The Faculty of Environment is pleased to announce that Derek Armitage (ECGG) of Environment and Resource Studies received a partnership grant from The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) as co-applicant for a study titled, OceanCanada.
With total funding of $2.5 million, OceanCanada is an interdisciplinary research collaboration among 15 Canadian universities, non-governmental organizations, and Fisheries and Oceans Canada to work collaboratively with policymakers and residents of Canada’s coastal regions to develop a shared vision for sustainable and healthy oceans.
The project is led by Rashid Sumaila, a professor and Director of the Fisheries Economics Research Unit at UBC.
“Our oceans are crucially important to Canada’s prosperity. They contribute an estimated $26 billion dollars a year to our nation’ s economy, provide innumerable ecosystem services such as climate regulation and fisheries, and they are of cultural and spiritual value for coastal communities,” said Armitage.
Our oceans are under intense pressure from over-fishing ,pollution and climate change. Armitage’s research focuses on the human dimensions of environmental change in coastal settings and the governance responses needed to help coastal communities adapt to these changes.
“We will integrate knowledge about Canada’s three oceans and coasts from a wide range of perspectives to highlight risks and opportunities for coastal communities and marine ecosystems, and consider how to build the resilience of our oceans and coasts under different policy and governance pathways.”