Johanna Wandel

Room EV1-326, ext. 48669
jwandel@uwaterloo.ca
 

Johanna joined the GEM in 2008 having worked on previously on high impact climate change adaptation research studies in Canada. Her research examines the critical relationship between humans and the environment and specifically addresses vulnerability and adaptation assessments in relation to climate change.

Key Areas of Graduate Supervision
Adaptation to climate change, community-based vulnerability assessment.

Recent Courses Taught
GEOG 101 Geography and Human Habitat
GEOG 208 Global Climate Change
GEOG 393 Approaches to Research in Human Geography
GEOG 452 Resource Management Project
GEOG 676 Human  Dimensions of Climate Change

Research Interests
Climate change is already and will continue to challenge both human and natural systems. While we can influence the speed and magnitude of anthropogenically induced climate change, we cannot avoid it altogether. Human responses to actual and anticipated climate change, collectively known as adaptation, require considerations of uncertainty, equity, effectiveness and cost. My research focuses on a) community-level vulnerability assessment in light of climate change and other stresses in various economic sectors and geographic contexts; and b) pro-active adaptation planning to reduce anticipated vulnerability.

Recent Publications

• Crick, F., J. Wandel, N. Maclelland and K. Vincent. Forthcoming 2012. Climate change adaptation pathways: insights from case studies in South Africa, Canada and the Pacific Islands. Forthcoming in J. Paulutikoff (ed.), Climate Adapation Futures.  Wiley Publishers.
• Wandel, J., B. Smit, J. Ford and T. Pearce.  2011. Science and Indigenous Knowledge in Resource Management in the Canadian Arctic. In Kasperson, Roger E. (ed), Integrating Science and Policy: Vulnerability and Resilience in Global Environmental Change. London:  Earthscan, 291-306.
• Smit, B., G.K. Hovelsrud, J. Wandel and M. Andrachuk.  2010. Introduction to the CAVIAR Project and Framework. In G.K. Hovelsrud and B. Smit (eds.), Community Adaptation and Vulnerability in Arctic Regions. Heidelberg: Springer, 1-22.
• Wandel, J. and G. Marchildon. 2010. Institutional Fit and Interplay in a Dryland Agricultural Social-Ecological System in Alberta, Canada. In D. Armitage and R. Plummer (eds.), Adaptive Capacity and Environmental Governance. Heidelberg: Springer Verlag. 179-198.
• Wandel, J., J. Pittman and S. Prado.  2010. Rural Vulnerability to Climate Change in the SSRB Chapter 13 In Sauchyn, D.J., Diaz, H. and Kulshreshtha, S. (editors) The New Normal: The Canadian Prairies in a Changing Climate. CPRC Press, Regina, SK.
• Wandel, J., Young, G. and Smit, B. 2009. Vulnerability The 2001-2002 Drought: Vulnerability and Adaptation in Alberta’s Special Areas. In G.P. Marchildon (ed), A Dry Oasis: Institutional Adaptation to Climate on the Canadian Plains. Regina: CPRC Press, 211-234.
• Prno, J., J. Wandel, B. Bradshaw,  B. Smit and T. Pearce.  2011. Community Vulnerability to Climate Change in the Context of Other Exposure-Sensitivities in Kugluktuk, NU. Polar Research, 30: 7363, DOI: 10.3402/polar.v30i0.7363.
• Young, G., Zavala, H., Wandel, J., Smit, B., Salas, S., Jiminez, E., Fiebig, M., Espinoza, R., Diaz, H. and Cepeda, J. 2010. Vulnerability and adaptation in a dryland community of the Elqui Valley, Chile. Climatic Change, 98: 245-276.Pearce,T., Ford, J., Laidler, G., Smit, B., Duerden, F., Allurut, M., Andrachuk, M., Baryluk, S., Dialla, A., Pootoogoo, E., Goose, A., Ikummaq, T., Joamie, E., Kataoyak, F., Loring, E., Meakin, S., Nickels, S., Shappa, K., Shirley, J. and Wandel, J. 2009. Community collaboration and climate change research in the Canadian Arctic. Polar Research, 28: 10-27.
• Smit, B, I. Burton, R.J.T. Klein and J. Wandel. 2009. An anatomy of adaptation to climate change and variability. In E.L.F. Schipper and I. Burton (eds.), The Earthscan Reader on Adaptation to Climate change. London: Earthscan, pp. 63-88.
• Wandel, J., Young, G. and Smit, B. 2009. Vulnerability and Adaptation to Climate Change: the Case of the 2001-2002 Drought in Alberta’s Special Areas. Prairie Forum. 34(1): 211-234.