MEP Tonino Picula presented on Friday 29.11.204. a handbook on the"habitability"which introduces a new approach to European policy towards islands and emphasized that this concept should help"islandness to get out of the dead end"of those dealing with cohesion policy.
Picula said that insularity has so far been in the background of those dealing with cohesion policy and that the manual should help to approach the problems of islands respecting their specificities. Public policies are mostly created with a focus on urban areas, which often leads to inefficient use of funds intended for rural areas and contributes to worsening inequalities between urban and rural areas. The habitability manual contains 45 indicators categorized in seven areas, which help in measuring the quality of life on islands, and enables more precise assessments and tailored development policies for islands. The Croatian version is the first translation of the Swedish original: Habitability - a new approach to assessing the development of island communities and planning development through 45 new indicators adapted to islands.
Manual, developed at the Swedish Åbo Akademi University with the support of the Piculin Office, is designed to actively engage local communities in the decision-making process, for example by using new indicators such as measuring distance over time, rather than in kilometers.
„Until it is turned into a methodology, national states will receive their money, but they will not properly direct it. Habitability should serve to detect real problems on the islands and to better direct development funds.”, translates SDP representative.
Habitability in the context of island policy development refers to the suitability of the island for living, i.e. the opportunities that a particular island environment provides to its inhabitants. The round table moderator and editor of the Croatian edition of the manual, Ivan Matić, stated that they did not find an appropriate Croatian expression for the English term 'habitability', used by the authors in the original, and therefore decided to stick with the term 'habitability'. The concept of habitability is based on the specificities of island communities and offers an alternative to the previous approach of equal measures for all, which does not take into account the specificities, as emphasized at the round table held in Zagreb after the presentation of the manual. Matić emphasized that the concept opens the door to a new chapter in promoting a new European policy towards islands, just at the moment when the Law on Islands is changing once again.
100 euros on the island is worth 20 percent less
According to Eurostat data from 2019, GDP per capita in rural areas of the EU reaches only 76 percent of the urban average. This gap further complicates access to resources, labor, and innovation.
„Every islander knows that 100 euros on the island is worth up to 20 percent less than on the comparable nearest mainland. The habitability, created by the islanders themselves, takes into account such specificities and offers the possibility of a new way of measuring the development of isolated communities using specially adapted indicators.”, Matić emphasized.
Pia Prost, a biology professor from Åbo Akademi University, presented examples of Finnish island policy, the oldest in Europe. The manual has helped island communities in Finland to assess their strengths and weaknesses in key areas such as local economy, energy, ecosystems, and attractiveness. It is now being applied to other isolated areas, such as the water areas of Finland, where they are facing issues of population decline and isolation.
Picula reminded how in 2013, when he became a Member of the European Parliament, island issues were neglected. Today, thanks to initiatives such as the Seas, Rivers, Islands and Coastal Areas Intergroup (SEARICA) and the Secretariat of the Clean Energy for EU Islands Initiative, significant efforts are being made towards decarbonisation and the development of island regions.
„We still have a lot of work ahead of us. However, all the necessary tools are at our disposal and I firmly believe that in the coming years we will be writing a new and successful chapter of European and Croatian island policies”, concluded the representative Picula.
Prof. Dr. Nenad Starc, co-author of the Islands Act, expressed hope that the new policies will encourage self-awareness among islanders, while the mayor of Cres, Marin Gregorović, emphasized the expectation that the manual will improve communication between the local community and institutions.
SOURCE: HINA
