Press conference at the 3rd UN Ocean Conference in Nice, France, with from left: James Ellsmoor, Chief Executive Officer of Island Innovation; Vannesa Toré, Director of Foreign Economic Cooperation for the Ministry of Economic Development, Curaçao; Jeremie Katidjo-Monnier, New Caledonia’s Minister for the Environment and Ocean; and Ahab Downer, Green Overseas (GO) Programme Director, Expertise France.
NICE, France--Representatives from sub-national island jurisdictions (SNIJs) have highlighted the outsized impact their communities are having on global marine conservation efforts, while also suffering from limited representation at major international summits, according to a press release from Island Innovation. In addition to putting a spotlight on ocean conservation projects happening within their waters, the representatives discussed plans to increase cooperation with other island governments in similar situations.
“Together with Island Innovation and the Cabinet of the Special Envoy for Bonaire, Saba and St. Eustatius, we initiated this journey and have had several interventions. I’m happy to say that these conversations with the EU and the UN continue to dig into this programme and create a category for sub-national island jurisdictions; and access to funding for the transition towards more resilient and sustainable islands,” said Vannesa Toré, Director of Foreign Economic Cooperation for the Ministry of Economic Development, Curaçao.
SNIJs are territories that enjoy varying autonomy levels, but are attached to a larger sovereign country – in the case of Curaçao, the Netherlands; and New Caledonia, France. Several EU countries have overseas territories, including Denmark (Greenland), Spain (Canary Islands) and Portugal (Azores) – but SNIJs also include islands like Guam (USA), Zanzibar (Tanzania) and Lakshadweep (India), the release states.
As Toré highlighted, “Our small structures, our small economies, often we survive generating just enough to re-invest into keeping the island afloat, but to invest in the energy transition, invest in building resilience, these investments are very costly and we do not have access to those types of programmes; and we do not have access to those types of funding or financing. We are smaller, we are more vulnerable, and climate change does not discriminate against constitutional status.”
In his address, Jeremie Katidjo-Monnier, New Caledonia’s Minister for the Environment and Ocean, pointed to and congratulated the government of French Polynesia’s announcement that they would designate a large portion of their Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) as a Marine Protected Area (MPA), likening it to New Caledonia’s own 1.3-million-square-kilometre MPA created in 2014.
The ambition of these French overseas territories is only matched by the global impact their ecosystems hold, with Katidjo-Monnier adding, “The fact that we are overseas territories of developed countries means that sometimes it is difficult for us to access certain international funding, and that's why this call … is more than welcome, so that we can all come together to work on projects and examine the legal and administrative issues ... For France, more than half of its Exclusive Economic Zone is under the responsibility of the government of French Polynesia and New Caledonia, when it comes to environmental protection.”
Communities living in SNIJs find themselves in a gray area when it comes to climate funding opportunities, according to the release. Their attachment to another economy disqualifies them from most international financing pathways, yet they often have different needs and priorities than their central authority, with limited representation within that larger political structure.
The different autonomies and sovereignties of each SNIJ add another layer of complexity when it comes to addressing climate finance issues, the release states. Here, Toré underscored that creating a formal legal understanding of SNIJs and their constitutional situation was the first step towards categorising them within international structures and frameworks. These actions were already well underway, she noted, and while the process to legal recognition will be long, it also provides an opportunity for leaders and stakeholders from these territories to join the SNIJ Climate Coalition (SNIJCC) launched at 1st Forum on Access to Climate Finance for SNIJs on May 30, on Nevis.
In the meantime, efforts from major organisations like Expertise France to create more inclusive spaces for EU Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs) are actively being developed. As mentioned by Ahab Downer, Green Overseas (GO) Programme Director, Expertise France, convening stakeholders from these communities is actively leading to capacity-building through knowledge exchange, according to the release. A recent GO Programme technical workshop on coastal erosion saw representatives from 45 OCTs come to St. Maarten to share their experiences and learn more about other communities’ solutions.
“Additionally, the GO Programme underwrites and provides extensive technical and administrative support to our OCT partners for small to medium-sized energy- and resilience-related projects in their respective OCTs,” explained Downer. “To date we are implementing – and/or preparing to implement – some 34 projects across 24 OCTs, ranging from coastal erosion and sea-level-rise monitoring in French Polynesia, to the main-streaming of energy savings and climate resilience in the Bermuda building codes, to feasibility studies related to offshore wind turbines in the Turks and Caicos Islands. The GO Programme is proud to be supporting the development of Greenland’s first territorial climate strategy,” he added.
All speakers agreed that the gaps that SNIJ communities face are related to financing and overall support for local projects, which by-and-large are put into motion and developed by islanders. The ambition of SNIJs should not be limited by or come second to constitutional relationships with metropolitan states, but rather serve as a new benchmark for them, the release states. Katidjo-Monnier stressed the global impact that these communities can have when provided with the tools to enable them.
Speaking on the next steps for SNIJs, OCTs and islanders, James Ellsmoor, Chief Executive Officer of Island Innovation expressed: “Increased participation of under-represented groups, including SNIJs, at major international fora is beneficial in not only highlighting the positive projects and opportunities these communities provide, but also raising awareness of the inequalities they face and how we can address them.
“Small island developing states, for example, have created a powerful platform for advocacy that SNIJs can learn from. Islanders are already creating waves and SNIJs can add to it. Island leaders are actively setting the tone for negotiations at events like [climate change Conference of the Parties – Ed.] COP and [UN Ocean Conference] UNOC, using the platform these conferences provide to demand reforms to the status quo – providing alternatives such as the Bridgetown Initiative, developing nature-based solutions, highlighting their communities’ innovation and leveraging it to create a prosperous future for themselves and the world at large.”
