United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, WU Hongbo, believes that entrepreneurship and innovation will boost productive activities in world’s 39 small island developing states (SIDS).
Writing in UNIDO’s quarterly discussion magazine, Making It, Wu argues that while the traditional sectors of fisheries and tourism have helped economic development, it is entrepreneurship and innovation in new sectors, including climate change adaptation and mitigation, disaster risk reduction and renewable energy, which will ensure sustained and sustainable inclusive and equitable economic growth with decent work for all.
Wu writes, “Promoting knowledge, skills, technology and business support in SIDS will help to foster industry and productive activities.”
The world’s SIDS, most of them located in the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, face a unique set of challenges due to their small size and often remote location. They are also highly vulnerable to climate change and natural disasters.
SIDS tend to have fairly narrow economic bases, limited product and market diversification, low economies of scale and a high dependency on international trade.
Wu, who served as the Secretary-General of the third International Conference on Small Island Developing States in 2014, points out that the SAMOA Pathway, the conference outcome document, stressed the importance of partnerships in promoting productive activities in SIDS.
Wu writes, “In SIDS, land size and population size can make large-scale industries problematic and unsustainable. It may be more appropriate to generate decent work, partnerships and innovation by fostering entrepreneurship, building capacity, and increasing the competitiveness and social entrepreneurship of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises and state-owned enterprises.”
The international community has been pressing forward with partnerships, often led or managed by SIDS, to help encourage inclusive and sustainable industrial development, and Wu stresses the need to ensure the participation of all people, including the poor, women, youth and persons with disabilities. He identifies a variety of artisanal and small-scale productive activities with good potential, including eco-tourism operations, artisanal fisheries, community-based off-grid renewable energy projects, and small-scale mining projects.
The UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA) is part of the United Nations Secretariat and has been playing a leading role in the process of defining a Post-2015 Development Agenda. In March 2015, 17 proposed Sustainable Development Goals were announced and a final decision on the goals will be taken at the UN General Assembly in September. One of the proposed goals is to build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation.
Enhancing productive capacities by WU Hongbo in Making It #17 (UNIDO)
By Charles Arthur
Posted May 2015