How Small Island Developing States Benefit from Digital Twins - Storytelling through Data


There’s one week to go to enter the UNWDF 2024 ArcGIS StoryMaps Competition, register and submit your entry by Tuesday, 29 October. The competition focuses on telling stories about the world you want to see and draw attention to like the challenges faced by small island developing states (SIDS).

One trend to highlight is how digital twins are being used by SIDS to address the unique social, economic and environmental vulnerabilities. When Tuvalu changed its constitution to say it would stay a country even if it no longer has land, it made the world more aware of the problems of similar small low-lying island nations in precarious positions.

Tuvalu wants to become the world’s first digital nation to copy itself in a digital twin. This will make sure future generations can experience their homeland even if it lies underwater. While that move ensures perpetual homecoming, it can also work in the present.

In Tuvalu, the digital twin is coming together. PLACE, an NGO, has gathered high-resolution images using a camera that was flown on a drone and mounted to a truck to provide both an aerial and street-level view. The data collection focused on Funafuti, the country’s capital, and there are plans to capture the total land area of 26 square kilometers spread across four reef islands and five coral atolls.

This reality capture results in an immersive basemap that forms the foundation of a digital twin. Within it, an inventory of data about physical assets, trees, houses, and infrastructure are added. With this awareness, leaders can assess changing conditions and transparently show the people the pressures they face.

Tuvalu recently signed a treaty with Australia that will allow 280 Tuvaluans to migrate to Australia each year on permanent resident visas. This gives the people an option, but it will take more than 40 years to move the entire population of 11,500 residents. In the meantime, the digital twin will provide a means to manage the pressures and relate the plight of its citizens.

This next wave of digital transformation was discussed at the Fourth International Conference on Small Island Developing States (SIDS4), which took place in Antigua and Barbuda in May 2024. Grenada was present at the event, sharing its digital twin that has helped the eastern Caribbean island nation adapt to rising heat, rainfall, and saltwater intrusion. The 3D virtual representation of the country helps it visualize sea-level rise scenarios to find ways to adapt and mitigate impacts.

Digital Twins Address SIDS Priorities

A digital twin provides a contextual awareness through the combination of reality capture and geographic information system (GIS) technology. This approach brings together data and immersive digital experiences to provide a holistic understanding of a place.

SIDS more than any countries face the brunt of the compounding impacts of climate change and biodiversity loss. In an increasingly volatile and unpredictable world, there’s growing awareness of unfairness. SIDS are responsible for only 0.2 percent of global carbon emissions and yet suffer the most from the impact of climate change.

These countries also face economic hardships, largely due to their isolation in an increasingly connected world. The digital twin informs data-driven decision-making to craft effective adaptation and mitigation strategies that increase resilience.

Digital twins also help SIDS leaders consider the many geographic factors that contribute to sustainable development of their island nations:

  • Accessibility to trade, healthcare, and education
  • The constraints of limited land that requires dense vertical development
  • Transition to renewable energy including solar power, offshore wind, and wave generated energy
  • Blue economy opportunities with marine spatial planning used to enhance tourism and fisheries while addressing environmental impacts of resource extraction
  • Climate resilience to the increasing intensity of storms and sea-level rise

Here are more StoryMaps that explore some of the dimensions above.

At SIDS4, countries focused on the Multidimensional Vulnerability Index. This index addresses ecological and economic vulnerability that the countries face as climate changes. The climate and biodiversity crises are happening at a hard time when debt is more expensive to pay and infrastructure is more expensive to build. The index will incorporate issues such as human and environmental health and the changes that have increased the hazards for low-lying islands. The combination of this index and digital twin technology can help countries measure vulnerability to shocks to secure the help they need.

A Hub Approach to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

In other SIDS in the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans, the Caribbean Sea, and the South China Sea, people are learning more that geospatial technologies, processes, and data are important to achieving all SDGs.

SIDS4 also led to the creation of a prototype SIDS Global Data Hub. The Government of Antiqua and Barbuda, the SDG Data Alliance, and the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) helped create this hub to demonstrate what is possible when leveraging data and technology and making it accessible and available. This commitment will help spread the value of digital twins and a geographic approach to solve the challenges that all SIDS share.

The SIDS Global Data Hub is built upon a versatile technology that Esri has developed to help people work together across different areas. It is a cloud-based platform that enables organizations to communicate more effectively with stakeholders and their communities. It uses technology to create initiatives around issues, to gather data and resources, and facilitate conversations around specific projects, topics, or goals.

SIDS have an opportunity to bridge the digital divide using digital twin tools and data to see the future clearly and to communicate their needs and plans effectively with geospatial storytelling.

Learn more about the SIDS Global Data Hub and the UNWDF 2024 ArcGIS StoryMaps Competition. For further details about applying GIS to achieve the SDGs in an island context visit the SDG Geospatial Learning Lab.