Spotlight on LDA-SI Grantee: Wolfs Company, Aruba (2018-2019 cohort)
Written by Jay Neuner with Sandra Ruckstuhl
In 2018, TReNDS launched a microgrant program through SDSN’s Local Data Action Solutions Initiative (LDA-SI). During this calendar year, the program is supporting five sub-national SDG data and monitoring efforts. Through real-world examples, these projects are generating a series of adaptable models that can be utilized in locations around the world to improve local SDG achievement. Learn more about the program here.
As a Small Island Developing State, Aruba is faced with a unique set of challenges in sustainable development, and specifically in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Yet this small island environment can also prove a tremendous advantage; Aruba’s natural capital is valued at more than US$287 million per year, according to Netherlands- and Caribbean-based consultancy Wolfs Company.
For the 2018-2019 LDA-SI microgrant program, Wolfs Company is building on its work to take stock of Aruba’s land and marine socioeconomic and ecological factors, with the aim of further “measure and maximize” investments in sustainable development in the region. This project will build on TEEB Aruba, an existing ecosystem service assessment and evaluation conducted by the organization.
Wolfs Company is expanding our knowledge of how ecosystem services in places like Aruba correlate to the SDGs. Source: Flickr.
The primary outputs of Wolfs Company’s project will be a participatory framework to create insight into the contribution of ecosystem services to the achievement of SDGs; applying this framework to the case of Aruba; and developing a corresponding, online data dashboard correlating ecosystem services to SDGs in Aruba. Through these resources, the organization aims to inform SDG achievement efforts on the island. This framework will also have relevance to the global achievement of the SDGs, as it will aim to align with the data systems of state agencies within the Kingdom of the Netherlands (of which Aruba is part).
This small island project is integral to a comprehensive overview of sub-national efforts to achieve the SDGs. While it profiles a hyper-specific geographic region, it will provide proof-positive of how tracking ecosystem services can support SDG monitoring. Wolfs Company and the LDA-SI team will also record this methodology so that other small island contexts can replicate it for their own SDG monitoring needs.