Kuruppu, Natasha

Biography

Dr. Natasha Kuruppu joined UNU-IIGH in June 2015 as part of the Planetary Change and Health programme. Natasha is a climate change adaptation specialist with a focus on Small Island Developing States (SIDS). Her doctoral thesis, which was completed at the Environmental Change Institute at the University of Oxford, England, examined the interactions between climate change and water management systems in both urban and rural settings in the Micronesian atoll nation of Kiribati. Since then, Natasha has continued to lead climate adaptation research projects in Australia which have focused on adaptation related to local government, small business (SME) sector, health systems in the Pacific and community adaptation in Sydney, Australia. Natasha is also a current International Social Science Council Fellow in Urbanization; focusing on the interactions between urbanisation and climate adaptation in Pacific Islands. She recently completed a project for the International Geosphere Biosphere Program looking at the needs of SIDS classified as Least Developed Countries under global environmental change. Natasha is an Associate at the Institute for Sustainable Futures – University of Technology Sydney, Australia and also serves on the Executive Committee of the international network ‘Academics Stand Against Poverty – Oceania Chapter’ which is an international association focused on helping researchers and teachers enhance their impact on poverty. Natasha’s current focus is on understanding the governance of human health in the Asia-Pacific region under climate change and other processes environmental change with a particular interest in the role of Indigenous and local knowledge.

Research Interest

Adaptive natural resources management Climate change adaptation Climate Change Adaptation & Social Resilience Climate Change Coping & Adaptation Climate risk Community development and resilience Community led Adaptation comprehensive climate risk management Development aid Disaster Management Disaster risk management Disaster risk reduction Disater Management Environmental Chemistry Environmental policy Environmental policy planning and implementation Environmental Resource Management Environmental risk management Geography Global Change & Sustainable Development Global environmental change and disaster risk reduction Health Health Effects from Climate Change Human vulnerability Indigenous knowledge Natural Resources Management Patterns of urban and environmental governance Political economy of sustainable development poverty and vulnerability Public health Resilience & Vulnerability Assessment Risk and Vulnerability Assessment Risk and Vulnerability Reduction Rural-urban linkage Social Vulnerability Social-Ecological Resilience Sustainable urban development and water environment Traditional Ecological Knowledge Traditional ecological landscapes Traditional Knowledge Traditional uses of natural resources Urban governance Urbanization and its impacts on human society Urbanization processes Vulnerabilities and Risks Management Vulnerability & Risk Assessment Vulnerability and Risk Assessment Vulnerability of Social-Ecological Systems Water Water Pollution Water quality Water resource management Water Resources Management Water, Population and Health