Lino Briguglio

Education

Professor Briguglio was awarded a Doctor of Philosophy in Economics from the University of Exeter (United Kingdom) in 1982 and an Honours and Masters degree in Economics from the University of Malta (1972 and 1977).

Career

He also chairs the Board of Trustees of the Small States Network for Economic Development, which is funded by the World Bank. He was Head of the Economics Department and of the Banking and Finance Department at the University of Malta. He obtained a Diploma in Social Studies from the University of Oxford (United Kingdom) in 1970.

Professor Briguglio has published a large number of papers on islands and small states, one of which is a seminal article on inherent economic vulnerabilities of small island states in World Development (September 1995).

He has also developed written various papers on economic resilience, one of which was published in Oxford Development Studies (September 2009). He has also edited a series of four books on Vulnerability, Resilience and Competitiveness of Small States, published by the University of Malta in collaboration with the Commonwealth Secretariat

Professor Briguglio was a lead author for the Third and Fourth Assessments Reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), contributing mainly to the chapters on small islands’ vulnerability and adaptation to climate change.

In 1999 at a meeting of the United Nations Environment Program"s governing council, Briguglio stated that small countries "are vulnerable to forces outside their control."

At a symposium in early 2010 at the University of Malta, Briguglio said that disbelief in climate change is "ideological, difficult to change and often rooted in rightwing sources". Professor Briguglio has acted as consultant to several international organisations including the UNDESA, United Nations Environment Programme, United Nations Development Program, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (United Nations Conference on Trade and Development), World Bank, the Commonwealth Secretariat, SOPAC and CARICOM on matters related to the economies of small states.

He has represented the Maltese government in many international conferences dealing with islands’ and small states’ affairs

Achievements

• The work of the IPCC, including the contributions of many scientists, was recognised by the joint award of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize.

Membership

He is a member of the Malta Fair Trading Commission Office for Fair Trading (Malta) and the Malta Commission for Sustainable Development, and serves on a number of Government Committees and University of Malta Boards. He was a core member of the Malta European Union Steering and Action Committee during the Malta’s negotiations for European Union membership.