4 research outputs found
Identifying local governance capacity needs for implementing climate change adaptation in Mauritius
No full textUIDB/04647/2020 UIDP/04647/2020The IPCC 1.5°C Report lists identifying local capacity needs as key for enabling multi-level governance to effectively respond to climate change. Mauritius, as a Small Island State, is disproportionately affected by climate change, primarily due to its exposure to impacts, as well as various constraints in size and resources. Identifying and integrating local capacity needs into recommendations for policy measures is therefore urgently required to support the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and its National Adaptation Plan process. This study carries out a local governance assessment based on evaluative criteria to identify local capacity needs for implementing climate change adaptation in Mauritius. Results from the assessment indicate that local governance suffers from issues inherent to Small Island States, such as lack of technical know-how, financial and human resources, stringent legislation and effective monitoring mechanisms, preventing effective climate change adaptation. Through participatory, bottom-up stakeholder engagement with local and national government representatives, eight recommendations for policy formulation were then co-developed to address the identified capacity needs, and to improve cooperation between local and national institutions for more effective implementation of climate change adaptation. Key policy insights Local climate change adaptation needs have to be integrated into policy formulation for an effective response to climate change impacts. Roles and responsibilities of government levels for climate change adaptation in Mauritius are currently in need of clarification. Capacity building measures at the local level for implementing climate change actions from national government are urgently required. Stringent legislation and effective monitoring mechanisms need to be implemented to ensure planning regulations are adhered to. Increased collaboration between local and national levels of government in Mauritius is necessary for synthesizing a common approach to climate change adaptation.publishersversionpublishe
Identifying local governance capacity needs for implementing climate change adaptation in Mauritius
No full textThe IPCC 1.5°C Report lists identifying local capacity needs as key for enabling multi-level governance to effectively respond to climate change. Mauritius, as a Small Island State, is disproportionately affected by climate change, primarily due to its exposure to impacts, as well as various constraints in size and resources. Identifying and integrating local capacity needs into recommendations for policy measures is therefore urgently required to support the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and its National Adaptation Plan process. This study carries out a local governance assessment based on evaluative criteria to identify local capacity needs for implementing climate change adaptation in Mauritius. Results from the assessment indicate that local governance suffers from issues inherent to Small Island States, such as lack of technical know-how, financial and human resources, stringent legislation and effective monitoring mechanisms, preventing effective climate change adaptation. Through participatory, bottom-up stakeholder engagement with local and national government representatives, eight recommendations for policy formulation were then co-developed to address the identified capacity needs, and to improve cooperation between local and national institutions for more effective implementation of climate change adaptation. Key policy insightsLocal climate change adaptation needs have to be integrated into policy formulation for an effective response to climate change impacts.Roles and responsibilities of government levels for climate change adaptation in Mauritius are currently in need of clarification.Capacity building measures at the local level for implementing climate change actions from national government are urgently required.Stringent legislation and effective monitoring mechanisms need to be implemented to ensure planning regulations are adhered to.Increased collaboration between local and national levels of government in Mauritius is necessary for synthesizing a common approach to climate change adaptation. Local climate change adaptation needs have to be integrated into policy formulation for an effective response to climate change impacts. Roles and responsibilities of government levels for climate change adaptation in Mauritius are currently in need of clarification. Capacity building measures at the local level for implementing climate change actions from national government are urgently required. Stringent legislation and effective monitoring mechanisms need to be implemented to ensure planning regulations are adhered to. Increased collaboration between local and national levels of government in Mauritius is necessary for synthesizing a common approach to climate change adaptation.</p
Coral genetic structure in the Western Indian Ocean mirrors ocean circulation and thermal stress
No full textGlobal warming and rising sea temperatures are pushing many reef-building coral species towards extinction. As thermal tolerance in corals is partially heritable, identifying genes under thermal selection is critical for targeted biodiversity management. However, it remains unclear how large breaks in connectivity (>100 km of open sea) affect the spread of adaptive alleles for different coral species in discontinuous reef networks such as the West Indian Ocean (WIO). To address this, we applied a seascape genomics approach to model (i) population connectivity and (ii) thermal adaptive potentials for two keystone coral species, Acropora muricata and Pocillopora damicornis, across the WIO. For both species, corals from the Seychelles were predominantly genetically isolated from corals in Rodrigues and Mauritius, putatively an effect of regional oceanographic barriers. Furthermore, sea currents during reproductive periods better predicted genetic connectivity than did Euclidean distances for both species, highlighting that connectivity models can serve as proxies to understand dispersal potential depending on reproductive strategies. Spatial patterns of neutral genetic variation were best explained by sea surface temperature variability and mean degree heating weeks. When used in genotypeenvironment association (GEA) analyses, we identified hundreds of loci under putative thermal selection from linked to known heat stress responses. In A. muricata, five Sacsin genes-cochaperones of the Hsp70 heat-shock protein involved in thermal stress response-were identified, alongside genes related to immune defence, antioxidant response, signalling, and protein folding. In contrast, only the centromere protein V, involved in mitosis, was enriched in P. damicornis. By integrating patterns of gene flow with molecular adaptations to estimate species-specific adaptive potentials, we found that large sea distances and strong oceanographic barriers inhibit the genetic exchange of adapted genotypes across the WIO, providing valuable insights to guide local and regional biodiversity management in this region..</div
Coral Genetic Structure in the Western Indian Ocean Mirrors Ocean Circulation and Thermal Stress History
No full textGlobal warming and rising sea temperatures are pushing many reef‐building coral species towards extinction. As thermal tolerance in corals is partially heritable, identifying genes under thermal selection is critical for targeted biodiversity management. However, it remains unclear how large connectivity breaks (> 100 km of open sea) might affect the spread of adaptive alleles for different coral species in discontinuous reef networks such as the Western Indian Ocean (WIO). To address this, we applied a seascape genomics approach to model (i) population structure and (ii) thermal adaptive potentials for two keystone coral species, Acropora muricata and Pocillopora damicornis , across the WIO. Northern reefs in the Seychelles were largely genetically isolated from southern reefs in Rodrigues and Mauritius for both species, potentially driven by regional oceanographic barriers. Isolation‐by‐resistance calculated from ocean currents during reproductive months better explained regional genetic differences than isolation‐by‐distance alone. Spatial patterns of genetic variation were best captured by variables representing thermal stress, including sea surface temperature variability, accumulating heat stress, and fine‐scale reef structure. Using these variables in genotype–environment association (GEA) analyses identified hundreds of loci under putative thermal selection, including several linked to genes involved in heat stress responses. We detected 12 molecular functions enriched in A. muricata and 20 enriched in P. damicornis , generally pertaining to cellular signalling, transport mechanisms, metabolism, and protein quality control, including six genes annotated as the heat‐shock chaperone protein Sacsin for A. muricata . We produce species‐specific maps estimating the putative thermally adaptive seascape across the WIO, which, when combined with population structure and previous ocean current models, indicate that the spread of heat adapted genotypes may be inhibited across the WIO. This research provides valuable insights into WIO coral population structure and thermal adaptive potentials to inform local and regional conservation management across the region.LG
