Podcast: “Small Islands, Big Picture” shines a spotlight on the unique challenges and remarkable resilience of Small Island Developing States around the world.

“Why do small island states matter? What challenges do they face? Do they deserve international aid?”

“Small Islands, Big Picture” is a new podcast from ODI and the Resilient and Sustainable Islands Initiative (RESI), which shines a spotlight on the unique challenges and remarkable resilience of Small Island Developing States (SIDS) around the world.

Each month, the podcast hosts – RESI Directors Emily Wilkinson (ODI) and Matthew Bishop (University of Sheffield) – are joined by expert guests from the Caribbean, Pacific and beyond to discuss the political, economic, social and environmental issues facing SIDS today. 

In the “Big Picture” section of the podcast, an expert guest will take listeners behind the headlines of a story. In “No Stupid Questions”, Emily and Matt invite the audience to submit questions about the world of small island developing states, with the aim of challenging common misconceptions.

Listen and subscribe to “Small Islands, Big Picture” on Acast, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts and Spotify. New episodes will be released monthly.

Episodes

Episode 1: Why do small islands matter?

In this first episode, hosts and RESI directors Emily Wilkinson and Matthew Bishop explain the ways in which SIDS are some of the most distinctive societies on earth – and why a podcast that helps to amplify SIDS’ voices is needed.

The episode features:

• Emily Wilkinson (host) | RESI Director and Senior Research Fellow at ODI
• Matthew Bishop (host) | RESI Director and Senior Lecturer at the University of Sheffield
• Courtney Lindsay | RESI Director and Senior Research Officer and ODI
• Michai Robertson | Antigua-Barbuda negotiator at the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS)

---

Episode 2: How can the UN Multidimensional Vulnerability Index help small island states?

In this second episode, Emily and Matt look at the United Nation’s new Multidimensional Vulnerability Index (MVI), how it relates to age-old debates about small-state vulnerability, and why it could lead to a long-overdue shift in the allocation of international aid.

The episode features:

• Emily Wilkinson (host) | RESI Director and Senior Research Fellow, ODI
• Matthew Bishop (host) | RESI Director and Senior Lecturer, University of Sheffield
• Gaston Browne | Prime Minister of Antigua-Barbuda and Co-Chair, UN High-Level Panel on the MVI
• Fatumanava-o-Upolu III Dr Pa’olelei Luteru | Permanent Respresentative of Samoa, UN High-Level Panel on the MVI
• Theresa Meki | Department of Pacific Affairs, Australian National University
• George Carter | RESI Co-director and Department of Pacific Affairs, Australian National University

---

Episode 3: What are the distinctive challenges faced by small non-sovereign islands?

In this third episode, Emily and Matt discuss a special group of small islands: non-independent territories or “sub-national island jurisdictions” (SNIJs). They explain the great diversity that exists amongst these non-sovereign islands in terms of levels of development and depth of integration with metropolitan powers like Britain, France, the Netherlands and the United States.  

The episode features:​

• Emily Wilkinson (host) | RESI Director and Senior Research Fellow at ODI
• Matthew Bishop (host) | RESI Director and Senior Lecturer at the University of Sheffield
• Jack Corbett | RESI Co-Director and Head of the School of Social Sciences at Monash University in Australia
• Genève Phillip | Interim Provost and Vice-President of Academic Affairs at the University College of the Cayman Islands
• Benito Wheatley | Special Envoy of the British Virgin Islands (BVI) Government
• Professor Peter Clegg | Head of the School of Social Sciences at the University of the West of England

---

Episode 4: Can we find solutions to climate change-induced sea-level rise?

In the fourth episode, Emily and Matt discuss the problem of sea-level rise, the challenges it poses to sustainable development – especially for low-lying island nations – what might be done about the issue, and the thorny practical and moral questions this raises.

The episode features:​

• Emily Wilkinson (host) | RESI Director and Senior Research Fellow at ODI
• Matthew Bishop (host) | RESI Director and Senior Lecturer at the University of Sheffield
• Ian Fry | UN Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights in the Context of Climate Change
• Dr Michelle Scobie | University of the West Indies and Advisor at the Commonwealth Secretariat
• Dr Tammy Tabe | Oceania Research Fellow at the East-West Center
• Professor Jon Barnett | School of Geography, Melbourne University

---

Episode 5: Who is responsible for high debt burdens in Small Island Developing States?

This fifth episode explores the critical challenge of debt in SIDS. Emily and Matt explain why many island states have built up such large debt burdens in the first place, how this impacts SIDS in different ways, and why it is so difficult to reduce. They discuss what can be done to augment SIDS’ ‘fiscal space’, whose responsibility it is to help them achieve this, and how new financial mechanisms might help.

The episode features:

• Emily Wilkinson (host) | RESI Director and Senior Research Fellow at ODI
• Matthew Bishop (host) | RESI Director and Senior Lecturer at the University of Sheffield
• Rachid Bouhia | RESI Director and Economic Affairs Officer, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)
• Gail Hurley | Independent Advisor and Senior Researcher on Debt and Development Finance
• Enrico Gaveglia | Resident Representative, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Maldives
• Shakira Mustapha | Research Lead at the Centre for Disaster Protection

---

Episode 6: Will the 4th UN International Conference on SIDS generate ‘resilient prosperity’?

Each decade since the mid-1990s, the United Nations has convened a high-level international summit – bringing together small-island governments, large-state donor partners, international organisations and representatives from civil society – to agree the next ten-year agenda for Small Island Developing States’ (SIDS) development diplomacy. The fourth of these conferences (SIDS4) will take place in Antigua-Barbuda in May 2024, under the theme ‘Charting the Course Toward Resilient Prosperity’.

SIDS4 is the most important of these decennial conferences so far, taking place at a critical juncture in the global context and at an especially challenging time for small island states. Consequently, Emily and Matt devote the entirety of this episode to a roundtable discussion with three key protagonists in the SIDS4 process:

• Fatumanava-o-Upolu III Dr Pa’olelei Luteru | AOSIS Chair and Permanent Representative of Samoa to the UN
• Tumasie Blair | Deputy Permanent Representative of Antigua-Barbuda to the UN
• Simona Marinescu | Senior Advisor on SIDS, UNOPS

---

Episode 7: Are changes in global shipping generating better connectivity for Small Island Developing States?

Small Island Developing States (SIDS) are, by definition, highly dependent on shipping and other forms of connectivity. As geographically small land masses, SIDS have a high propensity to import things, and as islands, all imports, exports and travel must be done by sea (or air). However, SIDS are at the mercy of the global shipping industry, over which they have little control – an industry prone to shocks, spikes in prices and rapid technological change.

In this episode, Emily and Matt discuss: why SIDS are so dependent on shipping; how these small states are experiencing recent transformations in inter-island and international maritime industries; and whether changing patterns of ownership and control, multilateral governance of the high seas, or technological innovation – for example, through Artificial Intelligence – represent positive or concerning developments for SIDS.

The episode features:

• Emily Wilkinson (host) | RESI Director and Senior Research Fellow at ODI
• Matthew Bishop (host) | RESI Director and Senior Lecturer at the University of Sheffield
• Viliame Kasanawaqa | RESI Affiliate and Director of ShipWrecked Lab, Fiji
• Liam Campling | Professor of International Business, Queen Mary University of London
• Captain Orlando Allard | Dean, Faculty of Engineering and Technology, Universidad Santa Maria La Antigua, Panama and Former Panamanian Ambassador to the International Maritime Organization

Further resources: