Small Island Territories Research Articles

Using Crowdsourced Data to Assess the Impact of Shelter-in-Place Orders (SIPO) during COVID-19: Lessons from a Small Island Developing State

Without the availability of a vaccine (at the time of writing) to control the spread of the COVID-19 virus, countries must rely largely on lockdown measures to limit population movement and community spread. The case of COVID-19 in small island territories is particularly important given their vulnerabilities to external shocks, limited capacity to prepare for and respond to a health crisis, and a population susceptible to non-communicable diseases. This article utilise novel crowdsourced cell phone data gathered by Facebook Data for Good and difference-in-differences estimation as well as event studies to examine the effectiveness of shelter-in-place orders (SIPOs) on population movement patterns across Trinidad and Tobago. We find that most SIPOs result in reductions in population movement patterns across the country, the most effective being the closure of all public places and non-essential businesses. Also, the relaxation of these measures does not readily result in increasing population movement patterns, indicating relative embeddedness in population movement. Our results further suggest that voluntary compliance, adaptive behaviour among citizens, government transparency and public information can also be important motivations for reduced population movement during the pandemic.

Politicizing the “unknown”: Territorial narratives, shared spatial imaginaries, and Bermuda’s oceans

Marine conservation advocates have promoted the designation of large-scale marine protected areas (LSMPAs) in the EEZs of small island states and territories. These offshore spaces, early proponents argued, are too remote for people to use and are thus “politically less risky” than nearshore areas to promote conservation. This paper counters this assertion through an empirical examination of how the mistaken assumption that offshore spaces are unpeopled contributed to a failed LSMPA designation attempt in Bermuda. Drawing on policy documents, speech transcripts, media, and 104 semi-structured interviews, it presents an analysis of the territorial narratives used to discursively (re)produce Bermuda’s EEZ during LSMPA negotiations. Three major findings emerge. First, rather than a blank slate on which conservation values could be easily inscribed, these narratives showed Bermuda’s EEZ to be a space entangled with diverse values, identities, and goals. Second, the narratives that actors used revealed broadly overlapping values related to Bermuda’s EEZ, even among people promoting opposing governance outcomes, demonstrating that opportunities for broad agreement on the EEZ’s purpose and governance did, and may still, exist. Third, by using an imaginary of Bermuda’s EEZ as “unknown” to legitimize its decision to delay negotiations, the Bermuda government effectively reinstated the “blank slate,” aligning itself with popular values while avoiding a definitive stance on the contentious national debate. This decision and the broader negotiations demonstrate how the use of territorial narratives and spatial imaginaries can alter offshore spaces, even when no regulatory changes occur, with implications for future ocean governance options.

Did Covid-19 Pandemic Impact the Employability of Student-Apprentices? A Study via the Results of the University CFA in Corsica

The lingering effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, coupled with the negative consequences of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, have slowed growth in G20 economies while generating high price pressures (OCDE, 2022). While global GDP stagnated in the second quarter of 2022, global economic trends are darkening. Transposed to a local context like that of Corsica, a small island territory, is the picture also bleak? After an analysis of the trends of the Corsican economy in 2022, the present contribution will focus more specifically on analysing the impact of the health crisis on the employability of graduate University CFA students in the Corsican region.

Ocean Futures for the World’s Largest Yellowfin Tuna Population Under the Combined Effects of Ocean Warming and Acidification

The impacts of climate change are expected to have profound effects on the fisheries of the Pacific Ocean, including its tuna fisheries, the largest globally. This study examined the combined effects of climate change on the yellowfin tuna population using the ecosystem model SEAPODYM. Yellowfin tuna fisheries in the Pacific contribute significantly to the economies and food security of Pacific Island Countries and Territories and Oceania. We use an ensemble of earth climate models to project yellowfin populations under a high greenhouse gas emissions (IPCC RCP8.5) scenario, which includes, the combined effects of a warming ocean, increasing acidification and changing ocean chemistry. Our results suggest that the acidification impact will be smaller in comparison to the ocean warming impact, even in the most extreme ensemble member scenario explored, but will have additional influences on yellowfin tuna population dynamics. An eastward shift in the distribution of yellowfin tuna was observed in the projections in the model ensemble in the absence of explicitly accounting for changes in acidification. The extent of this shift did not substantially differ when the three-acidification induced larval mortality scenarios were included in the ensemble; however, acidification was projected to weaken the magnitude of the increase in abundance in the eastern Pacific. Together with intensive fishing, these potential changes are likely to challenge the global fishing industry as well as the economies and food systems of many small Pacific Island Countries and Territories. The modelling framework applied in this study provides a tool for evaluating such effects and informing policy development.

The Vocational Integration of Students-Apprentices in the Context of a Pandemic Crisis: Feedback from the University CFA in Corsica

The COVID-19 pandemic has generated major economic impacts in the vast majority of countries, including falling GDP and global trade, massive job losses, deficits and increased public debt. If quasi-generalized interventionist economic policies have made it possible to cushion the paralysis of the productive devices, the short-term global outlook remains very uncertain. In this gloomy context, what will be the situation on the labour market, and in particular the vocational integration of students? Corsica presents the example of a small island territory in search of a regional development scheme based on the economy of knowledge and competence. In this major structural perspective, the University Apprenticeship Training Centre (CFA UNIV) in the Corsican region has been striving, for a decade, to contribute to the enhancement of students-apprentices vocational integration from the University of Corsica. Within the scope of its activities, are the monitoring and evaluation of the students-apprentices’ professional integration from the University of Corsica. Since 2011, the carrying out the annual surveys on students-apprentices’ future from the University of Corsica has demonstrated the capacity of the sandwich course training in Higher Education simultaneously to boost the employability of skilled human capital and the growth of local business structuring. This contribution will aim to synthesize ten years of CFA UNIV experience and will endeavour to analyse the localized consequences of a global pandemic crisis on the nature of the vocational integration student-apprentices from the University of Corsica in a small territory island.

Electoral politics, party performance, and governance in Greenland: Parties, personalities, and cleavages in an autonomous subnational island jurisdiction

Greenland is a strongly autonomous subnational island jurisdiction (SNIJ) within the Kingdom of Denmark. This paper takes its point of departure in studies of politics in small island territories to ask to what extent Greenland matches findings from other small island states and SNIJs in terms of personalisation of politics, party performance, and political cleavages that do not follow left-right divides. Even though Greenland possesses a strongly multiparty system, supported by elections involving party-list proportional representation within a single multimember constituency, a single political party, Siumut, has led the government for all but a brief period since the advent of Greenlandic autonomy in 1979. By considering Greenland’s political ecosystem, spatially and personally conditioned aspects of voter behaviour, and coalition-building processes, paying particular attention to the 24 April 2018 parliamentary elections, we argue that it is inappropriate to study Greenland as a monolithic political unit or to draw oversimplified analogies with party politics from large state Western liberal democracies. Instead, Greenlandic politics must be understood in relation to the island territory’s particular historical, geographical, and societal characteristics as well as its electoral system.

Predicting the Presence of Leptospires in Rodents from Environmental Indicators Opens Up Opportunities for Environmental Monitoring of Human Leptospirosis

Leptospirosis, an environmental infectious disease of bacterial origin, is the infectious disease with the highest associated mortality in Seychelles. In small island territories, the occurrence of the disease is spatially heterogeneous and a better understanding of the environmental factors that contribute to the presence of the bacteria would help implement targeted control. The present study aimed at identifying the main environmental parameters correlated with animal reservoirs distribution and Leptospira infection in order to delineate habitats with highest prevalence. We used a previously published dataset produced from a large collection of rodents trapped during the dry and wet seasons in most habitats of Mahé, the main island of Seychelles. A land use/land cover analysis was realized in order to describe the various environments using SPOT-5 images by remote sensing (object-based image analysis). At each sampling site, landscape indices were calculated and combined with other geographical parameters together with rainfall records to be used in a multivariate statistical analysis. Several environmental factors were found to be associated with the carriage of leptospires in Rattus rattus and Rattus norvegicus, namely low elevations, fragmented landscapes, the proximity of urbanized areas, an increased distance from forests and, above all, increased precipitation in the three months preceding trapping. The analysis indicated that Leptospira renal carriage could be predicted using the species identification and a description of landscape fragmentation and rainfall, with infection prevalence being positively correlated with these two environmental variables. This model may help decision makers in implementing policies affecting urban landscapes and/or in balancing conservation efforts when designing pest control strategies that should also aim at reducing human contact with Leptospira-laden rats while limiting their impact on the autochthonous fauna.

Reflections on conspicuous sustainability: Creating Small Island Dependent States (SIDS) through Ostentatious Development Assistance (ODA)?

It is frequently noted that small islands, including Small Island Developing States (SIDS), receive hugely disproportionate levels of aid or official development assistance (ODA) relative to other states and territories. However, the precise relationship between 'islandness' and aid remains underexamined. This paper uses the concept of 'conspicuous sustainability' as a framework for understanding the propensity for aid to be directed toward small island territories. We argue (1) that aid donors have reasons for preferring engagement in development projects that are particularly conspicuous, irrespective of actual development outcomes and (2) that small island territories are exceptionally well-placed to produce such conspicuousness. We use the case of the construction of the 'climate-resilient' Dominica label following Hurricane Maria in 2017 to illustrate how both aid donors and recipients can be motivated to pursue short-term projects aimed at currently fashionable areas in the field of development (such as climate change resilience) instead of addressing areas with greater potential to foster lasting improvements and built local capacity. We ultimately recommend a greater awareness of the false economies of conspicuous ODA and aid.

The international mobility of students apprentices at the heart of building a skills economy: the example of the Corsican territory

At a time of exacerbated globalization, education, and more generally training, is a key factor for our society, at the heart of territories challenged to renew themselves in the face of the emergence around the globe of new centers of economic and demographic gravity, with their own models. Training, and its link with working life, is a real challenge to face, in the near future, the technological, economic, political and environmental revolutions that we are already facing. Beyond what is called sandwich training or continuing vocational training in Higher Education, the current challenge is indeed around lifelong learning, old concept but whose forms always call for an actualization in modernity. At the heart of a small island territory like Corsica, this challenge is all the more crucial to take up as it foreshadows its attractiveness in a context of glocalisation (Mair, 1991) now durably anchored.In an ever-changing global environment, with moving landmarks, increasingly complex personal and professional lives, and where everything that seemed well compartmentalized yesterday faces increasing porosity, the purpose of this contribution is to explain that the international mobility of students apprentices, at the heart of the construction of a skills economy, is a major strategic issue for the development and structuring of a small territory such as Corsica.

Fungal Diversity in the Mediterranean Area

The Special Issue entitled “Fungal Diversity in the Mediterranean Area” aimed at highlighting the role of various organisms in the Mediterranean habitat. The role of fungi at the root and phyllosphere level; the biodiversity in small island territories and the sea; rare forms of fungi never previously found; the commercial, food, and therapeutic value of some ascomycetes and basidiomycetes; the diversity related to fungi associated with galls on plants; and the important role of culture collection for the ex situ conservation of fungal biodiversity are the topics dealt with in this Special Issue.

Moving health professionals as an alternative to moving patients: The contribution of overseas visiting medical specialists to the health system in Malta

Cross-border healthcare has become a major policy issue in the past years across the European Union. Professional mobility, as a means of providing specialised health services has not been given sufficient attention in both the research and policy agendas. This paper presents a case study of the contribution made by visiting overseas medical specialists to the health system in Malta. Twenty-five semi-structured interviews were conducted. A grounded theory approach was utilised in view of the limited amount of literature available on the subject. Qualitative content analysis revealed one superordinate theme, being the value of the service, and three further subthemes, which include the quality of the service provided, its longevity and durability, as well as the critical contributions of expatriates. The service is an integral component of the local health service. This study makes an important contribution to the literature on cross-border healthcare. Lessons learnt may be transferable to other small island states and territories. The European Reference Networks being developed at EU level may need to focus more on the benefits that can accrue through short term professional mobility than has been the case to date. The findings also serve to propose several important features that need to be in place to increase the chances of longevity, sustainability, quality and cost effectiveness in cross border health care services.

Island climate change adaptation and global public goods within the Belt and Road Initiative

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), a project conceptualized and developed by the Chinese state, aims to enhance international cooperation, address issues of shared regional and global concern, and create opportunities for foreign direct investment in struggling economies. The BRI can be seen as a system for supplying global public goods, including sustainable development within which issues related to climate change sit. A great many small island states and territories are participating in the BRI, particularly in its constituent 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road. However, the BRI has not yet placed sufficient focus on climate change adaptation or issues specific to small islands. Furthermore, the BRI’s conceptual basis in rhetoric of mutual dependence and a community of common destiny have not always been evident in the individual activities that have been carried out within the BRI. If the BRI’s goals are to be taken seriously, it must do more to focus on the needs and perspectives of island communities, particularly with regard to climate change adaptation. This paper presents a framework for action to strengthen the BRI’s approach to islands and climate change adaptation in terms of information sharing, scientific and technological cooperation, financial support, and capacity building within a global governance framework.

A perceção dos stakeholders sobre o desenvolvimento turístico - o caso da ilha de São Miguel, Açores

Tourism in the Autonomous Region of the Azores, and especially in the island of Sao Miguel, has suffered in recent years a significant increase with repercussions on economic, socio-cultural and environmental impacts. Strategic planning of the activity becomes even more challenging in small island territories. In this context, the present study aims to know the perceptions of different stakeholders about the impacts of tourism development; the identification of the main drivers of the competitiveness of the destination; and the characterization of the level of involvement and participation of local stakeholders in the planning process. Methodologically, we chose semi-directive interviews and content analysis from a sample of stakeholders from the island of S. Miguel. The results show that the positive economic impacts are the most noticeable, as one would expect in a destination in the growth phase, and a level of public participation still scarce.

The System of Sandwich Courses in Higher Education at the Heart of Structuring a Small Island Territory: Lessons Learned from the Pioneering Example of The CFA University in the Corsican Region

The System of Sandwich Courses in Higher Education at the Heart of Structuring a Small Island Territory: Lessons Learned from the Pioneering Example of The CFA University in the Corsican Region

Impacts of climatic and oceanic processes on the threatened terrestrial vertebrates of the Pacific region

The small island nations and territories of the Pacific region are low-lying with a high ratio of shoreline to land area. These characteristics intensify the susceptibility of the islands and the biodiversity that they support to environmental changes. The islands are already experiencing higher temperatures, shifts in rainfall patterns, rising sea levels and changes in frequency and intensity of extreme climatic events. This study undertook a broad-scale assessment of the impacts of climate change and sea level rise on the threatened terrestrial vertebrate biodiversity of 23 countries and territories in the region. A database of indicative susceptibility of islands to climatic and oceanographic processes was used with the distribution data of 150 threatened terrestrial vertebrate species downloaded from International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN). Fifty six percent of these species were endemic to the region. Thirty islands spread over five countries were identified which supported three or more threatened species but were also ranked as very highly or highly susceptible to climatic and oceanographic processes. Twelve additional species were identified, three of which are critically endangered, with distribution on islands with very high or high susceptibility. An analysis with the global protected area network dataset showed that none of the identified islands occurred in a conservation area. A more forward looking conservation strategy would involve prioritization programmes which anticipate the impacts of climate change so that future species’ ranges and “climate refugia” can be identified especially if translocation is essential for the protection of threatened biodiversity.

Emotional intelligence and job performance: the role of psychological well-being

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to test the mediating roles of two dimensions of psychological well-being (job satisfaction and work-related depression) in the relationship between emotional intelligence (EI) and task performance, individual-targeted citizenship behaviours (OCB-I) and organisation-targeted citizenship behaviours (OCB-O). Design/methodology/approach This survey study of 262 employees in a small island territory in the Caribbean captured data on EI, psychological well-being and various dimensions of job performance. Multiple mediation hypotheses were tested using the 95 per cent bootstrapping confidence interval (CI) estimation approach. Findings The results revealed that job satisfaction and work-related depression mediated the relationship between EI and task performance; and the relationship between EI and OCB-O, but only work-related depression mediated the relationship between EI and OCB-I. Research limitations/implications The study utilised a cross-sectional study design and self-reported measures but still presented significant implications for existing and future theoretical models of EI and job performance. Practical implications Organisations should seek to develop high levels of EI in their employees as a means of improving their overall psychological health and well-being and performance behaviours at work. Originality/value The study examines multiple mediation of various psychological well-being dimensions in the EI-job performance relationship using the 95 per cent bootstrapping CI approach.

The Ties that Bind

Whereas small island territories are known to face a variety of obstacles to democracy and good governance, it is largely unclear if a nonsovereign relationship with a larger metropolitan country can alleviate these challenges, and which constitutional status provides the best results in this regard. This article aims to address these questions by providing an in-depth case study of St. Eustatius, a Dutch Caribbean island that in 2010 was politically integrated into the Netherlands as a public entity or special municipality. Based on two weeks of field research consisting of nineteen in-depth interviews with a variety of respondents on the island, the article finds that the changes of 2010 have not been able to function as a remedy to the profuse governance problems on the island, while the increased Dutch involvement and dominance have resulted in widespread frustration and resentment.

Decolonizing through integration: Australia’s off-shore island territories.

Australia’s three small off-shore island territories – Norfolk Island in the Pacific Ocean and Christmas Island and the Cocos (Keeling) Islands Group in the Indian Ocean – can be seen as monuments to 19th century British-style colonization, though their early paths to development took very different courses. Their transition to the status of external territories of the Australian Commonwealth in the 20th century – early in the case of Norfolk and later in the cases of Christmas and Cocos – put them on a common path in which serious tensions emerged between local populations which sought autonomous governance and the Commonwealth government which wanted to impose governmental systems similar to those applying to mainstream Australians. This article explores the issues involved, and seeks to relate the governmental history of the three island territories to the exploration of island jurisdictions developed in island studies research.

Ecotourism as a Means of Conservation of the Landscape of Rodrigues Island

Abstract The Indian Ocean island of Rodrigues provides an interesting landscape case study. It offers a characteristic example of a small island territory whose natural and environmental resources have been overexploited by human activity and whose inhabitants are now clinging to the remains of its symbolic heritage in an attempt to implement conservation and sustainable reconstruction. From this perspective, rurality, with its attendant agricultural practices, its traditional gardens and its natural or humanized landscapes, has become an essential asset; one which the island is trying to promote by means of a tourist strategy based on the enhancement of economic and identity-focused parameters.

International migration, population structure and economic development in American Samoa

International migration from small populations may have long-term cultural and social consequences. American Samoa (AS) is a small island territory whose scale (N = 55,519; 77 mi2, 2010) offers a magnified view of how migration impacts a population via interconnected economies. This article examines effects of international migration on population growth, population distribution and age structure in AS. American Samoa’s population continues to increase but at a fraction of the rate predicted by natural increase; furthermore, without heavy out-migration, AS could have an unsustainable population density of nearly 1000 individuals/mi2. It is argued international migration has reduced population pressure and contributed to maintenance of normally unsustainably high birth rates while also being a negative influence on internal development.