Carol-Anne M. Blenman is the Founder and Managing Director & CEO of Violeta Consulting Services.

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She is an enthusiastic, dynamic and highly motivated Chevening Scholar, International Development Professional and Sustainability Expert, with over a decade of consulting, training and research experience in Development Economics - with a specialized focus on the climate change and disaster risk agendas. 

 

She is a Barbadian National who has pursued a Master’s of Science degree in Climate Change and Development at the University of Sussex/Institute of Development Studies having received the International Chevening Scholarship Award for developing future global leaders from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office of the United Kingdom in 2015. Prior to this, she pursued a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Economics and Management at the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus in Barbados. 

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As an International Development Professional and Sustainability Expert, she has made notable contributions to projects of national, regional and international significance. She has worked on several research assignments commissioned by the Ministry of Environment & Natural Beautification, Blue and Green Economy (Government of Barbados), the University of the West Indies: Cave Hill Campus (Barbados), the United Nations System, the Inter-American Development Bank, the Caribbean Development Bank, the World Bank Group, DFID Caribbean and the Commonwealth Secretariat. 

 

Research areas include the green economy, the blue economy, climate change, Small Island Developing States, Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries, sustainability, climate finance, disaster risk reduction, disaster risk management, the bio-economy, trade, environmental protection, the economics of ecosystems and biodiversity, environmental goods and services, sustainable consumption/production, food/water/energy/citizen security, waste-water management, gender, youth, health, poverty reduction, urbanization, education, public and private sector development, social protection, labour markets and financial markets.

   

Whilst working with the Ministry of Environment & Natural Beautification, Blue and Green Economy (Government of Barbados), she prepared a Trade and Environment Report entitled, ‘An Information Paper on WTO Negotiations on Environmental Goods and Services and the Potential Impacts for Barbados’. More recently, she has worked for the University of the West Indies as a Research Assistant for the Barbados Green Economy Scoping Study; and prepared a Draft Gap Analysis of Barbados for The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB) study hosted by the United Nations Environment Programme. She has also worked on the United Nations Environment Programme - Latin American and Caribbean Initiative for Sustainable Development: ILAC Indicators Project (Barbados); the Compete Caribbean Private Sector Development Strategies for the Eastern Caribbean States (RG-T1767); the Barbados National Report for the UNHABITAT III Project; the World Bank Group’s Strengthening Labour Market Monitoring and Performance in the Caribbean project (P144470); the DFID Caribbean’s Essential Data on the Development Status of the Caribbean project; the IDB’s Climate Change and Disaster Risk Reduction Module for the Public Expenditure Review in Barbados; the 2019 edition of the Commonwealth Secretariat's Economic Development Report and the UNDRR Mid-Term Review of the Sendai Framework for Barbados in similar capacities. 

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She has also volunteered her expertise in the following capacities:

• Chevening Team Leader: Caribbean SIDS - HMG Climate Change Hackathon at COP 26 Glasgow;

• Expert Reviewer for the following IPCC Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) outputs: 

  • The Second Order Draft contribution of Working Group III; 

  • The First Drafts of the Summary for Policymakers and the Technical Summary; and

  • The First Order Draft of the Synthesis Report.

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Areas of profound interest include:

• The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

• The United Nations Climate Change Secretariat

• The Green Climate Fund

• The United Nations Development Programme - Climate Promise

• The United Nations Environment Programme - Blue Economy

• The United Nations Environment Programme - Green Economy

• The United Nations Sustainable Development Platform

• The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development

• The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity Study

• The Climate and Development Knowledge Network

• The Commonwealth Climate Finance Access Hub

• The Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre

• The Inter-American Development Bank

• The Institute of Development Studies

• The Sussex Climate Change Network

• The World Bank Group