https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/5933 2026-09-30T11:21:04Z 2026-09-30T11:21:04Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/149249 2026-09-18T10:20:02Z 2026-01-01T00:00:00Z

Title: Climate vulnerabilities in small island developing states : a case study of Wainibuku Hart community, Fiji Abstract: Small Island Developing States (SIDS) in the Pacific face accelerating and disproportionate climate impacts, and yet peri-urban settlements within these island nations continue to expand as destinations for people relocating from rural and outer-island communities. These communities remain structurally vulnerable while climate change compounds these existing stressors. Despite their growing significance, peri-urban settlements remain among the least studied and least served by adaptation policies in the Pacific region. This study addresses this empirical gap through a community-level case study of climate change vulnerability and adaptive capacity in the Wainibuku Housing Assistance and Relief Trust (HART) Community in Nasinu, Fiji. Drawing on the exposure-sensitivity-adaptive capacity framework and contextual vulnerability theory, this study employed a mixed-methods design. Data were collected through 40 structured household surveys and four Talanoa discussions with fourteen participants. Findings reveal cascading vulnerability outcomes, with women and lower-income households bearing disproportionate burdens. However, residents demonstrate substantial adaptive capacity through incremental household strategies and reciprocal social networks rooted in traditional knowledge systems. A critical determinant differentiating households with sustained adaptive capacity from those without was the degree of inclusion in formal adaptation policy structures. This study contributes evidence from an underrepresented context in Pacific climate research. It highlights that effective adaptation policy must move beyond top-down, technocratic approaches and involve communities from the earliest stages of policy design to implementation. Such approaches are essential to ensure that adaptation interventions effectively reach and serve communities like Wainibuku. Description: M.A.(Melit.)

2026-01-01T00:00:00Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/149079 2026-09-14T10:53:36Z 2024-01-01T00:00:00Z

Title: An enabling legal environment for a sustainable ocean economy in small island developing states Abstract: This work and its abstract are both under embargo until the restriction is lifted. Description: Ph.D.(Melit.)

2024-01-01T00:00:00Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/146104 2026-05-04T11:48:11Z 2026-01-01T00:00:00Z

Title: Dissonances between policy framework and customary practice in gender equality of small island developing states : the case of LGBTQI+ rights in Mauritius Abstract: Despite growing international recognition of LGBTQI+ rights, Small Island Developing States (SIDS) continue to face challenges in translating formal legal commitments into substantive equality. This dissertation examines the dissonance between State-level legal and policy frameworks and entrenched normative practices shaping the lived experiences of LGBTQI+ individuals in Mauritius. Although Mauritius has ratified key international human rights instruments and experienced progressive judicial developments, these advances remain unevenly realised due to persistent socio-cultural, religious, and institutional barriers. Employing a qualitative research design, the study integrates legal and policy analysis with semi-structured interviews conducted with LGBTQI+ individuals to assess the alignment between legal commitments and lived realities. The findings reveal that, notwithstanding constitutional guarantees, international obligations, and limited anti-discrimination protections, LGBTQI+ persons in Mauritius continue to face marginalisation in healthcare, employment, family life, and access to justice. These exclusions are sustained not by formal customary law, but by deeply embedded normative practices, heteronormative social structures, religious conservatism, and weak institutional accountability within a small island context characterised by dense social networks and limited anonymity. Grounded in the theoretical frameworks of intersectionality and legal pluralism, the dissertation argues that legal reform alone is insufficient to achieve substantive equality in SIDS. Instead, meaningful change requires shifts in social norms, strengthened institutional responsiveness, and inclusive policymaking that centres marginalised LGBTQI+ voices. The study concludes with context-specific recommendations to bridge the persistent gap between policy and practice relating to LGBTQI+ rights in Mauritius. Description: M.A.(Melit.)

2026-01-01T00:00:00Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/145975 2026-04-28T08:29:15Z 2025-01-01T00:00:00Z

Title: Integrating indigenous and community-based climate change adaptation in Eastern Caribbean small island developing states (SIDS) : the case of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Abstract: Climate adaptation practices have been carried out by Indigenous people throughout the world for millennia (Dent et al., 2023: 3), and it has been established that they possess crucial, experiential knowledge that can form an essential aspect of equitable and sustainable climate adaptation planning and policymaking (Byskov & Hymas, 2022: 614; Cisneros-Montemayor & Ota, 2019: 318; Phong et al., 2022: 9). While the Earth’s climate was not changing with the rapidity it is currently, nor was this change anthropomorphically driven to the same extent that it is today, they were nonetheless handled by Indigenous populations as part of their evolving connection to the landscapes they inhabited. This connection is a manifestation of a relationship that has been described as loving, reciprocal, interdependent, and familial (Galway, et al., 2022: 2). This was especially the case of Indigenous people who inhabited what are traditionally referred to as Small Island Developing States (SIDS) (Hofman et al., 2021: 2). Against the backdrop of island landscapes, and as a result of specific aspects of geographic isolation and the resulting effects on ecology and biodiversity, the Indigenous inhabitants of SIDS have been attuned to signs of change and evolution, and developed their specific adaptation practices to cope. Therefore, Indigenous and community-based adaptation practices play a crucial role in building climate resilience (Middelbeek et al., 2014: 139), and such practices are endorsed by formal bodies such as the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN, 2019) and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC, 2022). This research examines the extent to which Eastern Caribbean regional and local perspectives reflect international attitudes to the integration of Indigenous and community-based climate adaptation practices, and how such integration will benefit the Indigenous population, with a specific emphasis on the territory of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. Description: M.A.(Melit.)

2025-01-01T00:00:00Z