2  What is an island?

In Part 1 the Act provides definitions for what constitutes an ‘island’, an ‘inhabited island’ and an ‘island community’.

An island is a piece of land that is completely surrounded by the sea and stays above water at high tide. It doesn't matter if there are bridges or other man-made structures connecting it to other places; it's still considered an island.

An inhabited island is one where at least one person lives there all the time.

An island community is a group of people (two or more) who live on an island. This group can be made up of people living on the same island or different islands. They share common interests, identity or geography. Even uninhabited islands can be part of an island community if they help the environment or culture of the inhabited islands. This means that the natural surroundings and ecosystems of uninhabited islands are important to the people living on nearby inhabited islands.

The exact wording of the definitions can be found within the Act.