Author: Elinor
Date: August 26, 2026
Article Title:
Regionalizing the Sustainable Development Goals for Island Societies: Lessons From Iceland and Newfoundland
Article Affiliation:
Memorial University of Newfoundland
Bifröst University
Article Citation:
Stoddart, M. C., Bernharðsdóttir, Á. E., & Yang, Y. (2024). Regionalizing the Sustainable Development Goals for Island Societies: Lessons From Iceland and Newfoundland. Island Studies Journal, 19(2), 168–190. https://doi.org/10.24043/001c.94616
INTRODUCTION
Sustainable development is crucial to societal development because it provides a framework for meeting current human needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet theirs. The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) provide a framework of 17 discrete goals that make the fuzzy concept of sustainable development more tangible and actionable. The article compares two island societies, Newfoundland (NL) and Iceland, to provide us with clear and detailed knowledge about sustainable development and help us recognize Newfoundland’s weaknesses in its development.
This research compares the interpretations and governance of the UN SDGs in Iceland and Newfoundland. It mainly focuses on two questions: how do research participants view the SDGs in relation to ensuring sustainable futures for their respective island societies? How do research participants view the roles of government and other institutions in implementing sustainability?
It utilized an online survey with 67 stakeholder participants in Iceland and 109 stakeholder participants in the NL across government, business, labour, civil society, academia, and youth. This was followed by a focus group of 8 survey participants in Iceland and three focus groups with a subset of 15 survey participants in the NL. This analysis contributes to the growing social science literature on the implementation of the SDGs and their social interpretations. It also contributes to island studies. Therefore, we can gain insight into the social and political dynamics of SDG translation in the unique contexts of island settings.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
In participant interpretations of the SDGs, the author found that the majority of survey participants viewed all 17 of the SDGs as “very important, critical, or absolutely critical.” While participants in both regions emphasize the importance of economic sustainability — and are critical of how economic sustainability is implemented in their respective island societies — the specific ways in which economic sustainability is conceptualized show important differences.
In the governance of SDG implementation, participants across both cases view the government as the most important institution, with Icelandic participants pointing to the national parliament and NL participants pointing to the provincial government. Despite the difference in political scale, the results show a gap between perceiving government institutions as highly dissatisfying levels of dissatisfaction with those same institutions (though reported dissatisfaction is higher in the Newfoundland case).
This article focuses on sustainable development in the NL and Iceland. As a subnational jurisdiction, NL often depends on the political mediation of the federal government, which can be a hindrance for subnational island jurisdictions. This article can give us an insight into the island setting among Atlantic Canadians, especially in Newfoundland, on how to achieve its sustainability.
CONCLUSION
First, we need to pay attention to sustainable development through the SDGs’ conception of 17 specific, discrete goals. Second, we need to focus on island societies and identify the differences between NL and other islands. Third, based on the characteristics of NL development, we can develop a strategy to support government decisions and sustainable development in the long run.
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