Achieving sustainable development of small islands

Since 2014, the Small Sustainable Islands Initiative, supported by the Conservatoire du littoral, seeks to foster interaction between stakeholders involved in the protection of small islands, to promote their actions and to bring them a technical assistance tailored to their needs. It scopes local NGOs, government bodies, natural areas managers, and private sector representatives.

The annual gathering CELEBRATE ISLANDS is a unique opportunity to highlight the special bond that men have with their natural environment. It is an important milestone towards the creation of a global, collaborative community of small islands focusing on sustainable development. On the long term, the Small Sustainable Islands Initiative wishes to strengthen a vast best practices exchange network. It also aims at promoting the efforts made by its members at local scale, thanks to an audit and award scheme, the “Small Sustainable Islands” ecolabel.

This year PAP/RAC helped the initiative to reach the Island of Zlarin, in the Sibenik-Knin County, Croatia. Earlier this year a Coastal Plan for Šibenik-Knin County (find out more : here) was adopted, as the result of the joint efforts of the Department for Environmental Protection and Municipal Affairs of the County, PAP/RAC and Croatian and international institutional partners. A photographic exposition: „Small islands sustainable development pioneers” was opened in the Vesna Parun Heritage Museum, on July 1st. This exposition is the result of the cooperation with islands stakeholders, namely the Tourist Board of Zlarin and the Association KUD Koralj. As the first steps of a new partnership, the exhibition will enable the partners to stress the importance of the natural and cultural heritage, and the need for sustainable management of islands in order to preserve their heritage.

The exposition will travel to Vis in September, at the MIC – Vis 2016, an international scientific multidisciplinary conference that has been jointly organised under the patronage of the city of Vis by University of Applied Sciences VERN’ and Institute of Social Sciences Ivo Pilar.