Robyn Haggis

Interest and Expertise

I am a DPhil Student in the School of Geography and the Environment at the University of Oxford, under the supervision of Professor Jim Hall and Professor Nathalie Seddon. My interests span climate, sustainable development and nature, and I am bringing these together through a focus on nature-based solutions (NbS). My research centres on optimising nature in decisions on national-scale development and resilience in order to progress the SDGs and the Paris Agreement. This includes quantifying and visualising geospatially the potential for NbS to substitute and complement built infrastructure service delivery across sectors including energy, water and transport, as well as their ability to deliver protective services in order to build resilience to climate change. My research focuses on developing countries and small island developing states, and I am currently applying it to an FCDO-funded project in Jamaica.

Background

I studied Geography at the University of Edinburgh and have an MSc in Environmental Change and Management from the University of Oxford. My previous academic research has included topics such as the sustainable development of lowland savannas in Belize and strategies for their future use, and the potential of NbS to meet the temperature goals of the Paris Agreement. My background includes roles at the 2050 Climate Group, the Carbon Trust, and Mandulis Energy in Uganda, spanning a broad range of topics including energy access, industrial energy efficiency and science-based targets. My recent roles related to NbS have included work on the infrastructure and NbS chapter for the Global Center on Adaptation’s flagship State and Trends in Adaptation (Africa) report, consultancies for UNEP focused on NbS for infrastructure and their role in progressing the SDGs and the Paris Agreement, and the development of a module on NbS for an FCDO-funded lecture series on climate-compatible growth. I hope that my DPhil research will help to safeguard our natural ecosystems by making the case for investment in and scale-up of NbS in sustainable development decisions.
Robyn Haggis