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Building Climate Resilience from the Ground Up: Local Knowledge, Livelihoods and MSMEs in SIDS

How can climate policy better recognise and support locally grounded adaptation in Small Island Developing States?

Join us for Building Climate Resilience from the Ground Up: Local Knowledge, Livelihoods and MSMEs in SIDS.

Drawing on research from Rodrigues Island, Mauritius, Guyana and the wider Caribbean Community, speakers Colin Mattis and Marie Stéphania Perrine will explore how local knowledge, livelihoods and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises contribute to climate resilience—and how policy can better support them.

For more information, please send an email.

Speakers:

Colin Mattis

Colin Mattis is a PhD student at the Islands and Small States Institute at the University of Malta. His research, titled “Climate Change Adaptation Frameworks and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises in CARICOM Small Island Developing States”, investigates the extent to which MSMEs in CARICOM SIDS engage in climate change adaptation, including the drivers of their actions, the responses they adopt and the resulting outcomes. It also assesses how national and regional adaptation policies support MSMEs, with the aim of developing a more inclusive and evidence-based policy-guidance framework.

Professionally, Colin is a Programme Analyst at UNDP Guyana, where he leads the Energy, Environment and Extractive Industries Unit. He brings more than 16 years of experience in climate change and sustainable development. Before joining UNDP, he served as Climate Change Coordinator for the Alliance of Small Island States and as Deputy Chief Climate Change Officer in Belize. He has also held positions with Guyana’s Ministry of Natural Resources, the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission, and the National Agricultural Research and Extension Institute.

Marie Stéphania Perrine

Marie Stéphania Perrine is a PhD candidate at the Islands and Small States Institute at the University of Malta. Her research investigates how Traditional and Local Knowledge (TLK) contributes to adaptive livelihood capacity in Rodrigues Island under conditions of climate change. It examines how climatic and non-climatic stressors shape household vulnerability and livelihoods, the role of TLK in supporting adaptation, and how this knowledge is transmitted and applied across generations. It also explores the extent to which TLK is recognised and incorporated within climate adaptation governance, with the aim of identifying lessons for adaptation policy in SIDS.

Professionally, Stéphania is a climate and sustainable development professional from Rodrigues, Mauritius. She currently supports the UNDP BIOFIN Programme in developing Mauritius’ first Biodiversity Finance Plan, leading its Policy and Institutional Review. Previously, as a CAPACITY Fellow with the UN Climate Change Secretariat, she supported climate negotiations, international capacity-building and the Joint Capacity-building Programme of the Rio Conventions (UNFCCC, CBD, UNCCD). She has also worked as a consultant with the UNEP Copenhagen Climate Centre, supporting the development of Mauritius’ first institutional frameworks and national strategies on Loss and Damage.