Dr Shobha Maharaj is a Trinidadian climate scientist whose work centres on adaptation under climate overshoot. She led the adaptation chapter of UNEP’s 2026 Overshoot Spotlight Report and co-authored a 2025 Annual Review of overshoot science. She is a Coordinating Lead Author for the IPCC’s Seventh Assessment Report, on the Small Islands chapter. Her focus is how small island governments can recalibrate adaptation plans built for a world below 1.5°C, and how those plans can be made robust as climate risks compound over the decades ahead. She works where science meets policy and international law, turning overshoot science into decisions governments can act on. She is an adjunct professor at the University of Fiji and sits on Fiji’s National Research Council. An Oxford DPhil and IPCC AR6 Lead Author, she has given evidence to all three climate advisory opinions sought from international courts.
Shobha Maharaj
Climate Scientist
