Olivia Palin: Programme Leader, Sustainable Ecosystems

Olivia’s role at Acclimatise is to lead on ecosystem-based projects, particularly for the agricultural and forestry sectors. Olivia brings two important elements to our team: firstly, a wealth of knowledge on how ecosystems are affected by climate change and, secondly, practical insight about how ecosystems can help build climate resilience.

Previously, Olivia was employed by the Sindicatum Climate Change Foundation, focussing on climate change adaptation and mitigation issues. She has also spent considerable time researching termite diversity and ecosystem functioning in Peruvian tropical forests for the University of Oxford’s Environmental Change Institute and exploring opportunities to generate carbon credits from biofuel projects for Sindicatum Carbon Capital Ltd. Additionally, Olivia addressed environmental change issues (including climate change impacts) whilst researching marine ecology and conservation issues in Kenya and Tanzania with the WWF/ Kenya Wildlife Service and Frontier, respectively.

Since joining Acclimatise, Olivia has worked on a variety of projects with an ecosystem emphasis. An example of this emphasis was her involvement in assessing the business impacts of a changing climate for an oil palm production company in West Africa. During this project, Olivia was involved in analysing the potential effects of climate change on the entire palm oil value chain, with a focus on oil palm growth, pests and diseases, ecosystem services and water resources. This work required an important analysis of the links between yield and financial performance, with subsequent management solution developed to maintain business continuity.

Olivia holds an MSc in Environmental Change & Management (Distinction) from Linacre College, University of Oxford, and a BA in Geography (First Class Honours) from Jesus College, University of Oxford. While studying, Olivia focused her attention on climate change and ecosystem dynamics.