In March 2001, the Director of Habitat Scotland attended the UK Islands in Europe conference on Islay organised by Argyll & Bute Council at which a Scottish Islands Network (SIN) was formed. A European Small Islands Network (ESIN) was established at a subsequent conference on the Swedish island of Moja in May of that year and SIN became a constituent member. In January 2002 Habitat obtained a grant for three years from the Scottish Executive Rural Strategic Support Fund in order to appoint and manage a Project Officer for SIN. At the same time the Director of Habitat became the FT Executive Director for GIN, which together with SIN shared the same office building in Portree, Isle of Skye.
A website for SIN was constructed and a monthly e-newsletter quickly introduced that was freely circulated to over 1500 people throughout the Scottish islands. In addition, SIN initiated consultancy studies on the implications European Commission livestock transportation and waste management legislation would have on Scottish islands. The Project Officer also undertook consultancy work for Highland Council on the EC Leonardo da Vinci NISSOS project into successful small-scale manufacturing from islands that involved Maltese lead partners and others from Aland, Iceland and Saaremaa. SIN was also a partner in the ESIN three year EC Interreg IIIC programme project to investigate why certain islands were more successful than others in maintaining viable communities with sustainable approaches and solutions to their most pressing development problems. Some 13 inter-island exchange visits were undertaken and 18 good practice case studies produced that culminated with their findings being presented at a major conference held on the Isle of Islay in 2006.
Between 2002-2010, GIN concentrated on building up formal working relationships with a range of UN agencies and other international bodies as well as supporting many of our 150 partner organisations spread over 60 countries worldwide. Various GIN board members attended important events like the Global Conference on Oceans, Coasts and Islands in Paris 2003; SIDS Barbados Programme of Action + 10 conference in Mauritius 2005; and IUCN Climate Change and Biodiversity in the European Union Overseas Entities conference in Reunion 2008. Our other core activity has been managing this website with its daily news desk that has sourced and featured more than 9,000 items since it started; a links directory with over 4,000 entries; and a range of other services like an events calendar and marketplace.
GIN having helped to set up the IUCN-WCPA Task Force on Island Conservation and Protected Areas and acting as coordinator for one of their thematic working groups then went on to become an active member of the Global Island Partnership (GLISPA). Since its inception in 2005, the central goal of GLISPA has been to help implement the priority actions of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) Island Biodiversity Programme of Work, which was formally adopted at its 8th Conference of the Parties (COP8) meeting in Curitiba, Brazil, in March 2006. GIN attended the GLISPA High Level Event at the CBD COP9 meeting in Bonn, Germany, in May 2008 where funding from the Italian Government was officially announced for GIN and UNEP-WCMC to create a Global Island Database (GID) that was subsequently launched at UN headquarters in May 2010.
As we entered a new decade in 2011, GIN took a change of direction by moving its home office to North Uist in the Outer Hebrides. These islands are famous for their biodiverse machair habitats that support some of the most important populations of nesting wader birds in Europe and the world. On the domestic side, GIN now forms part of the University of the West Scotland, Scottish Centre for Island Studies, and is following with great interest the work of Stòras Uibhist and Sustainable Uist. Both these organisations, together with the CoastAdapt project, are helping crofter communities respond to the impacts of climate change. Much of the problem is due to the fact these islands are deeply indented by the sea and have hundreds of low-lying freshwater lochs that are separated from the ocean only by narrow strips of land. Increased winter rainfall has made many lochs vulnerable to flooding because there is no proper drainage system. In addition, South Uist has been particularly affected with increased coastal erosion brought about by more frequent winter storm surges, leading some to fear that the island may be split in two. Local people are starting to take direct action by using old tyres and reclaimed fishing nets to anchor sand dunes until marram grass can take hold and bind them together thus helping protect the coastline.
North Uist
Anthropogenic climate change is arguably the most important and urgent issue confronting humanity, as it expresses on a global scale the convergent stresses associated with our economic activities, our local behaviours and our resource and energy use. But science alone cannot communicate either the challenges presented by climate change or the behavioural shifts required to mitigate and adapt to it. Climate also has profound cultural, personal and mythical meaning and resonances. Speaking about climate involves many different ways of seeing. Art and cultural forms of communication can mobilise powerful stories around these ways of seeing, and articulate the values and concerns of communities in ways that influence public policy and contribute to a sense of identity, connection and wellbeing. On the international front, GIN is now working with Cape Farewell that has pioneered a cultural response to climate change. They bring together leading artists, writers, scientists, educators and media for a series of expeditions and legacy projects with the latest being around the Scottish islands.
Islands have captured the imaginations of explorers, artists and natural philosophers throughout history. They are significant – and vulnerable – repositories of the world’s biodiversity, acting as stewards for more than 17% of the Earth’s total area, including many of the most unique and vulnerable plants, animals and ecosystems. They are complex and fragile environments, whose human populations face a range of challenges to their own flourishing and sustainable development. Yet islands are also ecological and cultural ‘niches’, and an idea of the ‘green niche’ can be applied in many local contexts, both rural and urban. Cape Farewell believes islands and the ‘green niche’ concept are central to global conservation efforts and to our understanding of the integral relationship between place, local knowledge, resource use, mitigation and adaptation in the context of climate change. As a consequence, GIN is now focusing its attention upon establishing a worldwide network of ‘Green Islands’ to expand and utilise our existing case studies as well as undertake further research work.
