/library/oar/handle/123456789/5933 2025-12-20T09:07:47Z 2025-12-20T09:07:47Z /library/oar/handle/123456789/141261 2025-11-13T11:16:10Z 2024-01-01T00:00:00Z

Title: Blue carbon markets in small island developing states : community participation in the case of Seychelles Abstract: Climate change and its forecasted impacts on Small Island Developing States (SIDS) have been documented in the literature extensively, and climate change adaptation has been identified by mainstream scholars as a key policy response. However, relatively little is known about how SIDS implement climate change adaptation initiatives on the ground, and much less is known about how local communities are integrated in the decision-making policy processes around these initiatives. The challenges in this space are many, and revolve around a lack of research capacity, a lack of inclusion of all stakeholders, a dearth of robust data as well as a vague policy directive on how to operationalise adaptive capacity knowledge at the community level. Given these challenges, SIDS have increasingly looked towards their territorial ocean space as a way of re-framing their future development pathways in recent years. Termed as the Blue Economy (BE) model, some SIDS have started to re-consider the true value of their marine ecosystems via this more formalised framework, especially given the importance of preserving and conserving their blue carbon stock (mangroves, salt water marshes and seagrass meadows) to prevent further climate change. Within this context, the Republic of Seychelles hosts some of the largest seagrass meadows in the Western Indian Ocean. Therefore, blue carbon markets, and specifically the participation of local communities within such mechanisms, requires much further attention as a potential mitigative measure for climate change adaptation to succeed. This research traces the role of climate change adaptation within SIDS’ development agendas, the rise of the Blue Economy model, and the potential for blue carbon offset markets therein as a potential for further adaptative measure in the SIDS, through the lens of the Republic of Seychelles’ Blue Economy model. The role of community participation in blue carbon markets, notably, seagrass habitats and meadows, is considered in depth. The study involved the conducting of a systematic literature review to identify research gaps. The use of a discrete choice model was also proposed as a means to assess the community’s willingness to participate in a blue carbon offset project in Seychelles. It is believed that this is the first time the multinomial logit model (MNL) in assessing adaptive capacity through seagrass carbon offset markets in Seychelles has ever been applied. This research study collected primary data via an exploratory research design as there was very little data in existence as discovered by the researcher. The three main data collection methods employed the use of the CRisTAL participatory approach for community mapping focus groups, elite interviews among key stakeholders in government, academia and civil society, and a household questionnaire that was randomly disseminated within the coastal communities on the three main islands of Seychelles. Further, the study also sought to test the hypothesis of whether climate conscious individuals in Seychelles would participate in a seagrass offset market due to societal expectations, altruism and economic benefits. The researchers’ choice of methods was intended as an integration, one which would sequentially structure and build a comprehensive understanding of the research context. The elite interviews were conducted to glean high-level insights and these interviews informed the development of the household surveys and community focus groups by highlighting priority areas within the communities. The focus groups, in turn, which saw the use of the CRiSTAL mapping technique, allowed for a participatory exploration of ground roots issues, identifying lived experiences and broader themes that were especially relevant to the Seychelles context. Methodologically, this progression enabled the refinement of key concepts and the methods built on one another to generate a layered understanding of both the institutional and community-level dynamics that affected the Seychelles in the case of blue carbon offset markets. This integrated process ensured that each method contributed unique data while also serving to shape the subsequent data collection stages, thus reinforcing the coherence of the overall research design. In all, the researcher conducted four (4) community mapping focus groups, six (6) elite stakeholder interviews and completed the collection of two hundred and twenty-five (225) household surveys. While the sample size is acknowledged to be indicative. the data set was deemed robust enough for analysis and discussion by the researcher. This integrative approach enabled the study to advance a central argument: that the long-term feasibility of seagrass conservation in the Seychelles towards a blue carbon market is contingent not only on ecological priorities or top-down governance arrangements, but also very much dependent on a grounded, real-world understanding of how local communities perceive and interact with coastal ecosystems under conditions of climactic changes and institutional pressures. The objectives of the research revolved around identifying and assessing the advantages, disadvantages and barriers to community participation in blue carbon market measures that support climate change adaptation, in the context of the SIDS of Seychelles. In doing so, it helped to extend our theoretical understanding of climate change adaptation in the context of coastal communities of SIDS, and explored the role of community involvement in the uptake of local economic development mechanisms linked to the concept of the blue economy. The study contributed to the small but growing field of research focusing on the development of effective blue carbon markets in Small Island States, but will more importantly assess the importance of community participation in determining the success of these markets. The findings from this study shows that in general, it supported the majority of the findings in the mainstream literature but also revealed key new insights for the consideration of scholars in this field. It was found, for instance, that while most climate-conscious respondents would be willing to participate in a seagrass blue carbon offset market for social and economic reasons, many were not willing to participate financially for altruistic reasons on a voluntary basis presently. Furthermore, and perhaps more pertinently, many felt the introduction of blue carbon offset markets in Seychelles would not alleviate the climate crisis. Relevantly, the study also lent weight to the ‘people-policy’ gap that most scholars argue exists in climate adaptation literature. In doing so, the findings also emphasised the need to engage with coastal communities and stakeholders in a more meaningful manner. At the time of writing, it is also believed that such a study is rare in other SIDS and it is the first ever study conducted in Seychelles that sought to understand households’ willingness to pay for carbon offsetting in a seagrass blue carbon market. As Seychelles begins to work on the development of the country’s first Blue Carbon Policy, this research study makes a valuable first pass contribution for policy makers in Seychelles to understand the true perceptions of the community around the offset market concept and seek to implement the necessary policy levers in order to generate meaningful interactions with these stakeholders. Description: Ph.D.(Melit.)

2024-01-01T00:00:00Z /library/oar/handle/123456789/140272 2025-10-17T13:12:36Z 2025-01-01T00:00:00Z

Title: Volcanic risk reduction in the face of multiple hazards in Caribbean SIDS : examining St. Vincent and Dominica Abstract: N/A Description: Ph.D.(Melit.)

2025-01-01T00:00:00Z /library/oar/handle/123456789/135385 2025-05-13T13:30:38Z 2025-01-01T00:00:00Z

Title: The management of the blue economy in the Eastern Caribbean small island states : a focus on Grenada Abstract: Small Island Developing states are encumbered with inherent vulnerabilities largely due to their small physical size, lack of a diversified economy, susceptibility to exogenous factors such as adverse weather events, climate change natural disasters and environmental degradation. These factors combined with poor traditional practices and cultural habits, uninformed decision making along with economic factors such as fluctuations in market prices of the mono export crops, oil and shipping prices, down turns in the economies of the tourism source markets such as the USA and the EU, continue to further exacerbated the problem. Most SIDS are further burden by the economic system inherited from the mainland that largely favored an extractive, profit oriented and even exploitative economic system, given that the islands were merely seen as production outposts for the mainland and therefore were entrusted with an economic and social system that was fit for purpose and which still exists in certain instances or heavily influence the current system in use today. This economic system has left many SIDS with depleted lands that are susceptible to erosion, floods and inundation and over fished marine areas. But in spite of the many vulnerabilities and challenges SIDS must to be progressive and must carter to the needs of their mostly young and growing population, guaranteeing their safety and prosperity and to avoid at all cost the problem of mass or environmental migration away from the islands. But how are SIDS to accomplish this amidst the gloomy reality previously outlined? Transitioning to a Blue Economy with the myriad of benefits that it proffers seem to be the new beacon beaming on the horizon for SIDS and especially given that they are surrounded by the sea and are signatories to the United Nations Conventions on the Laws of the Seas (UNCLOS) and so possess jurisdiction of marine spaces that are several times larger than their terrestrial size and also have ownership of the marine resources, both living and nonliving that are contained within that space. Many SIDS therefore see transitioning to the blue economy as a path way to achieving sustainability, resilience, equity, stability, economic growth and development, clean and reliable energy and even wealth creation among many others. The clarion call has therefore been sounded and heeded by SIDS to transition to this new paradigm to be able to reap some of its many benefits that are so urgently needed for the overall survival, growth and prosperity of their citizens. But what does transitioning really mean and what are the means, structures and mechanisms that must be employed to bring about an effective transformation? Using Grenada as an example, this paper shows the pros and cons of the blue promise and examine some of the tools that are available to SIDS to manage this transitions. Some of the mechanisms discussed include, the Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM), the Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) and Marine Spatial Planning (MSP). Many of these mechanisms are already in use by SIDS, often times having been developed with assistance from a developed country such as Japan or an international organization such as the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). However, the drawback faced with the use of theses mechanisms often include lack of maintenance, poor regulation and enforcement of legislation, and damage or destruction from hurricanes and sea surges, with the latter increasing in intensity and frequency in the recent years. Another mechanism for the transmission to the blue economy is the use of renewable energy as a replacement for fossil fuel thus ensuring cleaner air, reduction in the energy cost and the creation of sustainable jobs. Many SIDS including Grenada have established renewable energy plants, among which include solar, wind farms, geo thermal, hydro and marine energy plants in this regard. In Grenada’s case a solar PV plant was established in Limlair on the island of Carriacou with funding provided by the Caribbean Community Climate Change Center (5C’s), the Government of the United Kingdom, and the European Union at a cost of US$ 3.2 Million. The Limlair plant was successfully established and operational and was recently expanded due to its outstanding performance, but was unfortunately decimated by Hurricane Berryl in July of 2024. The Blue transition also carters to the circular economy and the reduction and recycling of waste. Plastic waste management is of paramount importance to SIDS especially because a large percentage of the plastics end up along the shorelines and in the sea, thus proving detrimental to the vital tourism and fishing industries that most SIDS heavily depend on. SIDS are therefore encouraged to develop long-term policy documents, sector plans and budgets in an effort to guide the transition and to ensure the sustainable management of the blue economy. Among these crucial plans that are air marked include, National sustainable development plans, energy policies, Bio diversity and Climate resilience plans and policies and annual budgets that are sensitive and supportive of the blue economy discourse. With the aid of the NVivo software, and using the saliency theory of analysis, an examination of Grenada’s National Sustainable Development Plan 2035, The Grenada Energy Policy of 2011 and the 2024 budget was undertaken. The result shows that blue economy considerations were prevalent and significant and deemed supportive of the blue economy transition and would hence inform the agenda or influence the policy decisions in that regard. The analysis also found that while it was also true for the budget document, it was not as pronounced in the context in which they were used and that the document in question still displays a subtle dichotomy of support for traditional production, taxation and economic growth over sustainability and development. The conclusion could therefore be made that SIDS are poised to transition to a blue economy having most of the tools and mechanism at their disposal and have developed supportive policy documents and development plans in this regard. The budget however needs to be more supportive and in line with the blue initiative and should provide greater support in being a bedrock for the development, production and use of renewable energy in SIDS. Description: M.A.(Melit.)

2025-01-01T00:00:00Z /library/oar/handle/123456789/130829 2025-01-20T09:41:06Z 2024-01-01T00:00:00Z

Title: Climate change adaptation and the role of civil society organisations in the Mediterranean region : a case of Malta Abstract: One of the major issues facing many nations worldwide is climate change, which is defined as a shift in the composition of the atmosphere and the unpredictability of ambient conditions across similar time periods caused either actively or passively by human activity. The most recent sixth assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in their dedicated chapter on small islands indicates that more needs to be learned about how climate change is affecting small islands, particularly what are the most effective adaptation measures. The overarching aim of this research is to investigate the role of civil society organisations in Malta in climate change adaptation. This shall be done by answering three research questions: (i) What are the trends and impacts of climate change in the Mediterranean region, and specifically on the Maltese island (RQ1); (ii) How are civil society organisations in Maltese islands addressing the challenges posed by climate change adaptation in their strategies and campaigns (RQ2); and (iii) To what extent are civil society organisations collaborating with key stakeholders such as private sector and government to foster climate change adaptation, and vice versa (RQ3) This qualitative study adopted a narrative literature review to answer research question one (RQ1) while an expert interview was conducted to answer research questions two and three (RQ2 & RQ3). Thematic and document analyses were conducted to analyse the responses of the interviewees. The research was divided into 4 stages of literature review, expert interviews, reflective thematic analysis, and document analysis. The main themes that emerged from this study are co-designing of adaptation policies, stakeholders’ engagement and the extent of involvement in policy process. This research found that CSOs participation in climate change adaptation is at the level of policy because Malta needs to improve on so many legislations concerning climate for anything meaningful to happen. Secondly, even though CSO are always willing to hold conversations, the government is reluctant. This is evident in the manner at which they involve CSO in decision-making processes. It is not just enough to invite the CSO, but invitation must be early at the formulation stage. Evidence shows that most of the invitations initiated by the government are just mere procedural exercises without real impacts on the final policy documents. Description: M.A.(Melit.)

2024-01-01T00:00:00Z