Event Date: October 23, 2014 - 11:30 am
Location: FSS4007, 120 University Private, , Ottawa
TARUNA SHALINI RAMESSUR, University of Mauritius and Memorial University.
Presented by CIPS, the International Political Economy Network (IPEN).
Free.In English. Registration is not required. Seating is limited and available on a first come, first served basis.
Audio:
[audio:http://web20.uottawa.ca/academic/socialsciences/cepi-cips/2014-10-23-ramessur.mp3]
Environment changes produced by climate change are altering the labour market both directly and indirectly. Some direct impacts can be seen in the form of new skills in industries like agriculture, aquaculture and fishing, as well as in the need for additional workers to stabilize communities in the aftermath of natural disasters. Indirect impacts consist in climate change-related modifications in the concerns, habits and practices of consumers, government and the private sector that affect the demand for labour. Although the connection between climate change and the labour market has been acknowledged (for instance, by the inclusion of the provision for a “just transition” in the negotiating text for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Agreement), empirical studies on the issue tend to be very limited. Moreover, a gender-based analysis is vital in this field for several reasons: while women are most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change and have lower pay, precarious employment conditions and fewer training and career opportunities, they are also considered to be the key agent of change for environmental sustainability as well as for relaxing the tight labour markets by altering their labour market behaviour. This paper examines the impacts of climate change adaptation on the labour market, with particular emphasis on women workers in Newfoundland and Labrador (NL).
Taruna Shalini Ramessur is senior lecturer at the University of Mauritius and is currently a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Economics at the Memorial University. She maintains a research interest in poverty, economics of climate change as well as econometrics. She has been engaged in many consulting projects with COMESA, UNDP, AERC, IDRC, EU and SARUA among others. Be it at the national or international level, she has participated in various workshops, seminars and presented papers at international conferences. She had also published articles in a number of international refereed journals such as Journal of Poverty, International Journal of Economic Perspectives, Government Information Quarterly, Journal of Economic Studies among others. Taruna has also acted as reviewer for journals such as Safety Science and Applied Economic Letters and is also a member of the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Afro-Asia Studies.