IRES Seminar Series
Time: 12:30pm to 1:30pm (every Thursday)
Location: AERL Theatre (room 120), 2202 Main Mall
***************************************************************************
Adrian Semmelink
BIO:
Adrian is currently pursuing a M.Sc. under the guidance of Dr. Kai Chan, Dr. Terre Satterfield and Dr. Deborah Henderson (Kwantlen Polytechnic University). He holds a dual degree with an honours in environmental sciences and a major in sociology from UBC. Adrian has agricultural experience in South Africa and British Columbia. As a research assistant, he has worked on projects including spider socialization, bird song hybridization, and for the CHAN’s Lab reviews of ecosystem services and environmental assessments. Most recently, Adrian worked for the Stewardship Centre for British Columbia profiling farmers who demonstrate excellence in environmental stewardship.
_____________________________________________________________________
Elaine Hsiao:
TALK TITLE:
“Protecting Place, People and Peace: A Critical Socio-Legal Review of Transboundary Protected Areas”
ABSTRACT:
Examples of transboundary natural resources governance have been proliferating around the planet as the need to reconcile environmental management across common borders grows more urgent. At best, they are championed as models of ecological peacebuilding and conflict resolution; at worst, they are criticized for their heavy-handed (top-down, externally-influenced and sometimes coercive) and neoliberal conservation strategies. Transboundary protected areas (TBPAs) are just one mechanism through which cross-border environmental governance occurs, with only some being officially dedicated to peace. This study looks at how TBPA legal agreements facilitate peace and conflict transformation, helping to answer the question of whether or not TBPAs are being effectively designed as platforms for peace and conflict resolution. Initial results based on a survey of TBPA practitioners reflecting their experiences in implementing TBPA agreements and how these instruments can or have not served to facilitate conflict resolution on-the-ground, as well as case studies from three borders of Uganda provide insights into the practice and pragmatics of TBPAs as vehicles for conflict transformation and peace.
BIO:
Elaine Hsiao is an interdisciplinary legal scholar, specializing in transboundary conservation, conflict, and environmental peacebuilding. She has worked with transboundary protected areas initiatives and publications, developed a service-learning expedition in Parque Internacional La Amistad, co-directed/produced a documentary film for “Transcending Boundaries,” and passed resolutions on the environment, peace and conflict at IUCN and WILD Congresses. She represented the Permanent Mission of the Union of Comoros at the UN in climate change issues, received a Fulbright to Uganda (2010-2011) and currently, is the Co-Chair of the IUCN CEESP Theme on Environment and Peace. Elaine holds a JD and LLM in International and Environmental Law from Pace Law School, where she remains a Fellow, Specializing in Protected Areas at the Global Center for Environmental Legal Studies.
Click link for Elaine’s bio: https://ires.ubc.ca/person/elaine-hsiao/
Video of presentation:
Photo Credit: Chris Luczkow from flickr/ Creative Commons