Environmental Development

Small island developing states such as Kiribati in the Equatorial Pacific are among the most climate vulnerable places on Earth. While there is a considerable body of literature on the scale of the problem, there is very little research on the lived experiences of communities, their concerns and priorities, and how they are coping with environmental and climate hazards. As a result, a top-down approach is often adopted in adaptation projects that may not meet the real needs of communities, endangering the long-term sustainability and viability of interventions. Through a series of participatory focus groups carried out in Kiribati in 2019, this study explores what communities prioritise and wish to see implemented to cope and build resilience to present and foreseeable future challenges. The outcomes of this research show environmental risks and hazards faced by communities are strongly associated with climate projections. Communities are currently trying to adapt to challenges, both old and new, with technologies and materials available. While there is a degree of spontaneous adaptation occurring, these problems are insurmountable without solving present challenges in Kiribati, such as access to better technology and markets without becoming over-reliant. Including communities in co-designed interventions can also ensure sustainability in climate adaptation projects. The findings of this research can inform policy and climate change adaptation measures in other similar atoll islands in the Pacific.

Energy recovery from Municipal Solid Waste in Mauritius is considered as a solution to enhance the country's energy security and tackle imminent waste management issues. This study applies an Analytical Hierarchy Process model for identifying the best waste to energy technology, which can be set up in Mauritius while taking into consideration technical as well as sustainability indicators. Incineration, gasification, pyrolysis and anaerobic digestion, were considered for the purpose of this study. As a result of the analysis, anaerobic digestion was ranked as the prioritised technology when social acceptance indicator, identified as the critical criterion, was attributed a high weight. When the effects of the critical criterion was either attenuated or eliminated during the sensitivity analysis, incineration emerged as the preferred technology. A critical analysis revealed that higher environmental and economic gains are expected to be generated as a result of implementing incineration for energy recovery in Mauritius. Finally, a review of the barriers hampering the implementation of an incineration plant in Mauritius demonstrated that the uptake of this technology is constrained by social acceptability. However, if proper awareness is conducted, energy recovery from municipal solid waste using incineration technology can become an interesting project for the Mauritian economy.