Environment researchers build capacity on climate change adaptations and partnerships in Mauritius
Small island communities contribute less than one per cent to global greenhouse gas emissions but suffer disproportionally from climate change effects and are struggling to adapt to the crisis. Their experiences underscore a critical need for solutions that cut across sectors to help address social inequities and enable a more climate-resilient future for everyone.
University of Waterloo researchers, in partnership with universities and key collaborators in Mauritius, Maldives, Seychelles and Fiji, are co-creators of the Resilience to Climate Vulnerability and Environmental Risk (RECOVER) project. Together, they are identifying each island’s exposure and risk to climate change and determining scalable strategies to address challenges that impede the availability of resources, materials and critical services, such as food, water, energy and health care.
In July, a delegation from the University of Waterloo's Faculty of Environment that included Dean Bruce Frayne and Dr. Simron Singh, Principal Investigator of RECOVER, travelled to Mauritius for a week of partner meetings to review the progress made across the different research activities and discuss the next phases of implementation. The meetings, coordinated locally by Dr. Mahendra Gooroochurn, Associate Professor at the University of Mauritius, also provided an opportunity for researchers from the different participating islands to exchange ideas, compare methodologies and identify opportunities for further collaboration.
Dr. Simron Singh, Principal Investigator of RECOVER and Professor in the Faculty of Environment, Dr. Ponnadurai Ramasami, Pro Vice-Chancellor (Academia) at the University of Mauritius and Dean Bruce Frayne from the Faculty of Environment.
A main highlight of the week was the RECOVER Stakeholder Consultative Meeting, which brought together representatives from ministries, academia, NGOs, private companies and regional organizations. Following a keynote by the British High Commissioner to Mauritius, Paul Brummel, and a panel discussion on circular economy in Mauritius, the event disseminated the research activities being undertaken in Mauritius, including:
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The development of an energy flow analysis for the Mauritian economy.
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A circularity framework for the management of fishing gears and fish waste for the small fishermen community.
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A circularity framework for the local construction industry to understand the flow and stocks of materials used and disposed of in the construction industry.
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A biomass flow analysis to map the current and future potential of local extraction of natural fibres from agro-waste with a possible application in the manufacture of biocomposites, discussed in the context of how Mauritius can strengthen its resilience to climate change through circular economy approaches and socio-metabolic risk assessments.
As part of the program, a research seminar was also organized for University of Mauritius students and staff. The participants engaged directly with the project team members across the various studies and learned from their experiences with the Real-world Labs for community engagement.
"RECOVER brings together systems-based scientific evidence with the knowledge and priorities of island communities themselves. Together with our partners, we are launching a global network of Island Hubs of Innovation to co-develop, test and scale solutions that strengthen resilience to climate change where it is needed most.”
The RECOVER project began in September 2023 with $1.2 million in funding from the UK-Canada Climate Adaption and Resilience (CLARE) research framework programme. CLARE is funded by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and the United Kingdom’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO).
Work on the RECOVER project is the latest in the Faculty of Environment’s efforts to serve as a catalyst for environmental innovation, solutions, and talent developed with the world, for the world.
