With less than five years until 2030, small island states are racing to unlock finance for sustainable ocean economies. But we may be overlooking our most valuable asset: people.
With less than five years until 2030, small island states are racing to unlock finance for sustainable ocean economies. But they may be overlooking their most valuable asset: people.
Research across Belize, Fiji, and Seychelles reveals that funders identify 'trusted individuals and businesses' as among the most important determinants of their investment decisions, ranking this factor alongside political stability and institutional frameworks. More than 75% of surveyed funders ranked it highly. This finding suggests that human and social capital–trusted individuals, civil society networks, and relationship infrastructure–represent a productive investment opportunity that small island developing states (SIDS) and development partners have undervalued.
The sustainable ocean economy has been positioned as a golden opportunity for SIDS. However, progress has faltered due to a lack of finance. With less than five years until the conclusion of the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda, understanding what incentivises financial flows is critical.
Discussion of this challenge typically focuses on well-known determinants: strong institutional frameworks, political will, political stability, and enabling legal environments. These factors are indeed important, and their relevance is confirmed by empirical research. But they are not the whole story.
Doctoral research on what attracts investment for sustainable ocean economies in SIDS surveyed 13 funders and investors working in Belize, Fiji, and Seychelles. These respondents represented diverse categories: multilateral development banks, bilateral agencies, philanthropic foundations, impact investors, and international non-governmental organisations (NGOs) with grantmaking functions.
The top five factors identified for what attracts investment were: institutional framework for ocean affairs, political will, location and natural endowment, political stability, and trusted individuals and businesses in the country. The first four align with the conventional understanding of what enables investment. But the presence of 'trusted individuals and businesses' among the top determinants was unexpected.
Ten of 13 respondents (more than 75%) identified this factor as highly relevant. This echoes findings from small states scholarship more broadly. Godfrey Baldacchino's work on small jurisdictions has long emphasised how personal networks substitute for formal institutions where 'everyone knows everyone.' The human dimension to investment decisions, it turns out, is equally important but far less discussed in policy forums.
Government officials corroborated this finding. When asked what determined their country's success in attracting blue finance, one Seychelles government official specifically attributed success to 'the effective advocacy of individuals and the strength of environmental NGOs.' The people factor matters on both sides of the investment relationship.
Transaction cost reduction. Having trusted partners reduces time and transaction costs significantly. As Jules Pretty and Hugh Ward (2001) demonstrated in their foundational work on social capital and the environment, trust built through repeated interactions lowers the costs of negotiation, monitoring, and enforcement. When funders know and trust individuals in a country, due diligence is faster, negotiations are smoother, and implementation is more reliable. In small states where formal information infrastructure may be limited, where credit ratings may not exist, corporate registries may be incomplete, and track records difficult to verify through standard channels, personal knowledge and relationships substitute for institutional data.
The philanthropic channel. One survey respondent highlighted a crucial structural factor: US-based philanthropic organisations can only provide grants to NGOs and civil society organisations (CSOs), and therefore, a healthy civil society network is important and is also seen as additional capacity to the government. This is a legal constraint arising from US laws governing charitable giving, but it is also relevant given the small, capacity-constrained civil services found in SIDS. Without strong CSO networks, philanthropic funds are structurally inaccessible regardless of how enabling the legal framework for foreign investment may be.
Bridging functions. Trusted individuals often serve as bridges between different worlds: connecting national governments to international funders, CSOs to policy processes, local communities to global networks, and technical experts to political decision-makers. These bridging functions cannot be legislated into existence; they emerge from relationships built over time through sustained engagement across multiple forums and contexts. The individuals who perform these functions, often operating across government, civil society, and international organisations over their careers, accumulate relational capital that benefits their countries. They are valuable assets that SIDS should recognise and support.
Implementation capacity. Funders emphasised 'feasibility' and 'implementation capacity' as critical factors in their investment decisions. These concepts link directly to human capital: are there individuals and organisations capable of executing funded activities to the required standard? Strong institutions on paper mean little if the people to staff them are absent. CSOs that have built track records of successful project implementation become trusted partners for future investments. This track record effect compounds over time: successful implementation builds trust, which attracts more investment, which builds more capacity.
Pretty and Ward identify three types of relationships that are particularly important for attracting blue finance:
Government-CSO partnerships demonstrate collaborative approaches to ocean governance, signalling to funders that the country can mobilise diverse actors toward shared objectives.
CSO-to-CSO networks build collective capacity, enable knowledge sharing, and create the ecosystem of implementation partners that large programmes require.
Domestic-international funder relationships are often maintained through participation in global forums, networks, and partnerships.
Investment in any of these relationship types can yield returns in finance mobilisation by building the 'connectedness' that enables collective action
Fiji illustrates the importance of human and social capital. Despite a history of political instability—something that would typically deter investment—Fiji remains a top performer in attracting sustainable ocean economy funding, particularly from philanthropy. This success is notable because Fiji has no dedicated MPA legislation, no formalised blue economy department, and only recently enacted an aquaculture framework. Yet it continues to attract significant investment, indicating that human and social capital can offset institutional gaps.
The evidence points to two factors working in combination. First, demonstrated political will signalled through high-level international engagement: COP23 presidency, Ocean Panel membership, leadership of the Commonwealth Blue Charter's ocean-climate nexus action group, and the launch of a National Ocean Policy. These signals matter to funders assessing whether a country is serious about sustainable ocean governance.
Second, Fiji benefits from strong partnerships characterised by trust. Survey respondents indicated that not all laws need to be in place before concluding funding agreements, partnership and trust that 'proper laws will be put in place' can substitute for existing legal frameworks. Seven of eleven funders explicitly stated this position.
The Locally Managed Marine Area (LMMA) network exemplifies this dynamic. Built on relationships between communities, civil society organisations, and international partners, the LMMA network has attracted substantial international support despite operating largely without dedicated legislation. These community-based arrangements draw on indigenous knowledge and customary governance, demonstrating that effective marine management can emerge from practice and relationships rather than from formal legal frameworks alone. Fiji's experience suggests that social capital between governments, individuals, and funding entities can sometimes compensate for gaps in formal institutional arrangements.
There is a paradox at the heart of small island development: however much we invest in political stability, institutional frameworks, and enabling legal environments, our small populations mean we will never have enough of our own people. In Seychelles, migrant workers now make up 16 per cent of a population of just over 120,000. This is simply the reality of smallness.
But that same smallness creates a different kind of asset; one that is rarely quantified but profoundly valuable. In a country where everyone knows everyone, a well-placed champion of sustainable development can wield influence that would be unimaginable in a larger nation. We become trusted points of contact for investors, multilateral institutions, NGOs, and philanthropies seeking to engage with our countries. We are, in effect, the human infrastructure that connects global finance to local priorities.
As a Cabinet minister in various portfolios from 1998 to 2007, I worked across agriculture, fisheries, environment, climate change, and water, that is, the full spectrum of sustainability issues that define small island futures. When I moved to New York as Seychelles' Ambassador to the United Nations, accredited to the USA, Canada, Brazil, Jamaica, and Cuba, I also enjoyed a concurrent appointment as roving ambassador for small island state issues and climate change that proved infinitely more impactful for my country's development aspirations. Because of my ministerial background in sustainability, I was repeatedly invited--and chosen over fellow island ambassadors--to speak not just for Seychelles, but for small island developing states as a whole, and not just at the UN but in forums around the world.
What made this possible was relationships. My close contacts with the relevant authorities outside the Ministry of Foreign Affairs such as, fisheries directors, environment officials, climate negotiators, meant that people and institutions interested in working with Seychelles sought me out as their first point of contact. They knew I could connect them to the right people, navigate our small system, and vouch for what was feasible. I saved them time, cost, and effort. In return, my country gained access to opportunities that might otherwise have passed us by.
This is what 'trusted individuals' means in practice. It is the accumulated relational capital of a career spent bridging worlds, and it is an asset that small island states should recognise, nurture, and deliberately invest in.
If human and social capital are among the primary determinants of blue finance flows, what should SIDS governments and development partners do differently?
Invest in civil society capacity. Strong civil society networks are not merely beneficial for governance, but rather are essential infrastructure for accessing certain categories of finance. SIDS governments should strengthen civil society through training programmes, accessible funding mechanisms, and enabling legal environments for NGO registration and operation. Restrictive approaches to civil society inadvertently close off philanthropic funding channels.
Foster government-CSO partnerships. Funders value collaborative relationships between government and civil society. SIDS governments should create formal mechanisms for CSO engagement in sustainable ocean economy planning and implementation. Joint planning processes, advisory bodies with meaningful CSO representation, and partnership agreements all signal to funders that the country has the collaborative capacity to deliver.
Support international networking. Relationships with international funders and partners are built through sustained engagement over time. SIDS governments should fund participation in international conferences, networks, and partnerships. While such participation may seem like a discretionary expense easily cut in tight budget years, it should be seen as an investment in relationship infrastructure that enables future finance flows.
Recognise individual champions. Certain individuals serve as bridges between national priorities and international opportunities. SIDS governments should identify, support, and empower these individuals. Succession planning should ensure that institutional knowledge and relationships are transferred as individuals move between roles, rather than being lost when champions depart.
Invest in relationship-building. Capacity building programmes have traditionally focused on technical skills: legal drafting, financial management, and project design. While these remain important, the evidence presented suggests that networking and relationship development deserve equal attention. Capacity building should include support for SIDS representatives to participate in international forums, build peer networks, and develop relationships with potential funders. These 'soft' investments can yield significant returns.
Support CSO sustainability. Project-based funding dominates development finance, but it does not build the sustained organisational capacity that enables implementation. Core funding for civil society organisations, such as, supporting salaries, operations, and institutional development rather than specific project activities, builds the implementation infrastructure that makes larger investments feasible.
Recognise the limits of legal reform. Legal frameworks are necessary but insufficient. Development partners should avoid the assumption that once laws are in place, investment will automatically follow. Legal reforms must be accompanied by investment in the human and social capital needed to implement them.
The determinants of blue finance flows to SIDS are well-established: institutional frameworks, political will, political stability, and enabling legal environments all matter. But the evidence from Belize, Fiji, and Seychelles reveals an additional factor that deserves far more attention: human and social capital.
This is not a peripheral consideration. Civil society networks, government-CSO partnerships, international relationships, and individual champions all contribute to the social infrastructure that enables finance to flow.
The policy implications are clear. Investment in people and networks is a productive investment. SIDS governments should strengthen civil society, foster partnerships, support international networking, and recognise individual champions. Development partners should invest in relationship-building and CSO sustainability alongside technical capacity. With less than five years until 2030, SIDS cannot afford to overlook their most valuable asset.
The champions, networks, and partnerships that have driven blue finance success to date will determine whether the sustainable ocean economy delivers on its promise. Investing in people is a smart decision.
This perspective draws on doctoral research completed at the University of Malta's Islands and Small States Institute. For foundational work on social capital and small states, see:
Baldacchino, G. (2005). The contribution of ‘social capital’ to economic growth: Lessons from island jurisdictions. The Round Table, 94(378), 31–46. https://doi.org/10.1080/00358530500033075
Pretty, J. (2003). Social capital and the collective management of resources. Science, 302(5652), 1912-1914.
Pretty, J. & Ward, H. (2001). Social capital and the environment. World Development, 29(2), 209-227.
