On Monday 12 December, the CSC Alumni Team hosted the latest Development in Action webinar on ‘Building Climate Resilience in Small Islands – Barbados and the Commonwealth of Dominica’ delivered by Commonwealth Alumnus Dr Claire Durant. This webinar addressed the CSC development theme of Strengthening resilience and response to crises.
The CSC’s Development in Action webinar series aims to highlight the work and research of Commonwealth Alumni across a range of development impact areas.
About the speaker
Dr Claire Durant is currently a Senior Climate Resilience Expert with Abt Associates contributing to the development of Caribbean Resilient Economies and Sectors activities. Dr Durant is a textbook author for Macmillan Caribbean and a judge for the Macmillan Young Caribbean Environmental Scientist of the Year Competition 2022-2023. She is also a Resilience Mapping Consultant for the Commonwealth of Dominica Climate Resilience and Executing Agency (CREAD), where she supported the island’s strategic planning and capacity building, helping it achieve its goal of becoming the first climate resilient nation in the world.
Dr Claire Durant is a 1992 Commonwealth Scholar from Barbados. She completed a PhD in Biology at Imperial College London.
The challenges faced by Small Island Developing States in the Caribbean – and the solutions available
In this webinar, Dr Durant highlighted the climate-induced challenges faced by the Small Island Developing States (SIDS) in the Caribbean such as sea level rise, influxes of Sargassum seaweed, saltwater intrusion into freshwater aquifers, hurricanes, drought, and increased temperatures. Dr Durant discussed the implementation measures put into place by the Commonwealth of Dominica to tackle the adverse effects of climate change such as flooding and hurricanes. She also shared the importance of developing home-grown solutions, such as supporting local farmers to adapt sustainable agriculture and engaging youth in climate action.
This webinar presentation was followed by an interactive Q&A session with Commonwealth Scholars and Alumni. A recording of this webinar is available on the CSC’s YouTube channel where you can also watch previous events in the series.
Join future Development in Action webinars
The CSC’s Development in Action webinars take place each month and are open to all Commonwealth Scholars and Alumni.
To find out about upcoming webinars, please visit the CSC’s events webpage.
