Climate Change & Islands Symposium (2016)

Building Small Island Resilience to Global Climate Change:

An International Symposium and Public Forum

September 20–23, 2016
Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada

Hosted by UNESCO Chair in Island Studies and Sustainability & UPEI Climate Research Lab

This Symposium brought together 16 speakers from around the world to discuss how residents of small islands and coastal jurisdictions can build on their strengths and resourcefulness to respond to the consequences of climate change. The focus was on four areas: food security, renewable energy, innovation, and cultural heritage.

Co-chaired by Dr. Jim Randall, co-holder of the UNESCO Chair in Island Studies and Sustainability at UPEI, and Dr. Adam Fenech, director of the UPEI Climate Lab, the symposium was funded in part by the Atlantic Canada Opportunity Agency (ACOA) and the province of Prince Edward Island.

L-R: Dr. Godfrey Baldacchino, UNESCO Chair in Island Studies and Sustainability; Hon. David MacDonald; Dr. Catherine Potvin, Canada Research Chair on Climate Change Mitigation and Tropical Forests: Science for Empowerment, McGill University; Hon. Wade MacLauchlan, Premier of Prince Edward Island; Dr. Adam Fenech, Director, UPEI Climate Lab.

Symposium speakers included climate and island studies experts who brought their unique knowledge and skills to the table. Speakers came from Australia, Vanuatu, Denmark, Faroe Islands, Gotland, Montreal, Toronto, St. John’s, Tignish, Lennox Island, and Charlottetown. Together with an invited group of engaged audience participants, the symposium addressed the pressing issue of climate change and small islands in an action-oriented and policy-focused series of dialogues that aimed to provide public policy lessons for other jurisdictions.

Click here for presentation videos

Part of the Symposium entailed a public forum event, held on September 26, 2016. To learn more about the Climate Change Adaptations and Islands Public Forum, visit the Institute of Island Studies website.

“The symposium provides a great opportunity for us to focus on climate change and adaptation in respect to islands. The forum gives the public an important venue to have their input added to this discussion.”
– Dr. Adam Fenech, Director, UPEI Climate Lab

“Despite being minor contributors to global climate change, many of the 600 million islanders of the world are seeing their way of life, and indeed the very existence of their islands, being threatened by human-induced global warming. This symposium and public forum are an opportunity to show how islands and islanders are being adaptive and resilient; and at the same time provide practical lessons to the rest of the world on how we should adapt to climate change.”
– Dr. Jim Randall, UNESCO Chair in Island Studies and Sustainability, UPEI