creating job opportunities at the local community level. This session presented examples of climate-resilient infrastructures in SIDS, as well as initiatives protecting marine and coastal ecosystems, such as coral reefs and mangrove restoration. Day 5: Towards an Inclusive Blue Economy in SIDS A sustainable blue economy needs to tackle the poverty, inequality, and exclusion that constrain both growth and environmental sustainability, making sure that no one is left behind. Without this integrated approach, stand-alone green or blue growth projects and investments will not lead to real transformation. Day 5 focused on existing inclusion challenges and explored best practices on policies reconciling the transition to the blue economy with an inclusive job-rich growth.