Bio

Zana Mody is PhD student at the University of British Columbia’s IRES department and a recipient of the Tri-Council SSHRC Doctoral Fellowship. She is supervised by Dr. Simon Donner and is a member of the Climate and Coastal Ecosystems Lab at UBC and The Mangrove Lab at Tulane University. 

Zana’s interdisciplinary PhD research combines social-ecological systems, community-led conservation, and relational values frameworks to understand how blue carbon projects and coastal ecosystems, such as mangrove forests, impact the livelihoods and well-being of coastal communities vulnerable to climate change. She holds a Joint-Honours BSc. in Biology and Environmental Studies and a MA in Anthropology, both from Trent University. Her Master’s research focused primarily on South Asia and South-East Asia, where she worked with communities to study the ancient phenomenon of community-led conservation of biodiversity through the creation of sacred natural sites and developed a comparative research project in India, Sri Lanka, and Cambodia.

Zana’s professional career has included working as a radio journalist and producer at the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) headquarters in Toronto, a lecturer in Anthropology at the College of the Rockies, developing and managing the Direct Action program at Ocean Wise, and consulting as a researcher at ESSA developing Indigenous-led Nature-based Climate Solutions projects. She is also a Liu Scholar, and her project is mentored by Dr. Rashid Sumaila (School of Public Policy and Global Affairs; Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries), which addresses the emerging field of blue carbon, marine policy surrounding carbon credits, and the socio-economic valuation of coastal blue carbon ecosystems.