Western stereotypes and small island realities

Recently, we organized a hybrid meeting in a small island developing nation. It was special occasion as we hadn’t had a chance to meet face-to-face in three years.

The main topic of the event was climate resilience. What could have been a more suitable location for such a topic! Small island developing states are low-lying islands and it is easy to anticipate what might happen to them with the sea level rise.  You would expect people to demonstrate their support for such a country.

What happened? Some Western organizations were uncomfortable sending their representatives to the meeting because of public image concerns: it would look too extravagant to travel to a touristic place that people associate with luxury resorts and dream holidays.

This is disturbing in two ways. First, the local reality and Western imagination are two different worlds. As the meeting took place on a local island, it did not match at all with Western stereotypes, whether it was about overwater villas, dress code, or alcohol policy. Sticking with stereotypes reveals geographic ignorance.

Second, by treating a nation through a Western imagination, you dismiss the right of the local voice to be heard. So-called dual injustice means that those countries least responsible for global warming bear the most severe consequences. And now, those countries that have historically benefited most from greenhouse gas emissions suddenly become droopy. To me, this sounds like environmental postcolonialism. In the context of dual injustice, saying it is unethical to travel to talk about climate resilience is simply hypocrisy.