Alumni AudioLab is a monthly podcast series where alumni of the OeAD talk about themselves and their research. The OeAD brings together researchers from all over the world and from different fields of research who spent part of their research career in Austria – some of them have even stayed here. In the Alumni AudioLab they tell their stories, talk about their scientific ambitions, their motivations and their personal backgrounds. It is an open format for all those who are not only interested in science as such but also in the people behind it.
https://oead.at/en/to-austria/alumni/audiolab
AAL_38 Alumni AudioLab with Crista Stubbs
Crista Stubbs recognized the fragility and vulnerability of ecosystems on the Caribbean side of Nicaragua early on. This vulnerability is directly linked to climate change. She already dedicated herself to this topic in her bachelor thesis. In her master's thesis at the University of Vienna she deepened the subject and examined the role of the mangrove ecosystems on the east coast of Nicaragua in relation to their ability to store CO2. She was a scholarship holder of - Austrian Partnership Programme in Higher Education and Research for Development.
One of her most recent research projects examines the vulnerability of local producers after Hurricane Iota devastated the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua in November 2020. Iota hit the coast shortly after Hurricane Eta. These rapid on-going natural disasters made it difficult for local people to deal with the consequences. Hurricanes are not uncommon in this region, but climate change makes them more likely to happen now and in the future. So it is the adaptation to the consequences of climate change that plays an important role in this region.
In this podcast, Crista Stubbs tells about her experiences in Austria, about climate protection and climate change adaptation in Nicaragua and about how the population is affected by natural disasters.