L arge Ocean States (LOS) (also called Small Islands Developing States) include some of the world’s smallest and most remote states in the world and are as such extremely exposed and vulnerable to climate change and development shocks: high exposure to natural disasters, climate change, and global economic shocks, as well as small or unstable domestic revenues and limited borrowing opportunities. Sharing of lessons learned about needs and opportunities is needed to accelerate adaptation and address similar water challenges among scattered islands short on capacity.

In 2023, the Water Adaptation Community (WAC) will increase its focus on LOS/Small Islands to support learning at the frontlines of the climate emergency. The WAC focuses on a bottom-up approach, aiming to listen to the community to understand demand-driven issues and build on existing initiatives. The WAC also brings policy insights from interactions with the community and shares them with global policymakers at high-level decision-making events, including the 2023 UN Water Conference. At the same time, the WAC supports collaboration to scale up and jointly overcome implementation challenges with the help of an international community. An important way the WAC does this is through the International Panel on Deltas and Coastal Zones (IPDC).

The IPDC is an upcoming initiative that responds to the urgent and critical need for special leadership to accelerate sustainable development and adaptation in deltas, coastal zones and LOS/Small Islands. To inform the IPDC approach going forward about key issues that LOS/Small Islands face, the WAC has designed a webinar to share knowledge and good practices for governance, policy development, and locally led resilience and adaptation, with the aim of helping LOS/Small Islands address their knowledge gaps and increase widespread applications of good practices. The WAC has invited LOS/Small Islands leaders, water governance practitioners, food and island tourism industry innovators, and expert researchers to talk about their key challenges and solutions.