Event preview:
Nature positive solutions for climate resilience
Authored by:
Dr. Jo Maloney
Founder, Climate LinkUP, March 17th, 2023
Ahead of Climate LinkUP’s Nature Positive Solutions for Climate Resilience webinar taking place on April 4 2023, we asked Dr. Jo Maloney, founder of Climate LinkUP to introduce the expert panel presenting at this event and how their knowledge feeds in to their respective sessions. The climate and nature crises are fundamentally interconnected with shared human drivers and hence an integrated and coupled approach for climate solutions is required. This rationale underpins our Climate LinkUP strategic approach through combined climate change mitigation and adaptation action.
Climate change mitigation via transitioning to green energy alone will not be enough alone to meet global climate targets or protect the planet in a climate changed world. Renewable energy remains a key component in our race to net zero – by reducing the speed and extent of global greenhouse gas emissions, but relying solely on transitioning to renewables will only get us halfway to our destination. There is a vital need for accelerating parallel solutions that remove carbon from the atmosphere, tackle the demand side and accelerate innovative science-based climate adaption solutions.
There is global recognition that climate change adaptation solutions are vital for building the environmental resilience to protect our natural ecosystems and biodiversity, secure global food and water systems and advance sustainable governance systems. All are essential to ensure a liveable planet for the future. Our upcoming global event on 4 April will showcase early career researchers (ECR) from across the globe and explore their science-based climate adaptation solutions to support global communities, ecosystem services & biodiversity and economies thrive in a climate changed world.
Session 1: Nature Positive Water Solutions
Paula Valencia, Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) Senior Associate, Global South Program, Philippines
Nature positive solutions for climate vulnerable countries: The Philippines
Paula leads RMI’s Climate Resilient Cities project and offshore wind market development research in the Philippines. Prior to RMI, Paula was project manager for the Financial Futures Center, where she led the Philippines Grid Modernization Research project and the Global South climate finance consortium for Asia-Pacific. She also served as a program consultant for New Energy Nexus to support rural electrification and solar PV projects in the Philippines by actively engaging with electric cooperatives and startups.
Dr. Mahasweta Saha, senior scientist and a chemical ecologist at Plymouth Marine Laboratory (PML), UK
Can seaweeds be used as nature-based solutions to mitigate poor water quality?
Dr. Saha has been awarded several prestigious research fellowships to study the chemical ecology of algae and is currently investigating association of pathogenic Vibrio with phytoplankton in relation to waterborne diseases and nature-based solutions to mitigate the problem of poor water quality. She sits on the editorial board of 4 international journals and also serves as a reviewer for the German and Belgium research foundation, alongside mor than 20 international journals.
Suzy Schadel, Environmental Engineer, ClimateBase Founding Fellow and associate at Rocky Mountain Institute’s (RMI) Climate Intelligence Program’s Oil and Gas Solution Initiative, Austin, Texas USA
Closing the loop: How California uses water for a sustainable future
Her work focuses on activating climate-differentiated markets and policy via oil and gas emissions accounting, technology, data transparency, and traceability. Before joining RMI, Suzy was an engineering project manager at GHD for water/wastewater engineering projects in California and Texas, as well as for marine-based international environmental impact assessment projects.
Dr. Amina Juma Hamza, Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute (KMFRI), Mombasa, Kenya and Postgraduate Fellow at Bournemouth University, UK.
Mangrove Conservation as a Nature-based Solution (NbS):The case of the Mikoko Pamoja Project
Dr. Hamza is a research scientist at the Marine and Fisheries Research Institute (KMFRI) Kenya and a postgraduate researcher at Bournemouth University UK. Her research interest is in marine resource sustainability assessment, including designing strategies for the sustainable utilization of marine living resources. Amina’s PhD assessed changes in the mangrove forest in and its implications for community livelihood in Kenya. She is also a co-founder of the first and award-winning community carbon offset project in a mangrove forest termed “Mikoko Pamoja” located in Southern Kenya.
Ryan Yip Yuk Long, Research Assistant at the Marine Biogeochemical Laboratory at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), Hong Kong
COP27, COP15, and beyond: Shaping a blue world together
Ryan’s work focuses on investigating the fundamental interactions between the nitrogen and oxygen cycles specifically in Tolo Harbour, a sheltered coastal area located in the Northeastern New Territories of Hong Kong. Ryan is committed to his climate advocacy work both locally and internationally. He is also a co-founder of ‘Climate Sense’, a climate advocacy group in Hong Kong which champions the comprehensiveness of climate change education in Hong Kong’s primary and secondary schools.
Session 2: Nature Positive Land Solutions
Anpotowin Jensen, Black Hills Campaign Organizer, NDN Collective, South Dakota USA
Elevating indigenous voices in climate solutions
Anpotowin graduated with a Master’s in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Stanford University, where she was the first Native woman on Stanford’s Student Global Health Board. As a writer, author, and poet, she interweaves her experiences as an Oglala woman, engineer, and advocate for Indigenous solutions in global health & climate change in her creations. Through her advocacy, Anpotowin has delivered testimony on the United Nations floor that led to formal policy recommendations on Indigenous languages & health from the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues to the World Health Organization.
Dr. Tobias Nyumba, School of Environment and Geography, University of York UK, Space for Giants Program and Associate Director for the Dakota Wesleyan University, USA
Scenario planning towards sustainable linear infrastructure and climate adaptation in southern Kenya rangelands
Dr. Nyumba has several years of experience leading science and applied research exploring the nature-infrastructure-people interactions, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. Tobias is currently an Associate Director for the Dakota Wesleyan University, USA in Nairobi, Associate at the University of Nairobi’s Institute for Climate Change and Adaptation, a member of the IUCN’s World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA) and an Advisory Panel Member for the Conservation Evidence’s Mammal Synopsys, University of Cambridge; Lead Author for IPBES Values Assessment and a host of other publications.
Sachiko Graber, Associate Director for Climate with The Nature Conservancy, Minnesota, USA
Collaboration at the nexus of climate, conservation and community
Sachi is the Associate Director for Climate with The Nature Conservancy’s Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota chapter, where she leads the mitigation program. Sachi is responsible for promoting the implementation of renewable energy, identifying policy opportunities to support climate change adaptation and mitigation, and developing support for natural climate solutions. She has co-authored 2 reports on the opportunity for Natural Climate Solutions in Minnesota and North Dakota.
Jacob Korn, Associate at Rocky Mountain Institute’s (RMI) Urban Transformation Team, Colorado, USA
Growing to its potential: The value of urban nature to communities, investors and the climate
Jacob Korn is an Associate on the Rocky Mountain Institute’s (RMI) Urban Transformation team, which helps cities around the world simultaneously reduce emissions, enhance urban livability, increase resilience, and advance social equity. His work focuses on developing tools to model the economic and environmental benefits of residential home and transportation electrification. He has also supported projects to quantify the benefits of urban nature and advance land-use reform.
Dr. Nicola Favretto, School of Environment and Geography, University of York, UK
Links between climate change mitigation, adaptation and development in land policy and ecosystem restoration projects: lessons from South Africa
Dr Favoretto has a PhD in Environmental Sustainability and experience in mixed-method, multi-level research addressing environmental, economic and policy dimensions of sustainable development across dryland sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America. Throughout his work focused on addressing complex international development challenges and bridging major science-policy gaps, Dr Favretto has undertaken research and managerial roles across a range of international organisations (i.e. United Nations University, United Nations Development Programme, European Commission).