Conceptualising a Governance Framework for Climate Change Adaptation and Disaster Risk Reduction in Small Island Developing States Through a Systematic Review

As a SIDS, Mauritius is highly vulnerable to the adverse impacts of climate change. These have triggered the focus of my studies which is about, ‘Formulation of a framework for enhancing governance of adaptation to the adverse impacts of climate change and disaster risk reduction in the Republic of Mauritius’. In the first step of my studies, together with my two supervisors, we carried out a systematic literature review of papers published between 1992 and 2023, on climate governance in SIDS. It revealed that the governance of climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction is relatively weak in SIDS. Analysis of the barriers and enablers unveils the contours of a proposed three-tiered governance framework: Tier 1 comprises three key pillars: Policy Planning, Institutional Arrangements, and Laws and Regulations; Tier 2, the principles of transparency, accountability, equity, legitimacy and subsidiarity. The core pillars and the principles are nested within a broader Tier 3 comprising democratic processes (rule of law), religious and cultural values, and political commitment. 

Presenter: Rudy Oh-Seng, Université des Mascareignes

Discussant: TBC