October 5, 2017: IRES Faculty Seminar
Speaker: Sean Smukler

October 5, 2017: IRES Faculty Seminar
Speaker: Sean Smukler

IRES Seminar Series

Time: 12:30pm to 1:30pm (every Thursday)

Location: AERL Theatre (room 120), 2202 Main Mall

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It’s time to get dirty: Managing agricultural soils for multiple ecosystem services

ABSTRACT:  Healthy agricultural soil is a critical component for ensuring the availability of a wide range of ecosystem services. Agriculture dominates roughly 40% of the terrestrial ice-free surface of our planet making farmers one of the primary stewards of soil.  Despite ample evidence that soil mismanagement has been clearly linked to the decline of previous civilizations, our society largely neglects soils and degradation continues unabated in many parts of the world.  In this presentation, I will discuss the relationship between soil management and multiple ecosystem services.  I will share results from some of the recent studies I have been involved in to better understand how farmers are or could be managing their soil for these services, in both temperate and tropical regions, from the field to the landscape scale.

This seminar will not be filmed.

BIO: Sean Smukler is an Assistant Professor in Applied Biology and Soil Science and the Junior Chair, Agriculture and the Environment, for the Faculty of Land and Food Systems at the University of British Columbia. His research currently focuses on evaluating farming practices that can enhance ecological functions to reduce the environmental impact of agriculture while at the same time improve farm climate change adaptation capacity. Sean received a PhD in Ecology from the University of California, Davis where he also did his undergraduate studies. He holds a MSc in Forest Soils from the University of Washington, Seattle. Sean is also an IRES Faculty Associate.

To read more about Sean visit: https://ires.ubc.ca/person/sean-smukler/ 

IRES welcomes new Adjunct Professor, Steven Conrad!

A very warm welcome to Steven Conrad, who has joined IRES as a new Adjunct Professor!

To learn more about his profile and research interests, please visit his bio here.

Conrad was recently a guest on the CBC radio broadcast of The Current Monday morning, where he discussed responding to Justin Trudeau’s call to ‘rebuild better‘ following flooding events and rebuilding infrastructure in response to climate change.

The article can be found here: http://www.cbc.ca/radio/thecurrent/the-current-for-may-15-2017-1.4112604/why-rebuild-after-flood-if-it-s-likely-to-happen-again-asks-climatologist-1.4112612

The full audio can be found here: http://www.cbc.ca/radio/popup/audio/listen.html?autoPlay=true&mediaIds=944105539653

RES PhD Candidate Justin Ritchie recently featured on Bloomberg

RES PhD Candidate Justin Ritchie has recently been featured on a Bloomberg article referencing his recently published paper (co-authored with IRES faculty Hadi Dowlatabadi), “The 1000 GtC coal question: Are cases of vastly expanded future coal combustion still plausible?” on Energy Economics.

Congratulations indeed!

Please see the following for the Bloomberg article:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-05-24/misleading-coal-estimates-may-have-skewed-climate-projections

RES PhD Candidate Justin Ritchie

 

Jeffrey Beall from flickr/Creative Commons

New publication by IRES Postdoctoral Fellow Nathan Bennett, IRES faculty Terre Satterfield and RES graduate Maery Kaplan-Hallam

A paper co-authored by IRES Postdoctoral Fellow Nathan Bennett, IRES faculty Terre Satterfield and May 2017 RES MA graduate Maery Kaplan-Hallam entitled  “An appeal for a code of conduct for marine conservation” was recently published on Marine Policy.

Reference: Bennett, N.J., Teh, L., Ota, Y., Christie, P., Ayers, A., Day, J.C., Franks, P., Gill, D., Gruby, R.L., Kittinger, J.N., Koehn, J.Z., Lewis, N., Parks, J., Vierros, M., Whitty, T.S., Wilhelm, A., Wright, K., Aburto, J.A., Finkbeiner, E.M., Gaymer, C.F., Govan, H., Gray, N., Jarvis, R.M., Kaplan-Hallam, M. & Satterfield, T. (2017). An appeal for a code of conduct for marine conservation. Marine Policy, 81, 411–418. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpol.2017.03.035 [Open Access]

Abstract: Marine conservation actions are promoted to conserve natural values and support human wellbeing. Yet the quality of governance processes and the social consequences of some marine conservation initiatives have been the subject of critique and even human rights complaints. These types of governance and social issues may jeopardize the legitimacy of, support for and long-term effectiveness of marine conservation. Thus, we argue that a clearly articulated and comprehensive set of social standards – a code of conduct – is needed to guide marine conservation. In this paper, we draw on the results of an expert meeting and scoping review to present key principles that might be taken into account in a code of conduct, to propose a draft set of foundational elements for inclusion in a code of conduct, to discuss the benefits and challenges of such a document, and to propose next steps to develop and facilitate the uptake of a broadly applicable code of conduct within the marine conservation community. The objectives of developing such a code of conduct are to promote fair conservation governance and decision-making, socially just conservation actions and outcomes, and accountable conservation practitioners and organizations. The uptake and implementation of a code of conduct would enable marine conservation to be both socially acceptable and ecologically effective, thereby contributing to a truly sustainable ocean.

Link to article: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0308597X17300672

Additional information:

Policy brief: An appeal for a code of conduct for marine conservation (Link to PDF)

Public domain photo

Aaron Aguirre

Aaron Aguirre

MSc Student
IRES Student Society Social Coordinator, 2023-2024

Contact Details

aguirr14[at]gmail[dot]com

Research Bio

Aaron is an MSc student in the CHANS and M2L2 Labs interested in understanding how urban land-use impacts bat abundance and diversity across Metro Vancouver. They have several years of experience working hands-on with wildlife throughout the United States including research projects aimed at the study and conservation of the world’s only flying mammals. For their research, Aaron will be investigating where bats are abundant across the Metro Vancouver region as well as how they are using landscape features across urban gradients. It is their hope that this research will be able to inform bat conservation with regards to land development in addition to providing crucial insights on the movement, behavior, and habitat selection of bats as the inevitable spread of white-nose syndrome continues.


RES PhD Candidate Krista English co-authored a chapter in WHO’s report

Esteemed congratulations to our PhD candidate Krista English for having co-authored a chapter in the World Health Organization’s first-ever World Report on Health Policy and Systems Research (HPSR) which was launched in Stockholm.

The Report provides insight into how the multidisciplinary and systems approach used in HPSR can help countries advance the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) agenda. Historically, biomedical and clinical research dominated the health arena, while there was little focus on systems and policy research. Our research has found that from 1990 to 2015, there has been a five-fold increase in the number of HPSR publications produced annually and increasingly, these are being generated by authors in low-and-middle-income countries (LMICs).

More information can be found at: http://www.who.int/alliance-hpsr/news/2017/worldreport-hpsr/en/

IRES alumnus Stefan Storey featured on UBC newsletter

IRES alumnus Stefan Storey was recently featured on the UBC newsletter on the development of Wi-Fi technology to help conserve energy consumption at UBC.

Link to the story can be found here:

http://energy.ubc.ca/2017/03/30/innovative-software-converts-wi-fi-data-into-energy-savings/?login

Photo credit: jimmy thomas from flickr/Creative Commons

Former IRES PhD Student and Postdoctoral Fellow Stefan Storey featured in the Metro Vancouver newspaper

Stefan Storey, an RMES alumnus and former IRES Postdoctoral Fellow, was recently featured on the Monday, April 3, 2017 issue of the Metro Vancouver newspaper.

The online edition of the article titled “Students’ WiFi habits actually save UBC money” is found here:

http://www.metronews.ca/news/vancouver/2017/04/02/ubc-wifi-tech-brings-university-energy-saving-dollars-.html

Photo credit: Edna Winti from flickr/Creative Commons

September 21, 2017: IRES Faculty Seminar
Hope in the Anthropocene Series
Speaker: Mary Galvin

IRES Seminar Series

Time: 12:30pm to 1:30pm (every Thursday)

Location: AERL Theatre (room 120), 2202 Main Mall

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New this year: With humanity’s creation of a new geological era marked by dominant human influences on planetary processes, the Anthropocene seems to offer little hope.

And yet, the same ingenuity that enables human domination over the Earth also allows a certain genius in addressing the many rising environmental and sustainability challenges.

Hope in the Anthropocene will showcase such inspirations and solutions in tackling climate change, harnessing energy, feeding humanity, governing states, and meeting our collective water and sanitation needs all while respecting Indigenous peoples and protecting nature and its benefits for people.

A collaboration between Green College and the Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability at the University of British

Click on this link to view the September 20 Hope in the Anthropocene event at Green College:

https://www.greencollege.ubc.ca/civicrm/event/info?id=627&reset=1

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Dying to Drink: Protest and Access to Water in Mothutlung, South Africa

Abstract:

Over the past decade South Africa has been labelled as the protest capital of the world, and many of these protests relate to water and sanitation services. This talk shows how protests are not simply about ongoing problems with service delivery but also highlight a crisis of governance at the local level.  Based on extensive qualitative research about one of the most violent water protests in the country, this talk explores what happened in Mothutlung. It then reflects on the meaning and reasons for protest, what can be achieved, and what sacrifice may be required.

 

 

Bio:

Professor Mary Galvin has worked in South Africa over the past two decades as a practitioner, consultant, activist and researcher.  Following the country’s democratic transition in 1994 she coordinated an NGO working in rural KwaZulu Natal to organize communities to access development resources.  After completing her PhD in political science at the University of California, Berkeley in 2005, she drew together senior stakeholders from national and local government, the private sector and civil society and facilitated a “dialogue” on what is happening (or not) in water services and exploring system reasons to explain this. Findings from a large scale research project that she coordinated in eight municipalities provided a basis to examine these issues. Over the past years she started an NGO that conducted action research on community-based climate change adaptation and water.  She has also become passionate about what she calls her “shit work”: researching ways to provide sanitation to unserved areas in southern Africa.  Her current book project at the University of Johannesburg focuses on water governance issues, taking her to the frontline of community struggles for water and sanitation.  Through her analysis Mary aims to get scholars, activists and practitioners thinking about South Africa’s development challenges in a new way that drives social change.

 

Video of presentation:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photo credit: Steven Conry from flickr/ Creative Commons

RES PhD student Graham McDowell’s publication featured on Highlights of 2016 on Environmental Research Letters

Esteemed congratulations to RES PhD student Graham McDowell for having his article ‘Community-level climate change vulnerability research: trends, progress, and future directions’ selected by to feature in the Highlights of 2016 collection onEnvironmental Research Letters (ERL). The featured articles in the collection were chosen on the basis of referee endorsement, scientific impact, advance made within the field, novelty and broad appeal, and collectively they showcase the quality and diversity of ERL’s broad coverage.

The article can be found here:

http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/11/3/033001/meta

To learn more about Graham and his research interests and experience, please visit his website:

grahammcdowellresearch.com

 

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Graham McDowell