Kimberly Baldwin graduated with a PhD in 2012. Her doctoral thesis is entitled “A Marine Space-use Information System for the Grenadine Islands: Implications for collaborative planning and management”. She developed the Grenadine MarSIS as a multi-knowledge Participatory GIS (PGIS) which integrates a range of transboundary information on marine resources, biodiversity and ecosystems of the Grenada Bank together with the social and economic aspects of marine resource use patterns and corresponding activity profiles of its users.

Her research evaluated the usefulness (in terms of the costs and benefits) of a participatory research involved the development and production of this interdisciplinary, multi-knowledge marine PGIS. Therefore, the MarSIS geodatabase was developed to enable a range of stakeholders (including marine resource users, managers, policy makers and communities) from both Grenada and St. Vincent and the Grenadines to easily access and integrate environmental, social and economic information and interests derived from both conventional scientific and local knowledge systems in a more holistic collaborative framework.

The proposed Grenadines MarSIS was ultimately developed as an internet-accessible planning and management geodatabase aiming to conserve biodiversity as well as facilitate transparent and equitable development of a participatory transboundary marine space-use plan for the Grenadine Islands.

Please feel free to read more information about this research on the Grenadines MarSIS website and Yahoo E-group webpage.

• MarSIS Website
• MarSIS Yahoo Group

Kimberly Baldwin

PhD Graduate
BSc (University of California, Santa Barbara)
MSc (UWI, Cave Hill)

Email: baldwin.kimberly@gmail.com