**About the Editors**

**Simron Jit Singh** is Professor at the University of Waterloo, Canada. He is one of the pioneers of socio-metabolic research on small islands. As an industrial ecologist, he tracks material and energy flows through island systems: what and how much resources are locally produced, imported, transformed, used, stocked, and discarded. His research aims to inform science and policy on ways small islands can achieve resource and energy security in addition to meeting social and economic goals while building system resilience against the impacts of climate change. He is the founder and lead of the research program "Metabolism of Islands", Chairs the inaugural board of "Island Industrial Ecology", and leads the working group "Metabolic Risk on Islands" within the Emergent Risks and Extreme Events (Risk-KAN), a joint initiative of Future Earth, Integrated Research on Disaster Risk (IRDR), and the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP).

**Marina Fischer-Kowalski** is Professor Emeritus, founder and long-term Director of the Institute of Social Ecology, Vienna. She led development of the concept of "social metabolism" along with the widely used metric for material and energy flows to complement economic accounting. She has received numerous national and international awards, for example, the Austrian State Award for Arts and Sciences (2015) and the Austrian Ministry of Science Award for transdisciplinary sustainability research (2016) and became an Honorary Citizen of the Municipality of Samothrace, Greece, for her provision of scientific support to its sustainability pathway (2012). The University of Klagenfurt awarded her its Ring of Honour (2017). In 2017, she received the prestigious Society Prize of the International Society for Industrial Ecology for outstanding contributions to the field.

**Marian Chertow** is Professor of Industrial Environmental Management at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies and Director of the Center for Industrial Ecology. She is also appointed at the Yale School of Management and the National University of Singapore. Her research and teaching focus on industrial ecology, business/environment issues, circular economy, waste management, and urban sustainability. Her research has championed the study of industrial symbiosis involving geographically based exchanges of materials, energy, water, and wastes within networks of businesses globally. In 2019, she received the highest recognition of the International Society for Industrial Ecology, its Society Prize, for her outstanding contributions to the field.

Islands have been portrayed for a long time as victims of global development and climate change. That narrative is now rapidly changing. The urgency faced by island governments have put "resilience" and "self-reliance" at the forefront of their national policies. Utilizing innovation in energy, industry, technology, infrastructure, finance, and global partnerships, islands are poised to become leaders in climate action and sustainability.

Island communities comprise almost a tenth of the global population, and utilize one-sixth of the Earth's surface, including surrounding oceans. The share of island nations in the United Nations membership is almost a quarter, giving them a strong voice in international decisions. Recent scholarship has highlighted the astounding adaptability of island communities. They demonstrate that "islandness" is not a barrier, rather a strength that draws from its unique geography, culture, traditions, and history.

Grenada's own National Sustainable Development Plan (2020 - 2035) prioritizes climate resilience, robust infrastructure, and resource security. As such, this book is very timely. It offers a compelling paradigm rooted in systemic thinking to address resource-use and infrastructure challenges faced by small islands. The authors provide valuable insight in understanding island risk and resilience from a metabolic perspective. Through several island cases, they articulate concepts and tools that can be very effective in island policy-making.

Some of the editors and authors of this book are active scholars in the research program "Metabolism of Islands" (Mol). Grenada was an early collaborator in Mol through the efforts of Dr. John Telesford of the T.A. Marryshow Community College. Previous publications from the Mol team have found its way into our National Sustainable Development Plan (NSDP), and in the Grenada Solid Waste Management Authority's (GSWMA) planning agenda.

Henceforth, it is my pleasure to write the Foreword to the first collection of articles that will serve as a foundation for the emerging field of "island industrial ecology''. We hope that this research will influence wider policy that can transform the position and perception of small island states from vulnerable victims of global development and environmental change, to resilient nations that control their own futures.

�itchell �� (D�ght Honourable) **Prime Minister of Grenada** 
