From California’s wildfires to Cape Town’s water crisis, small states are the surprise partners solving our biggest challenges.

By Xische Editorial, November 23, 2019

 If you Google the terms California and crisis, you will find seemingly endless results that reveal the sheer gravity of challenges facing one of the most powerful states in America. With the world’s fifth largest economy and home to some of the world’s most important technology companies, California is actually more like a small country than a state. It is the epicentre of global entertainment and tech innovation. It also produces most of the world’s almonds along with fresh produce for much of the western part of the United States. 

Yet it’s also beset by challenges, some of which are threatening the very foundations of society. When the state power company PG&E announced precautionary electricity blackouts to lower the risk of wildfires this year, the full picture of the dire environmental situation facing California came into focus. Shouldn’t the state that gave rise to Google Earth and the Falcon 9 rocket have figured out a way to solve such earthbound challenges? The dramatic future of climate change-related challenges and overpopulation are unavoidable, and state planners need to look at other places with similar problems to find solutions. 

When it comes to innovative solutions for government services, it may be best to start small. Indeed, Califonia could start thinking about itself as a small state and look to other small states for guidance. Two countries immediately jump out when it comes to solutions for infrastructure challenges in a short amount of time (exactly what California needs): Singapore and the UAE. Having just celebrated its 48th year of statehood, the UAE has transformed into a global leader in finance, technology, and aviation in a remarkably short time. Back when the country was founded, most of the infrastructure still wasn’t in place. Today, Dubai has one of the best reputations in the world for electricity uptime (this is all the more remarkable when you learn that the first generator was only put in place in the 1960s). 

Leaving electricity to one side, the entirety of UAE’s infrastructure is equally impressive. The country is home to the world’s busiest airport by passenger volume. It also boasts the best road infrastructure in the region and since 1999 has upgraded its internet infrastructure to be a global leader. Many of these developments have taken place in the last 30 years and the pace of innovation hasn’t stopped a beat. Singapore has similarly fast urbanisation and infrastructure development while smaller Baltic countries such as Estonia have prioritised rapid growth in data and technology infrastructure. Everywhere you look, small states are (quietly) having a major impact. 

The message is clear: small states have the energy and will to make crucial investments needed to make themselves into globally powerful countries. Since California is more of a small country than a state itself, it can emulate many of the steps others have taken to solve its own challenges. Beyond the nuts and bolts of infrastructure there are other measures California should look to emulate when it comes to resident satisfaction. The divide between economic classes is leading to a strained social fabric in California. This is especially apparent in the historic housing crisis and shortage engulfing major Californian cities. 

In the UAE, the government undertook infrastructure projects with quality of life as a guiding principle. Through public awareness programmes and government offices such as the Minister of Happiness, the UAE listens to residents and incorporates their perspectives in how resources are allocated. The smart city efforts in Dubai and Abu Dhabi are successful because they incorporate the feedback and perspective of the people that live there. If major California cities such as Los Angeles, San Francisco, and San Diego followed a similar path, the results could be transformative. 

The UAE has been able to use its expertise with infrastructure and managing precious natural resources to help other countries. The close relationship between the UAE and several African nations is particularly evident with regard to water management. Consider South Africa. The UAE began advising the city of Cape Town, South Africa’s second largest city, when it came within a breath of running out of water two years old. After years of poor winter rains spurred by changes in the global climate, the city’s reservoirs were close to running dry, which set into motion several crisis management protocols. 

Considering their close economic partnerships, Cape Town turned to the UAE for help with ocean water desalination efforts. The city was able to conserve enough water to get through the drought through awareness campaigns but authorities are still working with their counterparts in the UAE to set up new desalination plants to stave off future crises. The UAE became water secure while growing its population in a short time. In the early 1960s, the country had less than 100,000 people. Today, that number is edging closer to 10 million. Situated in one of the driest places on earth, the country was forced to invest quickly in desalination technology to ensure water security. It has been so successful that Abu Dhabi recently opened the world’s largest reserve of desalinated water in an aquifer in the Liwa desert.

The reserve contains 26 billion liters of artificially desalinated water and is reportedly able to provide up to 100 million liters of water per day in the case of an emergency. The project wasn’t cheap. Considering that it is more than 100 kilometers from the coastline, a special pipe had to be created to move the desalinated water. The entire reserve cost more than $450 million.

With a passion for innovation and the will to get projects done, some small states are showing bigger countries how to get things done. When it comes to California’s myriad challenges, state planners and authorities could do well to seek the advice of small states from Estonia to Singapore and the UAE. Given the natural technology links that already bind California to these countries, new partnerships will certainly be fruitful for all.