Revisiting Development Models for the Pacific Island Countries and Territories: “BlueEARTH” for a Prosperous and Sustainable Future

As numerous Pacific island countries and territories (PICTs) achieved independence, scholars and development agencies advocated pursuing many development models. Those development models span a relatively diverse range of elements intended to generate the desired improvement in national incomes and help the countries attain the next level of socioeconomic development. A small island government can formulate development strategies and policies based on these models to substantially transform itself from a near-non-existent, nascent, or ailing economy towards an economic structure that offers improved growth prospects. This chapter presents the challenges that PICTs commonly face and briefly describes conventional economic development models, such as industrial policies, and the more recent burgeoning of global value chains and digitalization. It then assesses various small island development models proposed since the mid-1980s. The chapter ends by proposing a new development direction for PICTs, designated “BlueEARTH”, that the authors would contend is more sustainable, offers greater resilience, and mainstreams climate change and environmental protection issues.