The signing of the declaration will take place March 28, 2017 in Brussels, organised by European Parliament representatives
European islands have been experimenting in recent years with new forms of sustainable living. They promote inclusive models of governing public property, testing new ecologically responsible business models and services, increasing the use of new technologies and renewable sources of energy, educating residents and increase awareness of key challenges of sustainability with increasing numbers of island visitors. Known as the cradles of cooperatives and cooperative business, once a main wheel of island development, Croatian islands are ideal areas to introduce responsible economic and social forms.
“We live in a time when island dislocation from the mainland can be used as an advantage to create sustainable models of living, while the distance of islands can be overcome with the use of new technologies. This is the very idea which leads into the formation of the virtual platform Island Movement, through which we want to educate, inform, connect and develop island residents and their islands,” the development team of the Island Movement pointed out.
Islands are in fact natural and social system for themselves which combine characteristics of both rural and urban areas and contain everything needed for the development of an environmentally and socially responsible way of living. With this islands have the opportunity to become role models of a new economy. For the development of island potential and transformation of them into smart economies it will take dedicated work on additional education of island residents, creating preconditions for social innovation stemming from the very residents, but also creativity and expertise in ensuring join action of a number of components which make up island development: economy, society, mobility, information-communication technologies, models of circular economy, legislation.
Together with the representatives of European local and regional administration bodies and development agencies and other important shareholders who represent numerous European islands, the Island Movement has gathered around the Smart Island Initiative. This initiative starts from the bottom, from the ideas and needs of the very island residents upwards, to point out the need and possibility of profiling islands as ideal areas for the development of technological, social, environmental, economic and political innovations. The signing of the declaration will take place March 28, 2017 in Brussels, organised by European Parliament representatives. This event will bring together many representatives of European islands, the Island Movement will be represented by Maja Jurišić, President of the Buđenje (awakening) Association and leader of the Island Movement project. The invitation to join this initiative was sent to the Island Movement by the office of Davor Škrlec, Green Party MEP.
“What brings to us as initiators of change the most joy is the possibility of further networking, exchange of examples of good practice from other parts of Europe and the future realisation of a number of projects of sustainable and responsible development,” the Island Movement stated.
