As wildfires grow more frequent and severe across Canada, University of Waterloo researchers and students are stepping up with innovative, data-driven solutions.
Waterloo Climate Institute partners with the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction for the Americas and the Caribbean to lead international disaster risk workshop. Supply systems are fundamental to the business ecosystem. To strengthen the resilience of these supply systems in regions facing growing climate risks, there is a need to better understand how they work, identify the vulnerabilities, and recognize shared opportunities for risk reduction.
A new technical brief from the Waterloo Climate Institute explores Direct Air Capture (DAC) as an innovative engineering approach to directly removing carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere. Contributing to the overall reduction of atmospheric CO2 levels, DAC has the potential to effectively mitigate climate change, when used in combination with permanent storage solutions. Authors Monica Ho, Vahid Barahimi and Climate Institute member Eric Croiset outline the current readiness of DAC technologies and acknowledge their limitations the latest brief.
In what could represent a milestone in ecological restoration, researchers have implemented a method capable of restoring peatlands at tens of thousands of oil and gas exploration sites in Western Canada. Researchers from the University of Waterloo led the project that involves lowering the surface of these decommissioned sites, known as well pads, and transplanting native moss onto them to effectively recreate peatlands.
A project with Waterloo Climate Institute Executive Director, Sarah Burch, launched a new pilot experimental project using field research data on community disaster risk and strategies to explore visualizations of possible futures using digital design and augmented reality. The pilot will explore different facets of transformation due to global environmental change and extreme weather events.
University of Waterloo researchers, in partnership with universities and key stakeholders in Mauritius, Maldives and Fiji, are co-creators of the Resilience to Climate Vulnerability and Environmental Risk (RECOVER) project, recipients of $1.2 million in funding. Together, they will identify each island’s exposure and risk to climate change and determine scalable strategies to address challenges that impede the availability of resources, materials and critical services, such as food, water, energy and health care.
The University of Waterloo released the "Global Futures: Innovation Update", featuring Waterloo Climate Institute members, Amelia Clarke and Christopher G. Fletcher from the Faculty of Environment, and Dillon Browne from the Faculty of Arts. The publication entitled "The futures we imagine for humanity and our planet" shares insights into new and innovative research across disciplines.
Shahan Salim, a PhD a PhD candidate in the School of Public Health Sciences and a member of the Waterloo Climate Institute’s COP 28 delegation, has designed a platform to use data from low-cost air quality sensors to monitor and predict adverse outcomes related to air pollution exposure in low-income countries.
Kelsey Leonard, Climate Institute member and professor in the School of Environment, Resources and Sustainability, is the director of The WAMPUM Lab which has partnered with the Collaboratory for Indigenous Data Governance to co-develop a report for the UN to prioritize Indigenous Peoples’ in the digital ecosystem.
Canada’s National Adaptation Strategy (NAS) provides a framework to move the country toward a climate-resilient future. The strategy lays out a critical foundation for Canada’s adaptation efforts but experts agree that this is only the first step, and that the success of the strategy will be measured by how we implement and carry out the adaptation plan. To better understand the strategy and its potential impact, the University of Waterloo’s Climate Institute hosted a webinar that brought together several of Canada’s leading adaptation experts who participated in its development.