Dr Adelle Thomas

Senior Caribbean Research Associate

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Dr Adelle Thomas

Adelle is Senior Caribbean Research Associate for the IMPACT project and part of the Science team. Her particular focus is on aspects of social vulnerability, adaptation strategies and loss and damage.

Since November 2019, Adelle is also Director of the newly established Climate Change Adaptation and Resilience Research Centre at the University of the Bahamas. Prior to joining Climate Analytics, Adelle was an Assistant Professor at University of The Bahamas and Director of the Climate Change Initiative there. As a human-environment geographer, she is interested in the particular vulnerabilities and adaptation potentials for small island developing states. Adelle has worked for several years on intersections between climate change adaptation, environmental protection and development. Her research has centered on varying aspects of adaptation and social vulnerability including examining the potential of insurance as an adaptation strategy; knowledge, awareness and perception of the public about climate change; assessing opportunities, barriers and limits to adaptation; and challenges facing small islands in managing loss and damage.

Adelle is an lead author in the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report and the Special Report on 1.5°C, and has authored a variety of academic publications and has also provided scientific services to a number of organisations including the Global Environment Facility, Inter-American Development Bank, International Maritime Organization and national institutions in the USA and Bahamas. Adelle obtained a PhD in Geography from Rutgers University (2012) and a BS in Civil Engineering from University of Minnesota and Macalester College (2005).

A list of Adelle’s publications can be found here.

Blog posts

Publications

    • Peer reviewed
    • Global evidence of constraints and limits to human adaptation Adelle Thomas, Emily Theokritoff, Alexandra Lesnikowski, Diana Reckien, Kripa Jagannathan, Roger Cremades, Donovan Campbell, Elphin Tom Joe, Asha Sitati, Chandni Singh, Alcade C. Segnon, Brian Pentz, Justice Issah Musah-Surugu, Cristina A. Mullin, Katharine J. Mach, Leah Gichuki, Eranga Galappaththi, Vasiliki I. Chalastani, Idowu Ajibade, Raquel Ruiz-Diaz, Caitlin Grady, Matthias Garschagen, James Ford, Kathryn Bowen & Global Adaptation Mapping Initiative Team, Regional Environmental Change, (2021)
    • Loss and damage implications of sea-level rise on Small Island Developing States Rosanne Martyr-Koller, Adelle Thomas, Carl-Friedrich Schleussner, Alexander Nauels, Tabea Lissner (2021)
    • Overcoming gender inequality for climate resilient development Marina Andrijevic, Jesus Crespo Cuaresma, Tabea Lissner, Adelle Thomas, Carl-Friedrich Schleussner , Nature Communications, 11, Article number: 6261 (2020) , doi:10.1038/s41467-020-19856-w, (2020)
    • The human imperative of stabilizing global climate change at 1.5°C O. Hoegh-Guldberg, D. Jacob, M. Taylor, T. Guillén Bolaños, M. Bindi, S. Brown, I. A. Camilloni, A. Diedhiou, R. Djalante, K. Ebi, F. Engelbrecht, J. Guiot, Y. Hijioka, S. Mehrotra, C. W. Hope, A. J. Payne, H.-O. Pörtner, S. I. Seneviratne, A. Thomas, R. Warren, G. Zhou, Science, (2019)
    • 1.5°C Hotspots: Climate Hazards, Vulnerabilities, and Impacts Carl-Friedrich Schleussner, Delphine Deryng, Sarah D'haen, William Hare, Tabea Lissner, Mouhamed Ly, Alexander Nauels, Melinda Noblet, Peter Pfleiderer, Patrick Pringle, Martin Rokitzki, Fahad Saeed, Michiel Schaeffer, Olivia Serdeczny, Adelle Thomas, Annual Review of Environment and Resources, Vol. 43:135-163, doi.org/10.1146/annurev-environ-102017-025835, (2018)