Skip to main content

Islands As Hubs Of Innovation In The Era Of The Sustainable Development Goals: Public Participation And Engagement With Island Communities

Session Replay:

SHARE

Description:

Islands are often perceived as hubs of innovation. For example, islands can be seen as laboratories of technology innovation when it comes to the deployment of green energy, especially in relation to renewables such as tidal or offshore wind energy. However, this panel will explore a different kind of innovation.

The innovation that will be discussed in this Panel is the means by which islands have used the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in a way that speaks to their unique characteristics and to those of their communities. In fact, many islands around the world have embraced the SDGs and have tailored their approach to the SDGs aligning them with their own island specific culture and understanding of development. Against this background, the panel will explore public participation experiences on different islands whereby island communities have informed SDG related island policies, strategies and even legislation.

Insights from the Panel will contribute to the ongoing work undertaken by the EILEAN (Islands, Law and Sustainability) Initiative at the Strathclyde Centre for Environmental Law and Governance and the Local 2030 Islands Hub hosted by Hawaii Green Growth.

Session Speakers:

FRANCESCO SINDICO

Co-Director of the Strathclyde Centre for Environmental Law and Governance

Francesco Sindico is the Founder and Co-Director of the Strathclyde Centre for Environmental Law and Governance (SCELG) at the University of Strathclyde Law School in Glasgow, Scotland, UK. He is a Public International Lawyer by training and has over ten years of experience providing legal advice to international organisations and national governments in the fields of climate change law, international water law and sustainable development law and policy. He leads the EILEAN initiative at SCELG, an effort to better understand how island communities engage with legal and political processes to promote resilience and sustainability. Francesco has collaborated with the Scottish Government in the implementation of the Islands (Scotland) Act 2018 by providing technical advice to the consultation leading to the National Islands Plan and working on guidance related to island communities impact assessment.
Francesco Sindico

Co-Director of the Strathclyde Centre for Environmental Law and Governance

PETRA GRANHOLM

Research Coordinator at the Åland Islands Peace Institute in Finland

Petra Granholm is a research coordinator at the Åland Islands Peace Institute in Finland. She is actively involved in the Bärkraft network, which is a bottom-up, inside-out sustainability process in the Åland islands, an autonomous and demilitarised archipelago in the middle of the Baltic Sea. In 2019, Bärkraft won the first EU sustainability award in the category “public entity (< 100 000 individuals)”.

Petra holds a Master in Political Science from Åbo Akademi University, Finland and a Master of Resource Management from the University of Akureyri, Iceland. She was born and raised on the Åland Islands and has through family strong connections with rural areas in Iceland.

PETRA GRANHOLM

Research Coordinator at the Åland Islands Peace Institute in Finland

NICOLA CROOK

PhD researcher with the Strathclyde Centre for Environmental Law and Governance at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow

Nicola Crook is PhD researcher with the Strathclyde Centre for Environmental Law and Governance at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow. Her research focuses on the legal options available to Scottish island communities in terms of public participation, with a particular focus on the Island (Scotland) Act 2018. She has recently worked alongside the Islands Team of the Scottish Government to draft the National Islands Plan as required by the Islands Act, which included a three month consultation process on 36 of Scotland’s inhabited islands. She is also a member of EILEAN (Islands, Law and Sustainability), which is a research hub which seeks to highlight examples of innovative policy and management practices on islands, and is currently an academic partner of the Scottish Islands Federation. Prior to her current research, Nicola specialised in environmental law and worked as a legal consultant in Brussels and a Research Assistant for the Sabin Centre for Climate Change Law and Policy, Columbia University, NYC. Her research background includes a first class (Honours) Law Degree and a Master of Laws in Climate Change Law and Policy with distinction from the University of Strathclyde.
Nicola Crook

PhD researcher with the Strathclyde Centre for Environmental Law and Governance at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow

Quet

RIAD MEDDEB

Policy Advisor, Sustainable Development Economist

Riad Meddeb is a seasoned economist and international development professional specializing in trade, investment, migration, and technology innovation to address issues and facilitate decisions of policymakers with over 20 years’ experience working with UN agencies, such as UNDP, UNCTAD and UNITAR – and the ILO and the University of Paris. Riad has extensive experience as an economic and policy advisor to the UN and foreign governments, such as providing assessment and policy advice on economic recovery and livelihoods to support country to mainstream and implement the Sustainable Development Goals. Adept at managing programs and staff, strategic and political savvy, and works in multiple languages. Worked in fragile and post-conflict country contexts and Small Islands Developing States, such as Comoros, Mauritius, Cambodia, Rwanda, Afghanistan, Guinea, Burkina Faso, etc.
Riad Meddeb

Policy Advisor, Sustainable Development Economist

KIARA KEALOHA

Global fellow and outreach associate with the Hawai‘i Green Growth (HGG) United Nations Local2030 Islands Hub

Kiara Kealoha is a global fellow and outreach associate with the Hawai‘i Green Growth (HGG) United Nations Local2030 Islands Hub, which develops local solutions to global sustainability challenges, building on island culture and values and indigenous knowledge. The HGG Local2030 Islands Hub highlights islands as laboratories for innovation that catalyze and scale integrated ridge-to-reef projects, cutting across the energy, water, food and urban nexus.
Kiara holds an MSc in Environment, Politics, and Development from the University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) and a BA in History and Science with a secondary field in Environmental Science and Public Policy from Harvard University. Kiara is a graduate of Kamehameha Schools, and was born and raised on the island of O‘ahu. She is now based in Zürich.
Kiara Kealoha

Global fellow and outreach associate with the Hawai‘i Green Growth (HGG) United Nations Local2030 Islands Hub

TAJANA HUZAK

Assistant Minister of Directorate for Islands (Croatia)

Tajana Huzak is the Assistant Minister of the Directorate for Islands within the Croatian Ministry of Regional Development and EU Funds. She also previously served as the Chief Advisor to the Cabinet of Ministers, Ministry of the Sea, Transport and Infrastructure.
Tajana Huzak

Assistant Minister of Directorate for Islands (Croatia)

Sponsored by:

SCELG

The Strathclyde Centre for Environmental Law & Governance was established in 2012 and has benefited from a large investment in 2016. It brings together more than twenty researchers including staff, PhD and visiting researchers based at Strathclyde Law School and welcomes experts from other disciplines.