I am a climate scientist with a background in meteorology and weather/climate prediction. My main area of expertise is in seasonal to interannual climate variations, including teleconnections and Southern Hemisphere mid-latitude circulation variability. I have over 40 years' experience in the area and have been involved in writing the last three IPCC Working Group 1 Assessment Reports (AR4, AR6, AR6). I have four years' experience as a Commissioner on the NZ CLimate Change Commission and have worked on shaping climate change policy for several years. I am also an experienced science communicator, winning the NZ Prime Minister's Science Communication Prize in 2018.
James Lewis, Director of Intercoastal Consulting, is a certified practicing civil engineer with over 15 years of experience specialising in coastal engineering throughout Australasia and across the Pacific. He has a broad knowledge of coastal protection design, integrated coastal management and surf amenity. James’s skills extend outside the office where he has led large-scale metocean deployments, analysing the data captured in the field to calibrate numerical models used to inform coastal design.
He has focussed the last 10 years of his career on working in Small Island Developing States (SIDs) in climate change adaptation, concerned primarily with developing climate-resilient coastal protection. James aspires to see the design phase through to implementation; having supported procurement, and contracting and undertaken construction supervision on large projects in remote locations. He aims to provide value and support through the complete project lifecycle including the social, financial and institutional aspects of these projects, endeavoring to understand the administrative, governmental and funding mechanisms specific to each country and community and their relation to the delivery of a successful project.
Using his knowledge of coastal engineering, the ocean and the environment, James’ primary endeavor is to assist coastal communities most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.
• 23 years at the Fiji Meteorological Service (FMS)
o Director, FMS
o Manager, Nadi Regional Cyclone Warning Centre
o Head, Climatology Division
• 26 years’ experience as Supervisor, International Affairs, coordinating Bureau of Meteorology’s international affairs, focussed on the Pacific Islands in close association with SPREP & WMO
• Permanent Representative of Fiji with WMO
• Chair, WMO Regional Association (RA) V Tropical Cyclone Committee for the South Pacific and the South-east Indian Ocean, 1985-1990
• Vice-President, WMO RA V, 1989 - 1990
• Regional Coordinator, UNDP/WMO Regional Project - Support to the Tropical Cyclone Programme in the South Pacific 1987-1990
• Member, U N Ad-Hoc Expert Group on the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction (IDNDR) 1988 -1989
• Team Leader of project: A Needs Analysis for the Strengthening of Pacific Meteorological Services – Meeting the Challenges, 2000
My interest in the environment started as I worked as a climatologist in the Apia Observatory, Samoa, where I learnt a lot about the close links between the weather/climate and other components of the environment including humans. I later took an academic career with the National Uni of Samoa (participate in the environment issue) in its inception years until the end of 1999.
Moving to Australia in 2000 allowed me to take an administration pathway with the University of NSW until 2006 and a theology degree. This helped developed a more complete toolkit to deal with the environment issue. Returning to Samoa this decade gave me an opening to connect in a more meaningful way with communities which are among the most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Currently I'm enjoying this work immensely with the OLSSI.
My area of expertise is in aviation meteorology from the safety oversight perspective which includes conducting safety audits, assessing documents and approving aviation documents as well as conducting meteorological safety awareness and training for the meteorological service providers.
I served for eighteen (18) years with Papua New Guinea National Weather Service (PNGNWS) in various capacities such as technical officer, assistant forecaster and weather and climate forecaster.
I joined CASAPNG in 2012 as the aviation meteorological services inspector and I am with them for the last four (4) years. The capacity as the aviation meteorological service inspector ensures that any meteorological service entity supplying aviation meteorological services to the aviation users in Papua New Guinea must comply with the fundamental requirements of ICAO’s Annex III and WMO’s aviation meteorology requirements.
My area of expertise is in the field of Civil and Environmental Engineering specializing in;
• water resources engineering and integrated management,
• civil and environmental engineering design of infrastructures,
• environmental risk assessment and minimization, climate change analysis,
• urban hydrology, water demand forecasting and allocation framework,
• hydrological, hydraulic and watershed modelling,
• system dynamic and model development.
Qualifications: Ph.D (Env Eng). University of Melbourne (UoM), Australia, ME. The University of Auckland, BE. Unitec Institute of Tech
Employment History:
HARC, Melbourne
Senior Water Resources Engineer – Candor3 Ltd, NZ, 2014 – Present.
Quest Lecturer – Unitec Institute of Technology, NZ, 2014 – Present.
Research Fellow: UoM, Australia, 2014.
Fellow/Lecturer: BYU, USA, 2012 – 2013.
Water Resources Engineer: Division of Water Resources, Utah, USA, 2013 – 2014.
Tutor: UoM, 2008 - 2010.
Env Engineer: Wood & Partners Consultants Ltd, 2007.
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Over twenty two years international experience in Europe, Caribbean, South America and Pacific of coastal engineering, shoreline strategy management planning, assessing natural coastal processes and the impacts of human activities on the coastal zone. Expertise covers a broad range of technical disciplines with particular skills in the areas of hazard and climate risk assessment, coastal processes, coastal engineering and shoreline management, disaster risk reduction, climate change and adaptation, environmental assessment, and community participation. Over fifteen years’ experience in the Pacific region, having worked initially for the Government of Kosrae, in the Federated States of Micronesia, as Coastal Management Adviser. Since 2003 has led or been involved in a wide range of projects in American Samoa, Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, Palau, Samoa, Tokelau, Tonga and Tuvalu.
Pacific Water Resources Product Development Lead, 2007 to Present
Product Development Lead for rainfall products and their distribution within the Pacific under a grant funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). Research Highlights:
? Developed and disseminated climate products, quarterly climate outlooks, and publications geared toward small islands within the Pacific Basin.
? Hosted in-country dialogues in the Marshall Islands, American Samoa, and Cook Islands which brought users and providers together for a round of targeted and intensive exchange of information.
? Established coastal precipitation dataset and transferred information to water resource managers, disaster managers, and agro-forestry users and the public via website interface.
? Cultivated new and enriched existing partnerships with inter-agency personnel, indigenous Pacific Islanders, nonprofit organizations, and academia.
? Served as the freshwater resources lead on the Pacific Climate Informati
Dynamic and dedicated professional with strong technical and policy background. Advanced qualifications (PhD) in environmental sciences, climate change & energy. Distinguished record in academia as a teacher, researcher and administrator. Extensive inter-governmental experience at international levels, in climate change. Over 20 years experience in climate change and related issues, mainly in Pacific but also worked in Africa and Asia. Public service experience, having worked for Governments of Australia, Fiji and Marshall Islands and international NGOs such as Independent Diplomat (ID). Considerable experience working for international organisations such as UNEP, ADB, regional organsations such as SPREP as climate change technical expert, and USP. Serves on the UNFCCC Roster of Experts. Extremely familiar with all issues in the UNFCCC climate negotiations. Extensive record of developing, managing, implementing and monitoring projects at national and global levels. Excels at working in a fast paced, multi-cultural environment and has excellent communication skills.
Project Management Work for World Bank and UNDP in the areas of climate change adaptation, health and food security at the national and regional level. Meteorologists by profession with more than 20 years of GIS experience. Strong interest in International and regional conventions in relation to climate change and environment in general. Sectors of interest and involvement includes environment, health, agriculture and food security, disaster and risk reduction management, infrastructure, information and data management, parliamentary institutional strengthening etc. Had worked with other donors like AusAid, NZ Aid, ADB, Government of Italy, UNEP, FAO in particular.
Member of the Chartered Chemist, Royal Society of Chemistry
University of Leeds Research Fellow - Conducted research into the chemistry of atmospheric pollution resulting from power generation through the use of electron accelerators and complex reaction modelling
Principal Consultant for Entec UK Ltd, Northwick, Cheshire, UK
Director for Environmental Intelligence Limited, Leeds, West Yorkshire, UK
Countries of Work Experience: Australia and United Kingdom
Corporate strategy: Emission reduction target for global airline
Enhancing assurance capability: New reporting method for open cut coal mining
Financial risk management: Carbon trading risks and opportunities
Climate change impacts: Risk to food security in Australia for a large food company
Climate adaptation strategy for the Nottinghamshire County Council
Analysis of the European Union Emission Trading Scheme in its first year of operation
Carbon mitigation strategy for the UK Water Utility Sector
Design and development of the EU ETS New Entrant Reserve
Design and operation of a simulation of an emission trading market that allowed 14 UK companies to practice their trading strategies in advance of the UK ETS in 2002
