Fiji is one of three Small Island Developing States benefiting from the RECOVER project, funded by the Climate Adaptation and Resilience initiative.

A grant of 1.5 million Canadian dollars has been awarded to the University of Waterloo to support universities and key stakeholders in Fiji, Mauritius, and the Maldives.

The project, led by the University of Waterloo, will collaborate with the University of Fiji, Maldives National University, and the University of Mauritius.

Project Lead Professor Simron Singh says there aim is to enhance small islands’ capacity to adapt to climate change through more inclusive and research-informed decision-making environments.

[Project Lead Professor Simron Singh]

“And I think the project would be extremely useful to have a systems-based understanding of the issues as opposed to short-term symptomatic solutions, which for the most part we find that a lot of the interventions and solutions that are being proposed are oftentimes symptomatic, like fixing problems in the short run.”

The project will carry out four pilot studies in Mauritius, the Maldives, and Fiji.

“So the core way that we see RECOVER contributing to Fiji is to really offer a very insightful systems-based understanding of the problem analysis, why is vulnerability being created and how can we build resilience, which is deep-rooted in a systems approach?”

The University of Fiji’s Professor Shaukat Ali says they will be exploring systems-changing climate-resilience approaches to enhance the understanding of SIDS’ climate adaptation capacities and possibilities.

[University of Fiji’s Professor Shaukat Ali]

“Basically, to improve the ability of small island nations, including Fiji definitely, to adapt to climate change. And basically, we would like to focus on addressing the unique challenges that these islands, I mean, small island nations face due to the vulnerability to environmental risks like sea level rising, extreme weather events, and resource scarcity.”

The project team members are expected to meet next month in Dhaka, Bangladesh, to finalize their work plan.

The project is scheduled to be completed in two and a half years.