Event

The UWI St. Augustine Campus invites you to attend the Professorial Inaugural Lecture by Professor Michelle Mycoo, Professor of Urban and Regional Planning, on the topic Caribbean Small Island Developing States on the Frontline: The Urgency for Climate Action. The lecture takes place on Wednesday 1^st March, 2023 at 6 p.m. To register, visit: https://bit.ly/MMycooLecture  

Abstract: The scientific evidence is unequivocal: climate change is a threat to human well-being and the health of the planet. Any further delay in concerted global action will miss the brief, rapidly closing window to secure a livable future, according to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. A major concern of the Caribbean is that its Small Island Developing States face an existential threat due to climate change. The impacts of hurricanes, floods, droughts, ocean warming, and sea level rise have been studied. Urgent action is needed if 1.5°C (above pre-industrial levels) is surpassed between now and 2040. Even temporarily exceeding this warming level will result in additional severe impacts, some of which will be irreversible.

The impacts and risks we face today will increase substantially over the next two decades. Some people will be more affected than others. Those least able to cope such as the poor and vulnerable are already the hardest hit. Yet, the challenges we face are driven by us. Terrestrial, ocean and coastal ecosystems, water and food security, cities, settlements and key infrastructure, health and well-being and livelihoods, face unprecedented challenges.

Our future climate depends on what we do, how we live our lives and how we safeguard nature. Without current adaptation efforts, the impacts today would have been substantially worse, but we are not adapting fast enough to keep pace with accelerating climate change. To avoid mounting losses, urgent action is required to adapt to climate change.  At the same time, it is essential to make rapid, deep cuts in greenhouse gas emissions globally to keep the maximum number of adaptation options open to Caribbean islands.

Acting now is the best chance we have to survive and thrive. The longer we wait, the fewer options remain to achieve a climate resilient development pathway. 

Bio: Professor Michelle Mycoo is a Professor in Urban and Regional Planning at The University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago. She is the first woman to be elevated to the rank of Professor in the Faculty of Engineering at The University of the West Indies in 60 years. Professor Mycoo is a member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which was declared a co-laureate of the 2022 Gulbenkian Prize for Humanity. She was among 263 authors selected from 1037 international nominees. As one of 47 Coordinating Lead Authors for the United Nations IPCC 6thAssessment Report entitled Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability, she is the first Caribbean woman to function as a Coordinating Lead Author in 28 years. She coordinated the Small Islands Chapter and was a Contributing Author to chapters of the report on Cities, Settlements and Infrastructure and Climate Resilient Development Pathways.  She is currently the Deputy Executive Director of The UWI Global Institute for Climate-Smart and Resilient Development.

Professor Mycoo has been conducting research in small islands developing states for over 25 years on urban planning and human settlements, climate change adaptation, water management, disaster risk reduction and integrated coastal zone management.  She has over 120 research publications, including a book, book chapters and more than 25 scientific articles which address urban planning, climate change adaptation and resilience. Across the globe she has been invited to deliver keynote addresses based on her wide expertise.

Professor Mycoo has been recognized for her excellence in teaching, research, and public outreach. She received The Vice Chancellor’s Award 2019/2020 for All Round Excellence in the categories of Research and Public Service, The University of the West Indies/ Guardian Group Teaching Award for Teaching Excellence in 2014 and The University of the West Indies/ National Gas Company Research Award for the Most Outstanding Researcher in the Faculty of Engineering in 2014. In 2008, The University of the West Indies recognized her as one of 60 lecturers under the age of 60 for excellence in teaching, public service, and research.

Before joining The UWI, she worked at the Urban Division of the World Bank in Washington DC and as an urban planning consultant in Trinidad and Tobago and the Caribbean.  Several development agencies have commissioned her as a Senior Technical Advisor including the World Bank, the European Union, the Inter-American Development Bank, the UN Economic Commission for Latin America, and the Caribbean, the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States, and the Caribbean Development Bank. Professor Mycoo continues to serve regionally and at an international level as a scientific steering committee member of the International Science Council, Future Earth Coasts, UN Habitat University Partnership Initiative and UNESCO’s Committee for the Management of Social Transformation. She is 1 of 16 international scientific expert reviewers of the 2023 United Nations Global Sustainable Development Report and is a Lead Expert on the Tourism Panel on Climate Change.

Professor Mycoo is a Commonwealth Scholar, a Canadian International Development Agency Fellow, and a US Fulbright Scholar. She was conferred a Doctoral Degree in Urban Planning from McGill University. Her other degrees include a Master of Science in Urban Planning from the University of Hong Kong and a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Geography and Social Science from The University of the West Indies, Jamaica.