With less than two months left before the start of the 2025 Global Sustainable Islands Summit co-hosted by Island Innovation and the Government of St Kitts and Nevis, preparations are well underway across the Twin Islands. The summit includes specialized Forums aimed at empowering island communities and highlighting local projects having a global impact: the Island Youth Forum (May 25-26, St Kitts), Geothermal Energy Forum (May 26, Nevis), and the 1st Forum on Access to Climate Finance for Sub-National Island Jurisdictions (May 30, Nevis).
Since the first set of high-level government representatives and international experts were announced in March, the following speakers have been confirmed:
●Hon. Albert Bryan Jr., Governor, U.S. Virgin Islands
●Hon. Lourdes A. Leon Guerrero, Governor, Guam
●Fernando Clavijo, President of the Government of the Canary Islands
●Mukhtar Babayev, COP29 President & Minister for Ecology & Natural Resources, Government of Azerbaijan
●Vanessa Toré, Director of Foreign Economic Cooperation, Ministry of Economic Development, Government of Curaçao
●Lavern Mcfarlane, Senior Economist, Chief Underwriter, CARICOM Development Fund
●D’Jamila Ward, Regional Director, Commonwealth Caribbean, Department for Business and Trade, British High Commission
●Dr. Mohammad Rafik Nagdee, Executive Director, The Caribbean Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency
●Prof. Daniel Kammen, Chair, Energy and Resources Group, UC Berkeley
Over 300 attendees are expected to partake in the Summit and its Forums, where island stakeholders will discuss the latest developments in sustainability, and how islanders can leverage them to build a prosperous future. To increase accessibility to the Summit, organizers have partnered with island-focused development fund Our Shared Ocean, and the UNFCCC’s Youth for Capacity programme to sponsor the participation of 20 young people working in advocacy, research, and policy in Small Island Developing States around the world.
