Date: 9 to 11 September 2013 Location: Hawaii Convention Center, Hawaii Host: In conjunction with the Asia Pacific Clean Energy Summit Description: Islands and Isolated Communities are the planet’s vanguard societies facing imported energy dependencies, constrained resources, and vulnerability to climate change. The sustainability and resiliency of island communities depends on best practices developed in energy, water, agriculture, security, resource and disaster risk management and societal actions. As island communities are facing these complex and interdependent challenges across the planet, the Islands and Isolated Communities Congress is focused on building a global movement to champion these solutions. The solutions developed on islands will lay the foundation for best practices world-wide. You are invited to join global leaders developing solutions and projects; from island nations worldwide, to land-locked greening cities, to isolated military installations. For further conference updates, please visit: http://www.ct-si.org/events/APCE2013/iicc.html Confirmed Key Speakers include:

• Ronald Jumeau, Ambassador for Climate Change and Small Island Developing States Issues, Republic of Seychelles
• Tomoyo Nonaka, Chair, GAIA Initiative - Former Chair & CEO, Sanyo
• Henk Rogers, Founder and Chairman, Blue Planet Foundation

Related Links:

• http://www.ct-si.org/events/APCE2013/iicc.html

Date: Thursday 25 April 2013 Location: New York City Host: Republic of Seychelles and Palau Description: Samoa is looking for “actionable outcomes” for the Third International Conference on Small Island Developing States to be held in Samoa in 2014 (UNSIDS 2014) stated Ambassador Heidi Schroderus-Fox the Director of the United Nations Office of the High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States (UNOHRLLS) during the Global Island Partnership (GLISPA) Strategy briefing on 25 April 2013. The strategy briefing, hosted by Palau and Seychelles as co-chairs of GLISPA was the first to be held in New York City and provided an opportunity to engage and get feedback from current and potential GLISPA participants on directions for the Partnership’s 2013 to 2015 Strategy. Related Links:

• GLISPA Highlight on the NYC Strategy Briefing
• EVENT SPOTLIGHT: GLISPA Steering Committee Meeting

   

Date: 18 to 20 February 2013 Location: Washington D.C. Host: IUCN and The Nature Conservancy Description:  In its 9^th year as a partnership, GLISPA held its 4^th annual D.C. Steering Committee meeting in February. The Steering Committee meeting consisted of three different meetings – a small Executive Committee focused on governance, a broader Steering Committee meeting focused on strategy and a high level briefing. Ambassador Ronny Jumeau was elected chair of the GLISPA Steering Committee. Please refer to the Event Spotlight for the full meeting details. Related Links:

• EVENT SPOTLIGHT: GLISPA Steering Committee Meeting
• Minutes of the Executive Committee
• Minutes of the Steering Committee
• Photos - www.facebook.com/glispa

Date: Tuesday 16 October 2012 Location: Eleventh meeting of the Convention on Biological Diversity Conference of the Parties (CBD COP-11), Hyderabad, India Host: India and Seychelles Description: After two years of review, the revision of the special work programme for islands within the Convention on Biodiversity was adopted at COP 11 in Hyderabad (Decision XI/15). This is a momentous opportunity for islands to continue their work as leaders in achieving the Aichi Targets. Island Innovations was held to celebrate the progress made since the adoption of the programme of work on island biodiversity (COP 9, Decision XI/21). This one day event was held in two parts:

• Island Bright Spots, a half day knowledge exchange that focused on a selection of bright spots and determined how these successes can be scaled and replicated
• Island Life, a high level evening celebration that mobilized leadership and commitment to action of island countries and countries with islands to developing innovative solutions to global challenges.

Please read the EVENT SPOTLIGHT for full details on the event.

Related Links:

• EVENT SPOTLIGHT: Islands Deliver two successful events and support a revised programme of work on island biodiversity during CBD COP-11
• Islands Are Taking Action! Learn about how islands are showing the way to effectively conserve biodiversity and sustainable livelihoods. Further action is need that builds on what works. Commit to take action now!
• Islands Are Taking Action! - FRENCH
• Islands Are Taking Action! - SPANISH
• Decision XI/15. Review of the programme of work on island biodiversity. Advance Unedited Copy of COP-11 Decisions.
• Report of the Sixteenth Meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice (SBSTTA-16) including the in-depth review recommendations on programme of work on island biodiversity.

Date: Sunday 7 October 2012 / Wednesday 17 October 2012 Time: 18.00 to 19.30 Location: Eleventh meeting of the Convention on Biological Diversity Conference of the Parties (CBD COP-11), Hyderabad, India Venue: Women Caucus Meeting Room - Level 1 - Room 1.10 Description: The briefing meeting brought together island Parties and Parties with islands to clarify questions around the in-depth review of the programme of work on island biodiversity as well as to share share information on various events prior to the COP of importance to islands. The debriefing meeting was held post the Island Innovations event as an opportunity to reflect on what had worked well at COP-11 and what would be changed in the future. Feedback from Island Innovations included that the event provided an opportunity for delegates at a range of levels to come together a share experiences. It brought to life bright spots in peoples consciousness. Related Links:

• EVENT SPOTLIGHT on Islands at CBD COP-11 and Island Innovations
• Islands Are Taking Action! Learn about how islands are showing the way to effectively conserve biodiversity and sustainable livelihoods. Further action is need that builds on what works. Commit to take action now!
• Report of the Sixteenth Meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice (SBSTTA-16) including the in-depth review recommendations on programme of work on island biodiversity.

Date: 5 to 15 September 2012 Location: Jeju island, Republic of Korea Description: The Global Island Partnership supported the coordination of three events during the 2012 World Conservation Congress:

• Island Leadership on Global Challenges Workshop, organized by the Micronesia Conservation Trust (MCT), The Nature Conservancy, the Global Island Partnership (GLISPA), IUCN-World Commission on Protected Areas.  The workshop explored how islands are adopting sustainable development approaches, such as green and blue economic models, that are suited to overcoming not only island circumstances but addressing common global challenges.
• The role of leadership in achieving Nature+: Island Experiences. This event explored different aspects of island leadership. The event focused on how conservation at local level, such as Locally Managed Marine Areas, are being scaled up through working in partnership and demonstrated how islands are inspiring each other from Fiji, Madagascar, Hawaii, to Micronesia, Caribbean and Western Indian Ocean.
• Island achievements in the lead up to CBD COP 11 focused on the in-depth review of the programme of work on island biodiversity and shared information on the forthcoming Island Innovations event to be held in parallel to CBD COP-11 on the 16 October 2012.

The last two events were made possible with the kind support of the Directorate General of Development Cooperation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Italy. in addition to the events, the World Conservation Congress Members Assembly adopted Motion 074 “Conserving island biodiversity and supporting human livelihoods”. Part of this motion requests IUCN’s Director General  to increase financial support to GLISPA as well as to enhance efforts to strengthen representation and governance mechanisms in support of conserving island biodiversity, nature-based solutions to climate change adaptation and mitigation and greening island economies. The full motion text is available from: http://portals.iucn.org/docs/2012congress/motions/en/M-074-2012-EN.pdf Congratulations to Prof. Randy Thaman (University of South Pacific, Fiji) for being awarded Honorary Membership of IUCN. The award recognizes outstanding services to the conservation of nature and natural resources. Professor Thaman was recognized for his pioneering research and teaching that has focused on community-based biodiversity conservation, Pacific floras and ethnobiology, agrobiodiversity and food security, invasive species, and ecosystem restoration and species recovery in degraded small islands and marine managed areas. Professor Thaman has been a long time supporter of GLISPA. Congratulations also to Dr. Spencer Thomas (Grenada), Ana Tiraa (Cook Islands) and Andrew Bignell (New Zealand) on being elected as IUCN Council for the Caribbean and Oceania respectively. Related Links:

• See photos from this event on GLISPA's Facebook page

Date: 21 June 2012 Location: Rio+20, United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, Rio de Janiero, Brazil Host: His Excellency Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, President of the Republic of Indonesia, and His Excellency Tillman Thomas, Prime Minister of Grenada Description: The heads of state and government of six countries and a foundation made bold commitments to preserve natural resources that provide livelihoods, food security, protection and other benefits to people. The high level breakfast was held in parallel to the Rio+20 conference to focus attention on how leaders will implement innovative natural solutions to achieve sustainable development and to set the course for a new global development framework following Rio+20. The event, coordinated by The Nature Conservancy and the Global Island Partnership, was a significant opportunity to demonstrate the considerable leadership and commitment of island countries and countries with islands towards a blue and green economy. “We are all united in our determination to see us do better to preserve and to nurture the world’s oceans. This really is a historic opportunity to come together to renew our commitment to the marine environment of our world,” stated Prime Minister Gillard of Australia. The event resulted in significant commitments by the following leaders:

• His Excellency Winston Baldwin Spence, Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda

 

• Her Excellency Julia Gillard, Prime Minister of Australia

 

• His Excellency Tillman Thomas, Prime Minister of Grenada and co-chair of the Global Island Partnership

 

• His Excellency Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, President of the Republic of Indonesia

 

• His Excellency Danny Faure, Vice President of the Republic of Seychelles on behalf of President Michel as Co-Chair of the Global Island Partnership

 

• Vice Minister Soto on behalf of President Juan Manuel Santos

 

• Yohei Sasaka, Chairman, The Nippon Foundation

 

• Glenn Prickett, Vice President of External Affairs, The Nature Conservancy

  Related Links:

• Watch the highlights of the Leaders Valuing Nature event here
• Event Spotlight - Good News Out of Rio+20: Six Heads of State Commit to Invest in Natur
• See photos from this event on GLISPA's Facebook page

 

Date: Wednesday, 20 June 2012

Location: Rio+20, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Host: Seychelles

Strategic Priority: Successful implementation of regional island challenges and other partner commitments

Description: “I am not here to talk about saving islands; I am here to talk about saving the world,” stated The Hon. Tony de Brum, Minister in Assistance to the President, Republic of the Marshall Islands during the event.

This event brought together leaders from each of the three island regions of the Pacific, Caribbean and Indian Ocean to support a dialogue among the ongoing regional initiatives on marine and coastal conservation. The event identified opportunities to build on success as well as focused on how debt for climate adaptation swaps could be used as an innovative financing mechanism for Small Island Developing States (SIDS) to address debt issues and securing funding into perpetuity for climate change adaptation activities.

Related Links:

• GLISPA Event Spotlight - Securing the Island Future We Want
• GLISPA Event Invitation and Map - Securing the Island Future We Want

Date: Friday 22 June 2012
Location: Mountain Pavilion
Host: Italy
Strategic Priority: Maintain a flexible and efficient Partnership responsive to its partners’ needs and aspirations

Description:

This side event highlighted the potential for collaboration between two partnerships supported by Italy – the Mountain Partnership and Global Island Partnership. The event promoted discussion among policy makers and development partners on specific challenges and potentials of sustainable management of islands' mountain ecosystem services.

Key messages from the event included:

• The need to have everyone working together to reach agreed targets and goals
• Partnerships are a mechanism to work together to solve common problems
• Islands need to focus on ridge to reef as what happens in the mountains impact on the reefs quickly

Speakers included:

• The Hon. Senator George Prime, Minister for Carriacou and Petite Martinique Affairs, Grenada
• The Hon. Col. Samuela Saumatua, Minister for Local Government, Urban Development, Housing and Environment, Fiji Islands
• Kate Brown, Coordinator, Global Island Partnership
• Prof. Claudio Conese, Italian National Research Council (CNR) and University of Sassari, Italy
• Dr. Alfredo Guillet, Focal Point for Environment, Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Directorate General for Development Cooperation, Italy
• Ms. Marilyn Headley, CEO & Conservator of Forests Forestry Department, Ministry of Agriculture, Jamaica

The Mountain Partnership (MP) is a voluntary alliance of partners dedicated to improving the lives of mountain people and protecting mountain environments around the world. The Mountain Partnership addresses the challenges facing mountain regions by tapping the wealth and diversity of resources, knowledge, information and expertise, from and between one another, in order to stimulate concrete initiatives at all levels that will ensure improved quality of life and environments in the world’s mountain regions.

When we discuss mountain development, we generally don’t picture islands in our minds, and vice versa. And yet innumerable islands have mountains, and the problems they face in their efforts to work towards sustainable development can be, in spite of their isolation, more related to those faced by some continental mountain regions than to the problems of other islands, such as the atolls.

When dealing with the management of their mountain ecosystem services, islands may face a combination of challenges. The quick succession of different ecosystems, sometimes ranging from snow-capped mountains to coral reefs within a few miles and with only narrow buffer zones, if any, intensifies the interactions between terrestrial/mountain and costal/marine ecosystems. And that, furthermore, aggravates the need to carefully tackle such interactions with an interdisciplinary approach, at different levels and scales.

In turn, the adverse impacts of current climate trends, together with an increased incidence of natural disasters, call for innovative management strategies, in addition to emergency preparedness practices and resilience planning. In islands more than elsewhere, degraded mountain ecosystems -even when economically marginal- can have a highly negative impact on more productive areas and activities, such as lowland soils, coastal tourism, invasive species management and more.

Generally, the knowledge and the lessons learned acquired within a given thematic network - be it in the framework of the Island Partnership, or the Mountain Partnership - tend to be circulated within the members of the same network. And yet, that information could be particularly valuable to others, if shared across fraternities, as this could help identify knowledge gaps and prioritize research activities to ensure proper tailor-making of development actions to the islands’ specificities, as well as provide guidance to development partners on priority needs for development.

Related Links:

• Mountain Partnership - www.mountainpartnership.org
• Event Invitation

Date: Wednesday 13 June to Friday 22 June 2012 Location: Pavilion B, Athletes Park, Rio de Janeiro Host: Italy Description: Provide a welcoming space for islanders and friends of islands to gather and meet informally during the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20). The space will provide opportunity to learn more about commitments promoted through GLISPA including the Caribbean Challenge Initiative, Micronesia Challenge and Western Indian Ocean Challenge as well as initiatives such as SIDSnet and the Islands Communications Toolkit. This space is provided by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Directorate General for Development Cooperation. The new Caribbean Challenge video "Building the Future We Want: The Caribbean Challenge Initiative" will be launched in this space Wednesday 20 June at 2pm. Related Links:

• Map to Island Hub at Rio+20

Date: 30 April 2012, 3pm to 3:15pm

Location: Assembly Hall I & II, Level 4, SCBD, Montreal, Canada

Event: SBSTTA-16, Agenda Item 5

Description: “Islands need action NOW!" was the message passionately stated by The Honorable Ronny Jumeau, roving Ambassador for Climate Change and SIDS issues, Seychelles, during the opening of the in-depth review of the programme of work on island biodiversity. The speech was widely appreciated by parties. The Ambassador's key messages reinforced that:

• "The challenges facing island biodiversity, and indeed the very sustainability of islands, are massive and increasing
• As the people who call these islands home, we islanders have committed ourselves to the solutions, often in ways that belie our size
• For if we do not act now, if we do not work together, as Parties we will all fail."

Related Links:

• Full opening remarks by Ambassador Jumeau, Seychelles
• Islands @ SBSTTA 16 Meeting Guide
• See photos of the event on GLISPA's Facebook page
• Event Spotlight of SBSTTA-16 - Islands Need Action Now

Date: 30 April 2012, 1:15pm to 2:45pm Location: Room 7A, Level 3, ICAO Headquarters, Montreal, Canada Host: Republic of Seychelles Description: Since adoption in 2006, the programme of work on island biodiversity (PoWIB) has stimulated island leadership and action to protect, manage and sustainably use the unique, diverse and threatened natural resources found on islands. This event illustrated some of the successes and lessons in implementing PoWIB as well as the process of the in-depth review.  Some highlights included:

• Alissa Takesy (Federated States of Micronesia) speaking about the Micronesia Challenge highlighted that the recent 17^th Micronesian Chief Executives’ Summit (MCES) passed a resolution that urges the member jurisdictions of the Micronesia Challenge to endorse the comprehensive sustainable finance plan for the implementation of marine and terrestrial conservation and climate change adaptation.
• Nenenteiti Teariki-Ruatu (Kiribati) speaking on behalf of the Phoenix Island Protected Area (PIPA) highlighted that PIPA has reduced and reversed trends in the rate of loss and degradation of natural habitat with island restoration programmes. Four of eight islands have had key invasive species removed. PIPA has also invested in biosecurity planning and implementation to prevent further invasive species introductions.
• Ambassador Jumeau (Seychelles) emphasized that Seychelles is in a strong position to learn from the efforts in the Caribbean and Micronesia and further improve on these as it builds Western Indian Ocean-Coastal Challenge (WIO-CC).
• Dominique Benzanken (IUCN) highlighted the opportunities that are emerging from recent discussions in Europe towards greater collaboration amongst European overseas islands.
• Oliver Hillel (SCBD) noted that one fourth of the contributions to the in-depth review were from UK and EU overseas islands.
• Oliver Langrand (Island Conservation) will co-chair the GLISPA Invasive Species Working Group focused on reducing the threat of invasive species. Island Conservation will today launch their “Small Islands, Big Difference” campaign targeted at eradication of invasive vertebrates today during their side event.
• Dr. Floyd Homer (Trinidad and Tobago) spoke of the challenges for islands in achieving the goals of the programme of work on island biodiversity. He highlighted that in many instances resources are available and that a key issue is integration of biodiversity objectives and the NBSAP into line ministries so that the NBSAP objectives can be implemented.
• Kate Brown (GLISPA) stated that GLISPA is successful because it is a focussed partnership working in three key areas:  inspiring leadership, catalyzing commitments and to facilitating collaboration – as it relates to implementing the GLISPA mission of mobilising action for conservation and sustainable livelihoods..
• Jessica Robbins, GLISPA, announced the launch of a new Islands Communications Toolkit (www.commstoolkit.org), funded by the Government of Netherlands through the SCBD that demonstrates how communications, education and public awareness strategies can be used to inspire leaders, stimulate behavior change and create global awareness to conservation biodiversity. The toolkit showcases examples from islands, for islands. Jessica also launched the new GLISPA website and annual report (www.glispa.org).
• Gerald Miles (The Nature Conservancy) in closing summarized three central messages:
• It is clear that we can’t truly implement the objectives of the Convention without addressing loss of biodiversity on islands;
• It is entirely possible for island countries to address this considering the importance of biodiversity and livelihoods and the actions that islands are taking themselves;
• None of this will be possible without partnership between islands and partnership between islands and the international community. Gerald further stated that “GLISPA embodies this principle of partnership entirely and today’s event demonstrates the relevance of GLISPA in bringing together islands, countries with islands and partners together.”

Related Links:

• Agenda
• Micronesia Challenge Presentation
• EU Overseas Presentation
• Islands @ SBSTTA 16 Meeting Guide
• See photos from this event on GLISPA's Facebook page
• Event Spotlight of SBSTTA-16 - Islands Need Action Now