Ainka brings over seven years of experience working in climate change and environmental management in the Caribbean and Pacific small island developing states (SIDS). Currently, she is Senior Technical Officer and Resilience Lead at CANARI, overseeing the portfolio of projects on climate change and disaster resilience. Ainka is a climate change adaptation specialist with expertise in community-based and ecosystem-based adaptation, vulnerability assessments and participatory development of adaptation plans and policies. She also has expertise and experience in climate finance access and delivery in the SIDS context and recently led the regional Green Climate Fund readiness project on enhancing Caribbean civil society’s access to finance from 2020-2023.

Ainka has a Ph.D. in Resource Management and Geography, University of Melbourne, Australia; M.Sc. in Conservation Biology and Sustainable Development, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA; and a BA (Hons.) in Geography, University of Cambridge, UK.