Issue 23 | October 2020

Throughout the UNGA 75, the message from SIDS was clear, if they are to safeguard the future of their islands amidst the multidimensional crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic and the increasing urgency of the climate crisis, the time for global action is now. During the High-Level Meeting on Financing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in the Era of COVID-19 and Beyond, SIDS leaders once again called for the global community to develop a Marshall Plan or SIDS compact to support island states through recovery and beyond.

The insufficiencies of global frameworks to account for the specificity of SIDS' situations, especially with regard to enabling access to concessional finance, led H.E. Prime Minister Mottley of Barbados to lay out concrete actions necessary for SIDS to continue progress towards the 2030 Agenda. This included reiterating the appeal for the development of a multidimensional vulnerability index to better capture these economies’ abilities to absorb shocks like the COVID-19 pandemic
. Through its Offer Rising Up for SIDS, UNDP is supporting island states to mobilize urgent and affordable finance as well as providing technical and policy support to ensure SIDS’ abilities to build forward better.

Another powerful message was delivered during the first-ever UN Biodiversity Summit, where SIDS leaders spoke of the particular importance of safeguarding the health of oceans. They underscored the opportunities that sustainable, regenerative Blue Economies offer island economies and societies. UNDP is committed to supporting SIDS to enhance investments in developing transformative Blue Economies. Watch the video below to learn more.  
#UNDP4SIDS #RisingUpForSIDS
Header image: NDMA Maldives

Watch to learn how UNDP is supporting SIDS to enhance investment in the Blue Economy to bring wealth to island communities and restore the biodiversity of oceans
 
Join UNDP's Growing Online Community for SIDS
As UNDP begins preparations for its next Strategic Plan (2022 – 2025), we would like you to be part of this journey, co-creating with us.

We want a better understanding of the landscape around us and the critical factors that will transform the future of development. As a global SIDS community, we want to hear how you see the world evolving in the years to come and the opportunities and challenges that you envision.

This is an opportunity to join partners from across sectors and UNDP to help shape the future and UNDP's role in it! Join the first conversation entitled UNDP and the Future running until October 16 via our SparkBlue Platform to add your SIDS voice!
 
Click to join!
Country Corner
Image: UNICEF Guyana, Tech teams with UNDP RR and UNICEF Country Representative a.i.

"If the largest generation of young people in history is prepared for the transition to work, the potential for global progress is unlimited." Such reads the goal of the Generation Unlimited (GenU) initiative, by UNDP and UNICEF, that inspired two youth tech teams from Guyana to tackle the challenge of youth unemployment. Unemployment and in particular youth unemployment has intensified during the COVID-19 pandemic and is a challenge shared across SIDS. The teams were selected as finalists in the GenU Youth Challenge for their innovative solutions that can boost youth employment, using digital technologies to overcome limitations that many SIDS youth face: limited access to information and guidance. The first team, Youths with Purpose, which is an all-female team, has created a web platform called Gambit to provide information on mentorship, networking, resume building and job and entrepreneurship opportunities. The second team, Team Green Creatives, developed an app to connect small businesses, especially those that are informal, with a central hub for information and business development guides. Solutions like these have the potential to transform the future of employment and entrepreneurship and can be scaled and replicated across SIDS. The third pillar of UNDP's SIDS Offer, Digital Transformation, focuses on strengthening entrepreneurship networks locally and regionally in SIDS and leveraging digital technologies to overcome barriers to development. Similarly to these innovations, the UNDP Accelerator Lab in Barbados and OECS developed the e-FUTURE initiative, that supports MSMEs in continuing business during the pandemic. Learn how a fellow SIDS, Bahrain, is supporting youth engagement through the King Hamad Youth Empowerment Award 2020 below!
 
 

SIDS are heavily dependent on imported foods, with 50 percent of SIDS importing over 80 percent of their food supply. The supply chain disruptions caused by the pandemic has increased pressure on food security. To tackle this issue, the Solomon Islands Government is seeking to design agricultural model farms that will strengthen community resilience and enhance livelihoods. The design considers potential risks as well as community needs including the differing strengths and needs of the users. These new models are projected to produce diversified crops to help decrease high rates of malnutrition and ensure more productive and sustainable farming to can help decrease the reliance on imported foods. This initiative is supported through the Governance for Resilient Development in the Pacific project. This project led by the UNDP Pacific Office in Fiji aims to integrate climate change and disaster risk into national planning for more resilient islands. Enhancing food security is intertwined with each sector of UNDP's SIDS Offer, including working to promote sustainable food sourcing through the blue economy, integrate technology into the food supply chain of local economies — and achieve climate adaptability in agriculture. Globally, UNDP is supporting innovations to combat food security through the Global Centre for Technology, Innovation and Sustainable Development in Singapore. Watch the video above to learn more about the Gov4Res project and click here to follow the progress of the various initiatives they support across the Pacific.
 
Image: Prime Robotics, Erico Fortes Pinheiro in Cabo Verde

The breadth of challenges presented by COVID-19 has demanded great ingenuity from global communities and SIDS. As the UNDP SIDS Bulletin continues to display, SIDS are becoming incubators for innovation to tackle complex challenges and barriers to realizing sustainable development. To highlight the many innovative and local solutions developed, UNDP Africa is launching the Africa Innovates magazine, an initiative of African Influencers for Development (AI4Dev). African SIDS, Cabo Verde and Guinea-Bissau, were featured in the inaugural issue of the publication. In Cabo Verde, an innovator, supported by the UNDP Accelerator Lab in the country, has used drones to overcome the challenge of remoteness that characterizes archipelagic states. Through his start-up, Prime Robotics, Erico Fortes Pinheiro has engineered these machines to disinfect streets and transport medicines, light medical equipment, samples, and other essential goods to those traditionally out-of-reach from disaster response organizations. In Guinea-Bissau, Innovalab, supported by UNDP and UNIOGBIS, has developed an online fact-checking platform Nobas Checker, to combat misinformation around the pandemic. The platform provides information in the native Crioulo language, avoiding the language digital divide that persists across many SIDS. Through projects like these, SIDS can utilize technological innovations to combat the pandemic, leading the way for recovery. UNDP supports the growth of innovation and entrepreneurship networks, promoting locally-driven innovation that targets the specificity of the challenges SIDS face can offer transformative opportunities for SIDS across the globe. One vehicle of support is UNDP's many Accelerator Labs located in SIDS, learn more about their work here.
Contribute to this Section
In the News

SIDS develop first-of-its-kind digital economy initiative
and lead the way towards common digital futures

SIDS have made tremendous efforts towards digital transformation; as small states they have the opportunity to become incubators of innovation. The upsurge in digital innovation during the COVID-19 pandemic has been proof of this point, including the below reported increased use of digital remittances in the Pacific supported by the Pacific Financial Inclusion Programme. SIDS has the opportunity to leapfrog into the digital age, helping them overcome the geographical barrier of remoteness that has been a hindrance to their economic development. This was on the top of the agenda for Prime Minister of Grenada and CARICOM Chair for Science and Technology, H.E. Dr. Keith Mitchell, during the 23rd General Conference of Ministers of the Caribbean Telecommunications Union (CTU). The Prime Minister called for Caribbean SIDS to "abandon the traditional silo approach to the adoption of ICT and e-government" advocating for a single regional ICT space. In line with the SAMOA Pathway, strengthened SIDS-SIDS cooperation is the way forward for SIDS. UNDP's SIDS offer aligns with the objective of forming genuine and durable partnerships and supports SIDS in catalysing digital transformation. In the Pacific, Papua New Guinea is paving the way towards a brighter digital future. The country still experiences several digital divides, by age, language and an urban-rural divide, 70 percent of the country's internet users live in the two largest cities. Several initiatives are underway to increase connectivity across the country as well as spur development and trade. These initiatives include a new undersea data link, advancing an Electronic Transactions Act and boosting digital payments access and adoption. Finally, Papua New Guinea has pioneered the world's first public-private, Digital Foreign Direct Investment working group with the aim of encouraging external funding of digital economy activities. These initiatives offer powerful examples of how SIDS can leverage digital technologies for recovery and beyond.

 
Small islands have long been global leaders in climate action, and during the UNGA 75, island leaders boldly called on the rest of the world to join in these ambitions. In a series of statements from the President of the Federated States of Micronesia H.E. David Panuelo, Prime Minister of Tuvalu H.E. Kausea Natano, President and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Immigration of Kiribati H.E. Taneti Maamau, Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea H.E. James Marape and Prime Minister and Minister for Public Enterprises of Tonga H.E. Pohiva Tu’i’onetoa, several specific steps were highlighted to preserve and restore the health of our planet and prevent the disproportionate impact of climate change on SIDS. Officials identified key points of progress in SIDS, such as bans on single-use plastic, legislative protection of the maritime and fisheries sector, Special Management Areas (SMAs) initiatives and maritime spatial planning. Although COVID-19 has wreaked havoc on the world, climate change is still the most significant threat to humankind and SIDS. UNDP supports the efforts of SIDS to build decarbonized and resilient communities through its SIDS Offer, including through several effective partnerships — such as the Climate Investment Platform, which serves to streamline climate finance to accelerate the energy transition. Small islands are taking action. Now the rest of the world must follow their example.
 
Image: John Rae, UNCDF
 

Remittances are a large source of external financing for SIDS, averaging about 10 percent of GDP in Pacific SIDS (excluding Papua New Guinea). In Tonga, this level is 38.5 percent of GDP. Experts predicted a sharp decline in remittances due to the COVID-19 pandemic; however, the pandemic has also led to an uptick in digitally-enabled remittances. It is reported that the amount of money sent to Fiji via the M-PAiSA Mobile Money app, developed by Vodafone with the support of the Pacific Financial Inclusion Programme, quadrupled between February and August. Barriers, such as high fees and expensive internet still need to be addressed to realize the full potential of technological solutions in this regard. As previously reported in the SIDS Bulletin, in June, the Pacific Island Forum Secretariat issued a global call to action to policymakers, regulators and remittance service providers to improve migrants’ access for sending and receiving remittances and to reduce transfer costs during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Some financial institutions including, ANZ Bank have announced that customers will be able to send payments from Australia and New Zealand to many Pacific Islands cost-free until February 2021. Long-term solutions are still necessary, to this end the Pacific Financial Inclusion Programme, a partnership between UNCDF and UNDP, continues to support Pacific Islands in realizing goals of financial inclusion and SDGs more broadly. To demonstrate the significant link between access to financial services and the SDGs, UNCDF recently launched an online Impact Pathways Explorer. Explore the tool to understand how different financial tools impact SDGs. Through its SIDS offer Rising Up for SIDS, UNDP is furthermore seeking to support countries adopt digital transformation strategies and policies, helping islands overcome digital divides that prevent full accessibility and availability of digital remittance services.
Resources
Image: Hawksbill Turtle, Maldives via Goway Maldives
 
Biodiversity loss is one of the greatest challenges to SIDS, millions of livelihoods in island states are dependent on biodiversity, through industries such as tourism and fisheries. This was reiterated at the recent UN Biodiversity Summit. Their rich biodiversity furthermore holds significant cultural and spiritual value for island communities and contributes towards food security, clean water, safeguards against coastal erosion and protects against storm surges. As the COVID-19 pandemic has pushed many SIDS into deeper debt crises, there is an opportunity for integrating sustainability and specifically biodiversity into sovereign debt and COVID-19 recovery. A recently published paper by the Finance for Biodiversity initiative demonstrates how nature-based solutions to the debt crisis can support countries to build forward better and greener. It explores the possibility of achieving growth, supporting market resilience and achieving biodiversity goals through mechanisms that enable the issuance of biodiversity-linked debt. As SIDS leaders have advocated, including during the recent High-Level Meeting on Financing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in the Era of COVID-19 and Beyond, there is an urgent need for global action to support SIDS through the intensifying debt crisis triggered by the pandemic. UNDP is committed to supporting SIDS in mobilizing innovative finance for development with an offer on debt restructuring, including debt-for-nature swaps and is working with some SIDS to implement this offer. Read the paper to learn more about the proposed approach and mechanisms. 
 
 
As climatic events and volatility in global supply chains threaten food security on small islands, digital transformation offers a promising path forward in this area. New agricultural technologies in artificial intelligence may allow for unprecedented opportunities for improvement in food security, especially for countries like SIDS, that are sensitive to pollution and limited land area. SIDS' agricultural systems are not only producing insufficient food supplies to meet demand. They also contribute towards pollution and land degradation. AI can assist with this dilemma in four ways: data collection for improved farming efficiency, reinvented farming techniques (such as computer algorithms for detecting harvest times), indoor farming and plant-based meat production. This advancement in AI could be a promising pathway to improve agricultural productivity and sustainability in SIDS, especially when coupled with increased awareness and knowledge surrounding the digital transition, a strategy employed recently through UNDP's Grow Garden Initiative, which seeks to develop agricultural skills among those vulnerable to food insecurity. Read more about the potentials of AI to improve food security in SIDS, and explore more about the smart farming initiative from The Global Centre for Technology, Innovation and Sustainable Development in Singapore here. UNDP is supporting SIDS in their digital transformation, as well as working to leverage nature-based solutions and restore indigenous knowledge systems to enhance food security.
 
Image: Paulo Oliveira/Alamy Stock Photo

As island states attempt to build back greener, a significant obstacle stands in their way: marine plastic litter. Threatening fragile ecosystems and, in turn, those that depend on the ocean as for their livelihoods, this issue affects not only local communities but the global value of biodiverse marine regions. The Seychelles Island Foundation, in collaboration with experts from Oxford University, has published a report estimating the costs required to remove marine litter from small island states. Based on a previous cleanup effort on Aldabra Atoll, a UNESCO world heritage site plagued by an estimated 513 tons of litter, this report details both the manpower and financial costs of removing this garbage — an estimated US$ 4.68 million and 18,000 hours of labor. Although this seems like a heavy lift, the benefits of such an effort cannot be underestimated, and the authors make an argument for international funding. Another recent study has found that "at least 14m tonnes of plastic pieces less than 5mm wide are likely sitting at the bottom of the world’s oceans." The issue of plastics waste is of grave importance to SIDS. UNDP recently hosted a global e-discussions focused in part on the future of island waste management to shape a global offer that can transform this issue. Using Seychelles as an example, other island states with similar resources can assess the feasibility and scope of their own cleanup efforts. This can help restore nature to build a more resilient blue economy.
 
Further Resources
The energy sector in Carribbean SIDS holds great potential for transformative change. The sector remains primarily fossil-based and characterized by centralize grid-structures. These systems remain vulnerable to price volatility and to hurricanes and storms. Decentralized renewable energy solutions can have meaningful impact for the resilience of the sector, this brief from the International Climate Initiative explores mitigation-adaptation synergies and offers innovative solutions for building resilience.  
 
As Large Ocean States, SIDS have the opportunity to tap into the US$ 2.5 trillion “ocean economy”. For SIDS the integrity of ocean ecosystems is of vital importance to their economies and livelihoods. SIDS depend on the biodiversity and services oceans provide, including for food, fresh water, renewable energy, tourism and trade. To support innovation that seeks to safeguard the health of our oceans, the World Economic Forum’s UpLink platform is launched its second sprint to find solutions to accelerate progress towards SDG 14: Life Below Water.
 
UNDP supports SIDS in working to achieve universal health coverage, particularly through the advancement of digital technologies and access to data. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has undermined efforts to improve health services for women, children, and adolescents, slowing the progress of Goal 3 of the SDGs. UNDP and UNICEF have jointly produced research that details the specific challenges to healthcare in Latin America and Caribbean countries and outlines priorities moving forward. 
Image: ©UNDP Jamaica/Tori Repole
Upcoming Opportunities
Youth of SIDS, share your ideas now!
Applications for the King Hamad Youth Empowerment Award to Achieve the SDGs are now open! Launched in 2017 by a fellow SIDS, Bahrain, the award seeks to encourage youth of the world to actively engage in their communities as agents of change for sustainable development. In response to the devastating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic globally, the 2020 edition of the Award will particularly consider youth-led and youth-enabled action that seeks to mitigate immediate, medium- and long-term impacts of the pandemic. 
 
Apply Here
 
 

 Meet your SIDS team!

and contact us with any questions 
Thematic Team Leaders
Facilitators
 
Visit the SIDS SparkBlue Community
Read Past Issues

Be the first one to comment


Please log in or sign up to comment.