Tourism plays a crucial role in enabling the achievement of the global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its focus on partnerships as a means of implementation. South Pacific leadership in the implementation of the SDGs highlights the importance of civil society partnerships in localizing Agenda 2030 to respond to national priorities. However, there has been limited research on how partnerships can best respond to local agendas in a tourism context. This paper examines the SDGs from the perspective of two community-focused tourism businesses in Fiji, specifically concentrating on SDG 17 to explore how partnerships between tourism businesses and local community stakeholders can support local development outcomes and contribute to the attainment of the SDGs more broadly. Findings showed that partnerships are integral to enabling meaningful local development outcomes, also noting points of disconnection. Findings exposed the paradox between tourism growth as a strategy for achieving the SDGs and the need to grow slowly if community needs and priorities are to be considered. Ultimately the research aims to suggest opportunities for tourism and community partnerships to rise to the challenge of addressing the SDGs in a way that respects local priorities and enables meaningful outcomes for destination communities.

Economic growth among the Pacific island countries (PICs) has lagged most peer groups for more than a decade. This chapter provides an overview of the policy issues and challenges faced by these countries, and discusses the factors that have contributed to the low rates of economic growth in the region. It seeks to identify policies that could help raise growth performance in a way that is both inclusive and sustainable. The countries examined are Fiji, Kiribati, the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, the Solomon Islands, Timor-Leste, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu. All are IMF members.

The picture that emerges is that the below-par growth performance of PICs can be partly explained by the region’s unique characteristics. But policies also matter.

Since 2000 intergovernmental relations in New Zealand have been evolving rapidly as a result of a significant shift in government policy discourse towards a strong central-local government partnership. New statutory provisions empowering local government to promote social, economic, environmental and cultural wellbeing have significant implications for the range of activities in which local authorities are engaged. In turn, this has consequences for the relationship between local government and central government. The effectiveness of the new empowerment and the prospects for further strengthening of the role of local government are critically examined. Despite some on-going tensions, and an inevitable mismatch in the balance of power between central and local government, it is argued that there is a discernible rebalancing of intergovernmental relations as a result of new legislation and central government policy settings which reflect a ‘localist turn’. On the basis of developments since 2000 it may be argued that the New Zealand system of local government is evolving away from the recognised ‘Anglo’ model. However, further consolidation is needed in the transformation of intergovernmental relations and mechanisms that will cement a more genuine central-local government partnership.