• Gunter Pauli, creator of the ‘blue economy,’ invited attendees to “explore the obvious,” making the most of local resources in a sustainable and regenerative way.
• The Forum continues tomorrow with contributions from biologist and science communicator Liz Bonnin and journalist and science popularizer Mark Lynas.

The International Ecoislas Forum opened today “to reflect, debate, and, above all, take action in the face of the great challenges of sustainability in our island territories,” said the President of the Cabildo of Gran Canaria, Antonio Morales.

Through an extensive conference program, the forum returns to the island to lead the global debate on sustainability in island environments. It addresses topics such as the circular and blue economy, energy, water, mobility, adaptation to climate change, and biodiversity.

“From Gran Canaria, we take on the responsibility and pride of becoming a global benchmark for sustainability,” stated the president during the inauguration of this biennial event featuring island territories that, “due to their geographical and environmental characteristics, are true natural laboratories where we can innovate, experiment, and lead solutions that benefit our communities and serve as a model for other territories.”

In this regard, Antonio Morales explained how the concept of ‘ecoisla’ (eco-island), developed by the island’s Cabildo, “is not just an ideal; it is a reality we build day by day. It represents a development model prioritising sustainability, social well-being, and environmental regeneration, making Gran Canaria an example for the world.”

In this context, Morales assured that the event’s second edition “is a unique opportunity to share experiences, strengthen alliances, and generate concrete actions that benefit not only our islands but also the planet. “

Debates and Challenges

The event began with a keynote speech by Gunter Pauli, creator of the concept of the ‘blue economy,’ who invited attendees to “explore the obvious” by making the most of local resources in a sustainable and regenerative way, because “innovation is about using what we have—that is ecology.” He explained that his concept of ‘ecoisla’ is not limited to “an island of tourism, fishing, or energy,” as “a new wave of businesses can emerge thanks to the vision and opportunities offered by local economic development.”

Pauli focused on two key issues to foster such local economic development in island territories, particularly in the Canary Islands. First, there is a need to understand marine life and DNA: “The Canary Islands do not have data about themselves; they pay third parties to obtain it.” In this regard, he proposed implementing “data farming” on the islands, a strategy that allows control over data collection, exploring their waters, and studying marine DNA—which is gold—since 99% of the DNA scientists currently have comes from land or air.

Another keynote speaker was Anjila Hjalsted, a specialist in absolute sustainability, who challenged attendees to rethink the concept of sustainability to quantify and achieve it: “We cannot reach the goal if we do not know what it is because we do not know what it truly means to be sustainable. Without knowing that, we cannot prioritize actions or determine the direction we should take.”

For this reason, she emphasized the need to “completely rethink our system and understand the Earth’s limits to determine how we allocate our resources.” Regarding climate change, for example, the planet’s limit is set at generating one ton of CO2 per person per year. However, in Denmark—her home country—each person currently generates 16 tons per year. “That is not sustainable,” she pointed out.

Throughout the day, several parallel sessions were also held, including a roundtable discussion on ‘The Transition to a Net Zero Emissions Model,’ featuring Raúl García Brink, the Cabildo of Gran Canaria’s Minister of Environment, Climate, Energy, and Knowledge; Julieta Schallenberg, the Canary Islands’ Deputy Minister for Ecological Transition, Climate Change, and Energy; and Savvas Vlachos, island sustainability specialist, vice president of FEDARENE, and member of the Cyprus Energy Agency.

They all agreed that the energy transition will not be possible without storage. “Achieving decarbonization by 2040 is an enormous challenge; we must be ambitious but also realistic, and without storage, there will be no decarbonization,” stated Minister García Brink. “The first challenge is changing the way we think to understand how to organize ourselves for the future and create synergies between different sectors and activities within the same territory,” said Julieta Schallenberg, who also highlighted the circular economy as another major challenge islands will have to tackle in the future.

“We must recognize that islands suffer more from climate change, extreme weather events, rising temperatures, and sea level rise,” noted Vlachos, who presented various examples of sustainable constructions in Cyprus. Like the other speakers, he also pointed out that excessive regulation sometimes slows down the implementation of necessary measures.

Looking Ahead

The Forum, promoted and funded by the Cabildo of Gran Canaria and organized by Infecar, will continue tomorrow, Friday, January 31, with a program of keynote speeches featuring biologist and science communicator Liz Bonnin, who will highlight the importance of protecting biodiversity by connecting local actions with major global challenges; and Mark Lynas, journalist and science communicator, who will share his perspective on the effects of climate change and the urgency of acting based on scientific evidence.

Additionally, several parallel sessions will be held on topics such as the circular and blue economy, climate change adaptation, water, mobility, and research through European projects, among others.

The event is also sponsored by Ewaste, Prezero, Ayagaures Medioambiente, Astican, and Satocan; with Cajasiete as the official collaborator, along with other partners such as the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, the University of La Laguna, Canaragua, the Canary Islands Maritime Cluster, the Gran Canaria Island Water Council, the Gran Canaria Island Energy Council, Fedeport, and the Gran Canaria Chamber of Commerce.