The sea that separates us is the same that unites us. – Paulo Veiga.
From 10 to 21 November the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 30) is taking place in Belém, Brazil.
The Conference brings together governments from states of all different sizes.
As an archipelago, Orkney is like all other island communities, feeling the effects of our rapidly changing climate.
Image credit: Bernie Bell.
In a series of online discussions, Island Innovation, is highlighting how small island states can work together to address the issues affecting them.
Paulo Veiga is the President of the Carlos Albertino Veiga Foundation. He described the situation for island communities who ‘live everyday what the world is only now beginning to see.’
He expressed very clearly the importance of the marine environment to island states when 99% of his nation’s territory of Cape Verde is ocean.
Orkney may not have self governance but it is impacted by many of the same issues as Small Island States (SIDS), or as the islands prefer to be known as, Big Ocean States.
- rising sea levels
- fishing
- renewables
- extreme weather events
– just some issues that all island states and communities are having to deal with.
Collaboration and forming alliances is key to finding the solutions, to funding the opportunities, and to sharing knowledge for all of us who live in islands.
‘Islands are mirrors.’ said Paulo Veiga. They have already built in a capacity to resist the effects of climate change on the communities , but that they are not ‘victims’ of it , but should be seen as ‘partners’ working with other island states.
Seaweed Farming in Belize
Fishing and farming the natural resources of the sea are very important for the livelihoods of many islands. In Belize, seaweed farming is a sustainable way where local fishers can benefit from a natural product which also enhances the environment for other marine species.
Wilbur Dubon from Belize Blue Nutrients said that there have been many challenges along the way in establishing seaweed farming in Belize, but he stressed. ‘we cannot damage the environment while we are trying to benefit from it.’ The seaweed farming initiative in Belize has been developed by fishers for fishers.
Funding is a massive challenge for many projects may get a small amount of initial finance but fail because no more comes through to ensure that it gets established.
The UK Government’s Sustainable Blue Economies Programme, contributed £100,000 through the the Blue Social Challenge Fund (BSCF) in December 2024 towards The Belize Women’s Seaweed Farmers Association (BWSFA). The BWSFA is a dynamic women-led organization inclusive of men, women, and youth, with a groundbreaking project to advance sustainable seaweed mariculture.
Key objectives and impact of the programme include:
- capacity building: training members in advanced skills, including Level 2 boat navigation and seaweed-based product development (for example, soap-making)
- farm expansion: increasing seaweed farm plots and establishing a seed bank to ensure long-term sustainability
- processing and marketing: constructing a mobile processing facility, improving packaging standards, and launching a marketing campaign and outreach
- community engagement: developing ecotourism opportunities through seaweed farm tours to generate income and raise awareness about sustainable practices
Partners not Victims
Islands have to change the narrative, to recognise that they are not victims but ocean powerhouses. Today, however, those oceans are dominated by business enterprises from the global northern states who rake in enormous profits from industrial fishing and now from renewable generation.
There is no way island states can compete with the money backing these international organisations which have the support of their home nations. The profits generated mostly go there and not to the island states where local fishers cannot compete with the industrial vessels.
Island states require the funding to encourage the development of their own renewable projects – to allow their communities to move away from fossil fuels.
Karuna Rana, is the Founding Director of the Big Ocean States Initiative (BOSI). She stresses the importance of Community and Equity. BOSI has a project ongoing connecting up 7 pilot states to collaborate on developments. This exchange of knowledge will connect up the solutions to many of the challenges faced by islands.
Karuna Rana commented: ” To show the world that innovations already exist but they need the funding to progress.”
At COP30 UN Climate Change Executive Secretary Simon Stiell said that , ” Billions of dollars [are] flowing into clean energy, resilience, and just transitions across the world.”
$2.2 trillion went into renewable projects worldwide.
However, gaps remain, and ” too many of the most vulnerable countries still struggle to access even the resources that have already been pledged.”
“The Adaptation Fund, Least Developed Countries Fund and Special Climate Fund are key as they play an important role in scaling up finance for least developed countries and small island developing states,” – said Stiell.
The website Earth.Org reports that
Donations to the Adaptation Fund have been decreasing in recent years – they amounted to $356 million in 2021; $243 million in 2022; $192 million in 2023; and only $133 million in 2024. According to the UN, there is a deficit of about $310 billion a year.
In her report from COP30, Meghie Rodrigues, said that after high level meetings, six countries have announced new funding to the Adaptation Fund :
“Belgium, Iceland, Ireland, Luxembourg, Spain and Sweden confirmed total donations of $58.5 million. Spain has pledged $23.2 million – the largest donation so far – while Iceland made the smallest contribution, with $700,000.”
Climate Change affects us all but with island states and communities feeling its impact now. Those island communities and states have the solutions, or at least some of them, because they are adapting and are developing resilient strategies. To continue with their initiatives and projects there needs to be funding on a scale necessary to see them succeed.
And for the nations of the global north to recognise, as Paulo Veiga explains, that ” Small islands are not the margins of the world” – but that as ‘mirrors’ they reflect not only the challenges of Climate Change – but the solutions, through the projects they are developing, and key to that is collaboration with other islands.
Fiona Grahame