8 November 2011
GLISPA Progress Update Highlights Regional Challenges, Green Growth, Debt Swaps
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The Global Island Partnership's (GLISPA) latest Progress Update highlights developments on the Carribbean Challenge, Micronesia Challenge, Hawaii Green Growth Initiative and debt swaps for adaptation, as an innovative sustainable financing mechanism.

October 2011: The September-October 2011 issue of the Global Island Partnership’s (GLISPA) Progress Update highlights outcomes of the Caribbean Challenge Planning Meeting, a briefing on Debt Swaps for Adaptation, the Hawai’i Green Growth Initiative and Micronesia Challenge. It also notes GLISPA’s efforts at upcoming international conferences to raise attention for island initiatives.

The Caribbean Challenge Planning Meeting took place in Grenada, on 21 October 2011, and included discussion of: advances toward implementing the Caribbean Challenge Initiative (CCI) in each country; the Caribbean Biodiversity Fund (CBF) that will be launched by the end of 2011 with an initial investment of US$32 million from The Nature Conservancy (TNC), KfW and the Global Environment Facility (GEF); and the establishment of national conservation trust funds. Outcomes included support for a Caribbean Leaders Summit in 2012 to gain political and private sector commitment to conservation, adaptation and sustainable development.

A Briefing on Debt Swaps for Adaptation was held in New York, US, on 13 October 2011, hosted by the Permanent Mission of Seychelles to the UN and GLISPA. According to the Update, the meeting aimed to seek interest from countries in exploring debt swaps for adaptation as an innovative sustainable financing mechanism.

On the Hawai’i Green Growth Initiative (HGG), GLISPA and HGG hosted a briefing with US Ambassador Kurt Tong, Senior Official to Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), in August 2011. The Update notes that the briefing provided a clear understanding of the US’ green growth agenda for APEC, which includes strategic economic initiatives to encourage trade in green technologies.

On the Micronesia Challenge, the Update reports that Johnson Toribiong, President of the Republic of Palau, signed a bill allocating US$1.4 million toward the Challenge. The pledge fulfills the conditions necessary to receive a $2 million endowment contribution from TNC for Phase I of sustainably financing of the Micronesia Challenge.

The Update also describes GLISPA’s plans to highlight island initiatives at key international events in the coming year, including: a “leadership platform” at the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD, or Rio+20); an island summit at the 11th Conference of the Parties (COP) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD); and various initiatives at the World Conservation Congress. [Publication: GLISPA Progress Update, October 2011]

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