The role of the University Consortium of Small Islands States in sustainable development

Participants: Stefano Moncada, Director, Islands and Small States Institute University of Malta; Kalim U. Shah, Director Island Policy Lab, Joseph R. Biden Jr. School of Public Policy & Administration, University of Delaware; Sai Navoti, Chief SIDS Unit, UNDESA; Elisabeth Ann Holland, Director Pacific Center for Environment and Sustainable Development (USP); David Smith, Director, Centre for Environmental Management, Coordinator, Institute for Sustainable Development (UWI).

Moderators: Miguel De Franca Doria, OiC of SIDS Section, Hydrologist for LAC Region, UNESCO and Francesc Pedró, Director UNESCO IESALC

A debate on the University Consortium for Small Island Developing States. 

• There is a lack of physical resources. Schools can join to increase support for knowledge and research on the ground and exchange best practices; potential to provide even better platforms.
• The strengthening of the consortium itself needs a strategic resource mobilization. 
• Founding values of the university: let some smaller universities lead the way in. 
• Needs a united front in finding solutions and a mandate for human resource development, fostering research, and indigenous resources, and providing coordinating and alignment mechanisms. 
• Governments can capture the human capital to help develop small island economies. Being highly dependent on one single sector is problematic.  
• Funding joint research within the consortium will help to meet the SDGs through transdisciplinary and interdisciplinary to start. 
• UNESCO and all the funding partners are very committed to making this happen (consortium) with proposals from experts (e.g. on membership).