Guam Green Growth

The framework, which will align sustainability efforts on Guam with the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, was signed during an internationally attended event held on Sept. 23.

“To preserve Guam for tomorrow, we need to start today,” Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero said. “As we sign the G3 Action Framework, Guam is ready to take our place at the global forefront of island sustainability. This year marks the start of the decade of action, a critical 10-year window to act on the most significant global sustainability challenges before 2030. We are proud to be taking local action to achieve global impact.”

Five focus areas

The framework was developed by a G3 Working Group, a group established by Executive Order 2019-23 last September and assigned to the UOG Center for Island Sustainability to facilitate. The working group was comprised of 97 members representing government agencies, academia, nonprofits, businesses, and youth.

Their work resulted in hundreds of goals and objectives focused on five categories:  

1. Healthy and Prosperous Communities 
2. Educated, Capable, and Compassionate Island
3. Sustainable Homes, Utilities, and Transportation
4. Thriving Natural Resources
5. Sustainable Alliances

Cross-cutting elements are incorporated into all categories, including climate action, resilience, public engagement, policy, and the core CHamoru values of respect, cooperation, and treating others with kindness, generosity, and dignity. 

“We have the crisis of climate ... but we also have a crisis of public health, an economic crisis, a crisis of democracy, and a crisis of the international order,” said UOG President Thomas W. Krise. “[With G3], we, in this organization and across the Pacific, are able to demonstrate the ability to collaborate effectively together and to positively and optimistically imagine a future better than the one we left behind.”

G3 will advance tangible solutions to sustainability challenges and contribute to a green economy for the island.

“G3 is creating a circular economy makerspace and innovation hub at the Chamorro Village, where entrepreneurs will be able to gather … with tools and equipment to transform waste products into marketable products. In a time of business closures and rising unemployment, G3 will give our people an ownership role in the new green economy and the transition toward a cleaner, more sustainable Guam,” the lieutenant governor said.

What’s next?

The G3 Action Framework will now serve as a living and adaptable document. A G3 Working Group Steering Committee, comprised of the leads of the six action teams and co-chaired by the Office of the Lt. Governor and UOG’s Center for Island Sustainability, will identify priority and high-impact action opportunities and coordinate implementation. The governor will chair biannual meetings. A public G3 Dashboard will also be created to record and track progress over time using the internationally recognized Aloha+ Challenge Dashboard as a model, which Hawaii Gov. David Ige pledged to share with Guam and other islands.

“Through the alignment of local, state, national, and international action, we can align our canoes in the same direction to help each other arrive at a more sustainable, equitable world for all of us,” Ige said.

A network of partners

In commemoration of the one-year anniversary launching the Local2030 Islands Network and the G3 Working Group, the signing coincided with the 75^th United Nations General Assembly and Climate Week NYC 2020. To celebrate Guam’s historic action, regional and global partners joined the framework signing event. In addition to the governor and lieutenant governor, Speaker Tina Muña Barnes, Marshall Islands President David Kabua, GLISPA Executive Director Kate Brown, and Hawaii Green Growth Local2030 Hub Executive Director Celeste Connors provided remarks.

“As a fellow champion of climate change efforts, the Republic of the Marshall Islands supports the Guam Green Growth Initiative and is ready to provide assistance,” Kabua said.

Speaker Tina Muña Barnes said the framework represents brothers and sisters across the blue continent taking a stand. “We stand in solidarity with a clear message: Our people, our natural resources, our environment– they matter to us,” she said.

G3 Working Group meeting