My initial research topics dealt with physical oceanography but increased to ocean/atmosphere interactions in general. My research interests now deal with the understanding of the natural variability and long-term changes of the Pacific climate as well as extreme events such as cyclones, heat waves, extreme precipitation and droughts. A second field of interest lies in the effects of climate onto marine and terrestrial ecosystems such as mosquitoes and its associated vector-borne diseases (e.g dengue).

A climate researcher with a solid sense of conceptualizing new and original research ideas, analyzing data and diagnosing/experimenting with models. Currently, Vishnu is working as a Postdoctoral Scholar Meteo-France / IRD-France, Toulouse, France, to make a reliable climate projection using the dynamically downscaled model (ALADIN) by removing known dry bias over the southwest pacific region under the CLIPSSA project.

More than a decade of research on tropical meteorology focuses mainly on the cyclonic storm variations and dynamics and their link to the daily extremes and the seasonal rainfall. Vishnu has worked in miscellaneous roles at diverse international institutes and he received his PhD on the field of monsoon synoptic-scale systems of the Asian monsoon. For more details visit website (https://sites.google.com/view/svishnu/home?authuser=1) and Google Scholar .

Physicist by training, my main expertise is in physical oceanography and tropical climate dynamics, with a focus on the tropical Pacific and Indian Oceans, notably on their interactions and on French Polynesia. My objectives are to better understand the tropical ocean-atmosphere coupled system variability and response to global warming, by combining observational statistical analyses with modelling experiments.

Frédéric Atger is a meteorologist, a graduate of the Ecole Nationale de la Meteorologie, with a doctorate in atmospheric sciences and a master’s degree in clinical and organisational psychology. At the start of his career at Météo-France, he spent almost 10 years working as a forecaster. After a spell at the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts in the 1990s, he devoted himself to research into the evaluation of probabilistic forecasting systems until the mid-2000s. He subsequently held a number of management positions, including heading Météo-France’s services in the Mediterranean regions. Since January 2024, he has been Director of Météo-France in New Caledonia and Wallis and Futuna, and in this capacity is responsible for the New Caledonian Government’s Meteorological Service.

Victoire LAURENT is in charge of the climatology department at the Interregional Direction of Météo-France in French Polynesia. She is an expert in tropical meteorology and dynamic climatology in the South Pacific region. She participates and speaks at national and international forums and conferences on climate, seasonal forecasting and climate change in French Polynesia. Her contribution to the CLIPSSA project focuses on providing new future climate data and analysing climate change impacts in different sectors.

Amarys CASNIN is working at the CNRM. She entered the National Meteorology School in 2018 due to her interest in the environment and climate issues. At the end of these 3 years, she decided to continue her formation by starting a PhD on high-resolution simulation of the climate of the Windward Islands (French Polynesia) to study the physical process which control the climate of these islands.

Agathe DROUIN is the head of the “Studies and Modelling for Adaptation” department (EMA) of the Climatology and Climate Services Directorate at Météo France. This department’s mission is to design and implement services for climate change adaptation with the different public and private sectors. The EMA department also includes an upstream activity focused on modelling: regional climate modelling, downscaling or hydro-climatic impact modelling.
In this respect, Agathe Drouin coordinates the overseas climate regionalization activities at Météo France. Her team contributes to the Clipssa project to implement climate models in the Pacific.

Lola CORRE works in the “studies and modelling for adaptation” department of the Climatology and Climate Services Directorate of Météo France.
She is particularly interested in past, present and future changes in the climate of France (mainland and overseas), anthropogenic climate change, its impacts and its links with extreme events.
Its work also focuses on using available climate data and knowledge by climate services, aiming to inform decisions and support adaptation approaches.
Within the framework of the EURO-CORDEX programme, she is involved in regional climate modelling over Europe. Lola provides its expertise for implementing models over the Pacific for the CLIPSSA project.

As a CNRS Research Scientist working at the Centre National de Recherches Météorologiques, I investigate tropical atmospheric variability. I am interested in the general topic of the interaction between atmospheric circulation and diabatic processes: cloud formation, radiation, turbulent mixing, and I investigate how this interaction creates meteorological phenomena in the tropics at multiple scales, from the local to the planetary scale. I am particularly interested in the climate of tropical islands

Catherine SABINOT (PhD at MNHN-Paris) is an ethnoecologist and anthropologist at the French National Research Institute for Sustainable Development within the UMR Espace pour le développement (IRD-UR-UA-UG-UM2). She coordinates the LADIVA research group (Littoraux, îles et archipels – Vulnérabilité, adaptation, viabilité des territoires insulaires et côtiers). Her research, initially conducted on the American and African coasts, developing comparative approaches, has been pursued for ten years on the coasts and islands of the Indo-Pacific region. She studies the socio-environmental transformations underway as well as the processes of adaptation and negotiation of knowledge, norms and values in contexts where local knowledge, institutional knowledge and scientific knowledge intermingle, combine or confront each other. Catherine Sabinot is an expert within IPBES since 2019.

Gilbert David is a geographer of the sea and islands, research director at IRD, UMR Espace-Dev, and co-leader of the LADIVA research group (Littoraux, îles et Archipels, DIversité, vulnérabilité, Viabilité, Adaptabilité) and a member of the MASMA (MArine Science for Management) committee of the WIOMSA (Western Indian Ocean Marine Science Association) His thesis (1991, University of Bretagne Occidentale) is on the role of reef fisheries in food security in Vanuatu, his HDR (2005, Paris IV Sorbonne) on the islands and shores of Oceania and the western Indian Ocean. Since 1997, he has worked on marine protected areas (MPAs) and the integrated management of coastal and island territories. Based at the remote sensing centre in Montpellier, he has conducted research projects in recent years on ecosystem services, science-decision-maker dialogue in ICZM and MPA governance, and fisheries systems. From 2017 to 2022, he coordinated the collective scientific expertise led by the IRD on artisanal fisheries in Haiti in close collaboration with the Directorate of Fisheries and Aquaculture of the Ministry of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Sustainable Development (MARNDR).

Séverine BOUARD (PhD, Université de Montpellier Paul Valery) is a geographer at the Institut agronomique néo-Calédonien. She is head of the TERAU (Territories, Actors and Uses) team at the IAC.

Since 2008, her research has focused more specifically on issues relating to the livelihoods of rural Kanak households and the evolution of sustainable development policies (links between local knowledge, agricultural production and the creation of intangible wealth, evaluation and impact of development policies). Her recent research activities have focused mainly on developing methodologies and analyses of the extent of agriculture and hunting/fishing activities in Kanak country and the Pacific. The main questions are: How are farming, fishing, and hunting activities linked to other social and professional activities? How do the means of subsistence of the Kanak, and more broadly of the Pacific populations, adapt to changes (climatic, intensification of mining activities, etc.)? How do they cope with the pressures and balance household food requirements, income and social needs? What’s more, these results are constantly being fed back into a broader debate on the measurement of intangible capital and the sustainability of development.

A scientist with a background in legal anthropology, Dr Tamatoa Bambridge is a research director at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), working in a marine biology laboratory in Moorea since 2007.
Since 1995, he has been analysing the expression of legal and cultural pluralism in land and maritime management in the Pacific.
In 2001, he completed his doctoral thesis on land claims in the Austral Islands and then continued his career in environmental anthropology.
He has over twenty years of field research experience in many of the archipelagos of French Polynesia. Much of his work deals with land and marine ownership rooted in his early fieldwork on land and kinship in the Austral Islands.
Dr Bambridge’s current work uses anthropological methods to focus on land and marine governance and their impacts on adaptation and resilience. His longstanding commitment to understanding traditional Polynesian resource management has led to the publication of ‘The Rāhui’ in 2016 (Australian National University Press), ‘Ocean and commons’ in 2022 (Au Vent des îles)
Now a Rāhui specialist, he is interested in contemporary governance of marine spaces, coral reef ecosystem services, catchment management and local biodiversity-related knowledge.
Since 2019, he has been leading the interdisciplinary team of Centre Rāhui in French Polynesia. He oversees the strategic orientations of the project and contributes to the formalisation of operational and financial partnerships. He coordinates the scientific activities carried out by the whole team and supervises the students, especially for realising social science surveys. He is also involved in the reflections and awareness raising of local authorities and communities.

As an environmental anthropologist I study the spatial and temporal dynamics of Coral Reef Socio-ecosystems (CR-SES) of French Polynesia at the watershed-scale by combining approaches dealing with both small-scale fisheries and agricultural practices. I approach CR-SES as systems which not only provide the essential material and immaterial base of local communities but also as products of interactions between humans, non-humans and landscapes within socialized environments. At the crossroads of life and human sciences, my research combines i) qualitative approaches grounded on a fine-tuned ethnography of primary users’ practices, strategies and knowledge systems along with ii) quantitative approaches driven by cutting-edge citizen- and participatory-science led data collection protocols. In addition to better understanding the feedbacks between Polynesian cultures and environments, he endeavors to analyze the socio-political dynamics at play in the implementation of environmental management policies and more specifically to understand how local stakeholders involved in resource management and governance (e.g., resource managers, scientists, fishers) receive, repurpose and/or claim ownership over such policies.

Collaborating with ecologists and marine scientists as well as local stakeholders I strive to create bridges between local and scientific expertise in order to co-produce innovative tools for community-based marine management resources and to co-design hybrid resource management regimes that may address the expectations of local communities, political decision-makers and scientists.

Originally from Futuna, I studied in New Caledonia (UNC). With a master’s degree in anthropology and another in land use planning, I had the opportunity to enter the world of research by collaborating with researchers from the University of New Caledonia, the IRD and the IAC, on themes that cut across food security, climate change and indigenous knowledge.  After 18 years, I decided to return to Futuna in 2023. Today, I’m lucky enough to be working in research again, this time on my Fenua, as part of the CLIPSSA project.

Samson holds a degree in Agricultural Engineering, as well as a double Master’s degree in Marine and Coastal Sciences and Sustainable Agricultural Development and Food Security. He has begun a doctoral contract under joint UNC/IRD supervision as part of the CLIPSSA project. His thesis is entitled “Challenges, capacities and vulnerabilities to face climate change. The contribution of local knowledge and the exchange of knowledge, know-how and life skills with inhabitants of New Caledonia and Vanuatu”.

He is supervised by Catherine Sabinot, Gilbert David and Christophe Menkes and is attached to the Ecole Doctorale du Pacifique (UNC).

Samson previously completed an internship at the French Ministry of Ecological Transition on Maritime and Coastal Territories, Challenges and Perspectives. He has worked with many institutions in Haiti as part of the management and evaluation of projects relating to maritime fisheries and the strengthening of agricultural public services. He was an SVT and Agronomy teacher at the Lycée and CFA La Bretonnière in France.

Doctor in socio-anthropology and a graduate of the National Museum of Natural History in France, Maya has a dual background in anthropology and ecology. In partnership with CIRAD, Her PhD focused on developing agricultural products in developing countries. She studied the socio-economic and environmental issues of the rooibos sector, which became South Africa’s first PDO (Protected Designation of Origin) to be recognised by Europe in 2021. After her PhD, she co-founded two applied research cooperatives in the human and social sciences and has directed a number of studies and research projects in France and abroad on the subjects of urban policies, mobility and social protection. She has worked for social landlords, local authorities, research institutes (IRD, CNRS) and agencies (ADEME, AFD, DARES, etc.). 

Under the supervision of Catherine Sabinot, she will focus on the adaptation to climate change of productive activities (agriculture, gardening) in French Polynesia (Papeete peninsula, Taravao and Tautira, and Moorea). The aim will be to describe the issues and the various practices and resources of local people who grow food to cope with extreme climatic hazards and also to define the factors that may or may not enable local knowledge to be considered in public policies for adapting to climate change.

David is a geographer specialising in remote sensing and geographic information systems (GIS). He focuses on climate science and meteorology. With a Master’s degree in Climate Change from the WASCAL programme and a PhD on climate extremes in West Africa, he models the interactions between climate phenomena and land management. His research aims to develop adaptive strategies for local communities. He is an author of articles and taken part in international conferences. He is also involved in education and raising awareness of climate issues.

Gildas is an agronomist specialising in environmental management, with proven experience in the fields of meteorology and climate sciences.
After obtaining a Master’s degree in Climate Change and Adapted Land Use from the WASCAL programme, Gildas obtained his PhD in Meteorology and Climate Science, where he studied the influence of land use changes on surface energy and rising condensation levels in West Africa and the consequences of these influences on agricultural production. His research has enabled him to develop adaptation strategies for local communities and politicians facing climate challenges. Gildas, author of several articles, lecturer and founding member of the NGO ‘Green Sustainable World’, is involved in developing strategies for awareness, adaptation and resilience in the face of climate change.

Chloé is from Lyon and is pursuing a Master’s degree in “Biodiversity, Ecology, and Evolution” in scientific ecology and social sciences at the National Museum of Natural History in Paris.
She joined the Espace DEV Joint Research Unit as an intern for the CLIPSSA project, focusing on the social sciences component.
Under the supervision of Maya Leclercq and Catherine Sabinot, she will conduct a fieldwork assignment in Taravao, French Polynesia, on “Tahitian farmers’ knowledge of adaptation to climate change and the circulation of this knowledge.”
She will also participate in data production, analysis, and reporting of these results.

Ida is a student at ISTOM (Angers), studying International Agro-Development and specialising in Territories, Risks, Planning and the Environment.
Ida joined the CLIPSSA team as a research assistant for her end-of-studies internship, under the supervision of Catherine Sabinot and Samson Jean Marie.
Her main tasks include bibliographical research, data collection and analysis (semi-structured interviews, questionnaires, transcriptions and thematic analysis), and writing summaries and interim reports.
She attends team meetings and various scientific events connected with the CLIPSSA project.
As part of her work, she will be conducting a field study in Vanuatu, where she will be looking at the role of women in the transmission of knowledge.

Moeana is currently studying for a Master 2 in ‘Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolution, Oceanic Island Environment’ at the University of French Polynesia.
Under the supervision of Maya LECLERCQ and Catherine SABINOT, she will be carrying out a fieldwork assignment in French Polynesia on the ‘Adaptation knowledge of farmers in Tahiti and Moorea in the face of climate change and the circulation of this knowledge’.
She will be taking part in the production of data on this knowledge, and in the reporting of the results in order to draw up the various analysis reports, under the supervision

Fleur VALLET is an environmental geographer specialising in climate change adaptation, disaster risk reduction, sustainable cities and biodiversity conservation in developing and emerging countries (Africa, the Indian Ocean, South Pacific). She has worked on cross-cutting and interdisciplinary development projects for public development agencies, governments and international and national research institutes.

Jean-Marc CARCY is in charge of the Communication, Trade and Digital department at the Interregional Direction of Météo-france in French Polynesia. Engineer of Meteorological works, she participates in the communication actions of Météo-france and she implements the commercial action programs.

Cléophée has joined the CLIPSSA team as a communications and scientific mediation project assistant for 6 months, under the supervision of Fleur Vallet (UMR Entropie).
Her main tasks will include contributing to the CLIPSSA website, assisting the IRD and Météo-France institutional communications team with the drafting of press releases and other documents relating to the project, as well as monitoring requests from the traditional media and events organised around the CLIPSSA project in the territories concerned.
She will also contribute to the co-development of a variety of educational materials based on scientific sources, to be used for project communication and actions in the field, in close collaboration with the project’s scientific teams. She will be involved in organising events for the general public and schools, as well as the overall organisation of a climate events project.