Soumise à une pression anthropique forte et croissante, la nature méditerranéenne connue pour sarichesse interspécifique est menacée sur les espaces continentaux et les plus grandes îles. Lespetites îles et les îlots se présentent alors comme les derniers refuges d’une biodiversité rare etmenacée. Dans ce contexte, la délégation Europe et International du Conservatoire du Littoral a créél’Initiative PIM, un programme d’assistance et d’échanges pour la protection de ces territoires.Par conséquent, même en Méditerranée, les îles, et particulièrement les plus petites d’entre ellesdeviennent un enjeu environnemental discuté dans les sphères politiques nationales etinternationales. En effet, si jusqu’à nos jours les îles ont occupé une place centrale dans laconstruction des savoirs scientifiques en sciences naturelles et en sciences sociales, elles seretrouvent aujourd’hui sur le devant de la scène dans de nombreuses politiques environnementales.Rendue possible par le dispositif CIFRE, ce travail de recherche s’intègre dans l’Initiative PIM par uneimmersion de plus de deux ans. Cette dernière s’incarne dans la réalisation d’un atlas encyclopédiquedes petites îles de Méditerranée occidentale. L’objectif de cet ouvrage est d’être le socle d’unplaidoyer pour la protection de la biodiversité de ces territoires, réalisé en s’appuyant sur les donnéesenvironnementales pour construire des stratégies de conservation. Les acteurs de la sciencedeviendraient alors centraux dans l’élaboration de ces stratégies. Ce travail de recherche interroge lesplaces prises par les scientifiques dans la fabrique des politiques environnementales. Qu’ils s’agissentde la construction de l’enjeu ou de la mise en place d’actions concrètes, les scientifiques peuvent êtreamenés à jouer différents rôles. En s’appuyant sur l’analyse de différentes actions environnementalesmenées pour protéger la biodiversité des petites îles de Méditerranée, une typologie des rôlesoccupés par les scientifiques est alors établie. Si les scientifiques prennent parfois une place enamont de la politique environnementale en orientant la décision, ils leur arrivent aussi d’être intégrés àl’action et les considérations écologiques qu’ils soulèvent sont mises en regards de nombreux autreséléments tels que l’acceptabilité sociale ; enfin dans certains cas, ils deviennent des cautions etjustifient l’action environnementale. / Under strong and increasing human pressure, the Mediterranean environment, famous for its richnessis threatened especially along continental areas and larger islands. Small islands and islets appear asthe last refuges of endemic and endangered biodiversity. In this context, the European andInternational delegation of Conservatoire du Littoral created the PIM Initiative, a program to promotethe exchange of best practices for the protection of these territories.Therefore, even the Mediterranean nature composed of the islands, and particularly the smaller ones,has become an environmental issue discussed on the national and international political stage. Islandshave occupied a specific place in the accrual of scientific knowledge in natural and social sciences oftoday, which are highlighted in many environmental policies.The resultant research work is part of the PIM Initiative and was performed in the frame of a CIFREprogram for three years. The main goal of the operational work was the realization of anencyclopaedic atlas of small islands in the western Mediterranean basin. Its aim was to buildconservation strategies by using environmental data. These strategies must be the basis for theprotection of biodiversity in these territories. So, the sciences stakeholders should become central inthe development of new conservation policies. This research work raises the question of the placesoccupied by scientists in the process of setting up environmental policies. From the construction of theissue to the implementation of concrete conservation actions, scientists play different roles. A typologyof the roles occupied by scientists is established based on the analysis of several environmentalactions developed in order to protect the biodiversity of small Mediterranean islands. Occasionallyscientists are involved upstream of the environmental policy by guiding the decision. Sometimes theyare more integrated in the action and the ecological regards that they raise are viewed as one elementamong other such as social acceptability. Finally, in some cases, scientists become a guarantee andjustify the environmental action.

Climate change poses one of the biggest challenges that most countries have to face over the coming decades. The transformations in our global weather patterns are expected to bring some very adverse effects for most of the island nations that comprise the Caribbean region. These nations have been continuously identified as one of the territorial groups that are most vulnerable to climate change, while the region barely contributes to the main triggers of these changes. Caribbean island nations have many elements that hinder their individual and regional development. Climate change will aggravate those conditions while bringing new challenges to these territories, particularly in the capital cities, as these urban areas serve are the main economic, social, political and cultural centres of these nations. A good understanding of the vulnerabilities of these cities will become a critical factor for developing good adaptation measures for their respective nations. Planning can prove useful for implementing climate change adaptation strategies, particularly for cities. This research provides three main contributions to the literature on climate change and on urban planning studies. First, it expands the discussion upon the linkages between disaster risk reduction experiences and climate change adaptation practices. Second, it highlights the relevance of capital cities for evaluating climate change impacts and adaptation actions for small island territories. The third contribution is the creation of a planning tool to assess climate change vulnerabilities of Caribbean cities. These three elements will further expand the existing knowledge base related to climate change adaptation and urban planning disciplines, particularly pertaining to the Caribbean region. Caribbean cities will greatly benefit from a planning perspective that can guide their development processes in the face of climate impacts. By means of vulnerability assessments it is possible to facilitate the analysis of climate change impacts and outcomes on vulnerable areas and planners can contribute to this aspect. A planning support tool was created to aid in the development of a vulnerability assessment for small island cities in the region - the Caribbean Climate change Urban Vulnerability Index (CCUVI). Using the CCUVI, a vulnerability assessment methodology was developed, using the city of San Juan (Puerto Rico) as a case study. The results of the vulnerability assessment helped identify five different areas within the case study city that are prone to be more affected by climate change impacts. The assessment also analysed how the vulnerability conditions in these areas and in the city changed through time, exploring two distinct scenario storylines for San Juan towards 2050. A series of normative and operational recommendations emerged from the assessment process that will help planners and policymakers engage in adaptation actions to reduce the climate vulnerabilities of Caribbean small island capital cities.

京都大学 / 0048 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(エネルギー科学) / 甲第21882号 / エネ博第383号 / 新制||エネ||74(附属図書館) / 京都大学大学院エネルギー科学研究科エネルギー社会・環境科学専攻 / (主査)教授 石原 慶一, 教授 東野 達, 教授 酒井 伸一 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Energy Science / Kyoto University / DFAM

Renewable energy integration into diesel generation systems for remote island communities is a rapidly growing energy engineering field. Fuel supply issues are becoming more common and the disruption, instability and panic caused by fuel shortages results in inefficient and unreliable power supplies for remote island communities. This thesis develops an energy engineering approach for meeting renewable energy development, supply security, cost and sustainability objectives. The approach involves adapting proven energy engineering techniques including energy auditing, energy system modelling with basic cost analysis and demand side management. The novel aspect of this research is the development of critical load engineering in the system design, and informing this with an assessment of essentiality of energy services during the audit phase. This approach was prompted by experiences with previous fuel shortages and long term sustainability policy drivers. The methodology uses the most essential electric loads as the requirement for sizing the renewable energy capacity in the hybrid system. This approach is revolutionary because communication with the customers about availability and the need to shed non-essential loads helps to both meet cost and security requirements and to reduce levels of panic and uncertainty when fuel supply issues arise. A sustainable power generation system is a system that provides continuity of supply for electrical appliances that are considered by the residents to be essential and for which adaptability and resilience of behaviour were key design priorities over growth. The sustainable electrical energy supply should match the critical (essential) load and should have the ability to continue without major disruptions to the daily lives of the people in these communities. Essential energy end uses were identified through energy audits and surveys. The electric power system is designed so that renewable energy sources alone can meet that “essential” demand with a plant that is both economically and technically feasible. Diesel generators were supplemented to meet the short fall in meeting the unconstrained electric demand. This is to design a system that is generally competitive with the present conventional power generation. This method should be particularly suitable for handling the complexities of a modern-day energy system in terms of planning a sizable sustainable energy and electricity system, either based on wholly sustainable sources or integrating sustainable sources of energy into a conventional generation system. The final hybrid system chosen after numerous simulations for the case study (Fenfushi island in the Maldives) community has the minimum renewable energy sources to meet the essential load but uses diesel to supplement the present load. A variety of design parameters such as PV size, wind turbine sizes and numbers and battery capacity have been considered. The minimum renewable energy sources to supply the essential loads of the community were simulated with diesel generators to find the optimal supply mix for the present load (typical unconstrained demand). The final outcome has the following characteristics: NPC and COE were $1,532,340 and $0.37/kWh respectively, lower than any diesel-only systems that could supply the demand. The total annual electricity production is 386,444 units (kWh), of which 9.61% is excess electricity and the annual operating cost is $68,688. Compared to the diesel-only systems there is a fuel savings of 77,021 litres of diesel per year, which is a 66.5 % reduction. An annual carbon dioxide emission reduction of 202,824 kg was achieved, which is a reduction of 66.5%. An annual renewable energy contribution of 70% would be achieved, 34% of which would be from PV arrays and 36% from wind turbines. The selected system shows that even with 30 percent power supply from diesel generators, still the highest NPC is on diesel generation for a life of over 25 years.

Many small islands depend on sustainable tourism to attain long term economic prosperity and well-being for their citizens. As they become more dependent on tourism for their growth, they are more concerned with improving their competitiveness to adapt to a highly charged competitive environment and to the dynamic market conditions. The quintessential problem is how to achieve, maintain, and enhance competitiveness. There is limited research on tourism destination competitiveness (TDC), and much less on small island destinations. This study concentrates on TDC with a special focus on Malta as a small Mediterranean island in an attempt to develop a comprehensive TDC framework that is useful to small island destinations, and advances models and measures to assess competitiveness based on importance-performance analysis techniques (IPA). To achieve its research objectives, this study adopts a methodological position reflecting pragmatist assumptions and uses a sequential, exploratory, Mixed Methods design strategy. In the qualitative first phase of the design, thirty-five in-depth interviews are conducted with key ‘experts’ in tourism. It emerges from the participants’ description that sixty tourism-specific and business-related determinants provide a broad framework for assessing TDC. In the second phase, survey research is applied in order to develop quantitative measures to reveal the relative importance of the competitiveness factors, to assess the performance of the destination on these factors, and to identify priority areas that require immediate attention for improvement. Statistical measures and procedures are modified, introduced, and tested to establish a valid model for measuring TDC. Results show that the diagonal approach and the adjusted weighted partial ranking method for measuring importance and performance are the best combination that satisfies validity criteria. When applying these techniques to assess Malta’s competitiveness relative to a competing set of Mediterranean destinations, twelve tourism attributes and fourteen business-related factors are identified as priority areas for improvement, with the competitiveness deficiency gaps in business factors being notably higher than those in tourism-specific areas. This study has several implications for the development of TDC theory, methods, and application to small islands. It provides tourism researchers, policymakers, and practitioners with a theoretically robust framework that can assist them in the formulation of policies, the management of the destination, and the implementation of strategies to optimise resource allocation in order to enhance a destination’s competitive position. Given that there are few studies that focus on the development and measurement of TDC models for small islands, this study makes a valid contribution to knowledge. The methodological approaches adopted in this inquiry have substantive application in IPA studies both within and beyond tourism studies. The study’s outcomes are also transferable to small island destinations operating in similar environments.

Small Island Developing States (SIDS) are amongst the most vulnerable states in the world. They are subject to a number of stresses including economical, climatic and spatial restraints. This thesis investigates the effects that certain critical ‘stresses’ will have on the groundwater reserves of SIDS. Mauritius was chosen as the case study for this project because of three main reasons, which were that 1) islands of the Indian Ocean are the least studied compared to the pacific and Caribbean islands, 2) there is no actual groundwater model for the aquifers of Mauritius and finally 3) information and background knowledge was more accessible to the author.  Two critical aquifers of Mauritius were chosen according to their respective vulnerability (extraction rates of groundwater, geological features, and rainfall patterns), Aquifers II and V. The aquifers were calibrated using data that was published by the Mauritian local authorities and through an extensive literature review. Aquifer II and Aquifer V were modelled using the software ModelMUSE and a steady state model (with a time series of 100 years) was used to calibrate the models using limited data that was obtained through the literature review. Aquifer V was successfully modelled while Aquifer II gave inconsistent results. A transient model using four scenarios inspired by the IPCC scenario analysis was used to investigate the salt water intrusion as well as the piezometric levels in both aquifers. The scenarios (run for a period of 100 years, i.e. until 2100) were of varying degrees of severity and included the main drivers of change that were believed to affect the groundwater consumption of Mauritius. The attributes that were targeted in this thesis were: economy, demography, technology and climate. These were then converted into quantifies inputs that were used in the model to assess the migration of the saltwater/freshwater interface in the aquifers. Scenario 4 which involved low recharge rate of the aquifer, high sea level rise, low GDP growth and increasing population subjected the aquifer to a reduced water table, and consequential sea water intrusion of the order 1.5 km across the cross section analysed. Scenario 3, which consisted of investment in green technology, increase in recharge of the aquifers on the other hand gave the more optimistic results with the salt water - fresh water interface moving seawards. Scenario 4 rendered unusable around 50 % of the wells in the aquifer while Scenario 3 on the other had the effects of increasing the freshwater lens of the Aquifer V. Measures such as sustainable urban drainage systems, managed aquifer recharge and Seepcat (a method which involves placing a series of pipes around coastal aquifers to prevent the intrusion of salt water) were recommended to decrease the salt water intrusion risk and eventually increase the fresh water lens of the island on various spatial and time scales. It is suggested that the coarse groundwater model developed for Aquifer V of Mauritius be refined and applied to different aquifers of the island. Moreover it is also recommended for future work that discontinuities in the geology be integrated in the groundwater model. A more detailed and nuanced water balance is also recommended to get more accurate initial conditions for the model. This thesis, by providing a coarse model to tackle the impending challenges that await Mauritius, can support a more sustainable water management of the country. / Small Island Developing States (SIDS), små önationer under utveckling, är bland de mest sårbara staterna i världen. De är utsatta för ett antal stressfaktorer inklusive ekonomiska, klimatrelaterade och rumsliga restriktioner. Detta examensarbete undersöker effekterna av några kritiska stressfaktorer på grundvattenreserverna i dessa önationer. Mauritius valdes som fallstudie för detta projekt på grund av tre huvudsakliga orsaker. Dessa var att öar i Indiska Oceanen är de minst studerade jämfört med atlantiska och karibiska öar, att det inte finns någon riktig grundvattenmodell för akvifererna på Mauritius och slutligen att information och bakgrundskunskap var mer lättåtkomligt för författaren. Två kritiska akviferer på Mauritius valdes utifrån deras respektive sårbarheter (uttagshastighet av grundvatten, geologiska egenskaper och nederbördsmönster). Baserat på detta valdes Akvifer II och Akvifer V. Akvifererna kalibrerades med hjälp av data publicerat av mauritiska lokala myndigheter och genom en omfattande litteraturstudie. Akvifer II och Akvifer V modellerades i programmet ModelMUSE och en steady state-modell (med en tidsserie på 100 år) användes för att kalibrera modellerna med hjälp av begränsad data som erhölls under litteraturstudien. Inmatningsvärdena erhölls från vattenresursenheten på Mauritius, från vilka genomsnittliga värden över en tidsperiod om 15 år togs fram och användes som begynnelsevillkor för steady state-modellen. Akvifer V kalibrerades med framgång medan Akvifer II gav inkonsekventa resultat. Detta hänfördes till de stora skillnaderna i topografin i Akvifer II, vilka bidrog till att fel uppstod under uträkningen. En tidsberoende modell med fyra scenarios inspirerade av FN:s klimatpanels scenarioanalys användes för att undersöka saltvatteninträngningen samt grundvattennivån i båda akvifererna. Scenarierna (körda över en period om 100 år, d.v.s. till 2100) var av varierande viktighetsgrad och inkluderade de främsta drivkrafterna som ansågs påverka Mauritius grundvattenförbrukning. De attribut som fokuserades på i denna avhandling var: ekonomi, demografi, teknik och klimat. Dessa omvandlades sedan till indata som användes i modellen för att bedöma migrationen av saltvatten/sötvattengränsen i akvifererna. Scenario 4 som innebar liten grundvattenbildning i akviferen, hög havsnivåstigning, låg BNP-tillväxt och ökande befolkning utsatte akviferen för en reducerad vattennivå, och påföljande havsvatteninträngning av ordningen 1,5 km över den analyserade tvärsektionen. Scenario 3 gav å andra sidan mer optimistiska resultat då saltvatten/sötvattengränsen rörde sig mot havet. Scenario 4 medförde att ungefär 50 % av brunnarna i akviferen blev oanvändbara. Åtgärder såsom hållbara stadsdräneringssystem, kontrollerad grundvattenbildning och Seepcat (en metod som innebär att man placerar en serie rör runt kustområden för att förhindra saltvattenintrång) rekommenderas för att minska saltvatteninträngningen och så småningom öka öns färskvattenlins på olika rumsliga och tidsrelaterade skalor. Det föreslås att den grova grundvattenmodellen som utvecklats för Akvifer V i Mauritius förfinas och appliceras på olika akviferer på ön. Därtill rekommenderas att diskontinuiteter i geologin integreras i grundvattenmodellen i framtida arbete. Genom att applicera modellen kan viktig information användas för en hållbar vattenförvaltning på Mauritius i framtiden.