New global summit aims at supporting sustainable development in islands worldwide

Aug 20, 2012 08:49 GMT  ·  By
Several islands wordwide might soon become leaders in terms of sustainable development
   Several islands wordwide might soon become leaders in terms of sustainable development

Recent news informs us that this year's October 16th and 18th will see the inauguration of the Ecoislands Global Summit, which – as the name more than suggests – is aimed at providing island communities worldwide with the support they need in order to go all-green and become self-sustainable.

Apparently, UK's Isle of Wight will find itself at the center of these efforts to promote green living in various islands, as the people here plan on becoming self-sufficient in terms of energy as soon as 2020, and therefore have a lot of insights to share on this matter.

As explained on the official website for the Island of Wight's Ecoisland Partnership, “The Ecoisland Partnership CIC is a Community Interest Company whose aim is to make the Isle of Wight the first sustainable region in Britain.”

According to official sources, about 30 other island communities have announced their desire to benefit from the Ecoislands Fund so far, a decision that will translate into their boosting local clean energy technologies and becoming pretty much carbon-free.

Business Green informs us that this initiative will be carried out with the aid of funding coming from presently undisclosed sources, and that it is quite likely that final investments will amount to several billion dollars.

David Green, one of the persons in charge of seeing to the success of this project, explained how, “The funding we've attracted is at a level that can offer funding to some of those other green island projects around the world. It'll be capable of looking at up to 20 islands – it's sufficient to the task.”

Furthermore, “We'll be using software from IBM to monitor how people are performing against their targets. It is not going to be an old boys' network – it is going to be a serious attempt to decarbonise communities.”

Should various islands communities be accepted to join this green-oriented program, they will be made to sign an agreement known as the Ecoislands Accord, and they will be expected to officially become “sustainable” as soon as 2030.