6 April 2011: The Steering Committee of the Global Islands Partnership (GLISPA) met from 22-23 February 2011, in Washington, DC, and has issued the report of its meeting.
The Steering Committee is co-chaired by the Presidents of Seychelles and Palau and comprised of representatives from the Governments of Grenada, Seychelles and Italy, The Nature Conservancy (TNC), the UN Environment Programme-World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC), the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA)/SIDS Unit, PCI-Media Impact, the Secretariat of the Global Environment Fund (GEF) and the GLISPA Coordination team.
Participants in the meeting reaffirmed commitment to the GLISPA Strategy 2010 to 2012, and GLISPA’s role in supporting implementation of existing and new high-level commitments to island conservation and sustainable livelihoods. The Committee agreed that, in 2011-2012, GLISPA would continue its thematic focus on Ecosystem Based Adaptation, Mitigation and Invasive Species, as well as engage in “development dialogue” by promoting island leadership in advancing a green economy.
To accomplish these goals, GLISPA will continue to use high-level events to inspire leadership and showcase islands. In 2011, GLISPA is exploring potential opportunities to support the United States and Hawai’i in holding a high-level event during the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting in November 2011, to recognize leadership by the US and APEC economies taking early action on APEC’s new green growth agenda. GLISPA will continue to build on efforts to promote island leadership in advancing the green economy during the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD, or Rio+20) and at relevant events related to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
In 2011, GLISPA will support the CBD In-Depth Review of the Programme of Work on Island Biodiversity, approaching it as an important opportunity to highlight island issues, implementation barriers, successes and opportunities to enhance implementation within the Convention. [IISD RS Sources] [GLISPA Strategy 2010-2012] [CBD Webpage about GLISPA]