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Friday, May 19, 2023

V2V Thematic Webinar in May

Based on a recently concluded study Illuminating Hidden Harvests (IHH): the contributions of small-scale fisheries to sustainable development, this webinar uncovers the contributions and impacts of small-scale fisheries through a multidisciplinary approach to data collection and analysis. It aims to contribute to a more holistic understanding of what small-scale fisheries are, their importance, why they are essential for efforts to achieve the SDGs. By using this knowledge wisely within a human rights-based approach in line with the SSF Guidelines, and by empowering small-scale fishers and fishworkers, a more inclusive, equitable, sustainable and resilient small-scale scale fisheries subsector can be achieved, supporting the transition from vulnerability to viability. Click here to view an infographic on this context.

Title of the Webinar: The Transition From Vulnerability to Viability Through Illuminating Hidden Harvests
Date: May 26, 2023 (Friday)
Time: 12:00 PM to 1:15 PM UTC (8:00 AM to 9:15 AM EDT - 2:00 PM to 3:15 PM CEST - Convert to your local time 
here)
Speaker: Nicole Franz | Equitable Livelihoods Team Leader at FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations) Fisheries Division
YouTube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hdr0tNWk_hM (watch this webinar live and participate in its Q&A session)

Click HERE or see the attached poster for more details about this webinar.

Most people try to understand ‘happiness’ from a purely philosophical perspective since it is believed that scientific exactitude has little to do with this construct. While the art of happiness (or the route to happiness) has a rich tradition in Eastern and Western literature, the scientific aspect of it (or the root of happiness) has often been neglected. Besides, the positive emotion of happiness is a far less emphasized area of research, in comparison to research on negative emotions like anxiety or depression.  

Given this backdrop, the present talk will address issues like: (a) challenges in understanding happiness as a construct, (b) observed evidence in scientific domain, and (c) establishing happiness as a transdisciplinary field of study.

Date: Thursday, June 08, 2023 

Time: 
11:00 am - 12:30 pm: Main event (Talk)
12:30 pm -   2:00 pm: Lunch

Location:
Alumni Hall (201), United College, University of Waterloo, 190 Westmount Rd N, Waterloo, ON N2L 3G5

Speaker: Prof. Manas Kumar Mandal | Cognitive neuropsychologist serving as a distinguished professor at the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur

Chair: Prof. Bruce Frayne | Dean, Faculty of Environment, University of Waterloo

Free Registration. Seats are limited. Please register here 

Dr. Neil Craik, law professor in the School of Environment, Enterprise and Development and Waterloo Climate Interventions Strategies Lab member, is part of a growing area of research critically assessing the impacts and governance challenges of large-scale climate interventions in the world’s oceans. Recently, he was part of a team of experts assembled by the Deep-Ocean Stewardship Initiative that were tasked with assessing and recommending paths on how to tackle this emerging challenge. Their new paper, Deep-sea impacts of climate interventions, which appears in the journal Science, explores the environmental risks of climate interventions, the current ocean governance challenges and what needs to be done to address them.

Originally posted on Waterloo News

New research finds that Canada’s electrical and electronic waste (e-waste) has more than tripled in the last two decades, the equivalent of filling the CN tower 110 times and generating close to a million tons in 2020 alone. 

The University of Waterloo researchers completed the first comprehensive estimate of e-waste in Canada to understand its lifecycle, from sales of electronic items to e-waste generation. Their findings reveal that the e-waste generation per person has increased from 8.3 kg in 2000 to 25.3 kg in 2020. The e-waste in Canada is expected to continue rising in the near future and underscores the need for proactive forecasts to better manage the evolving electronics sector.

“This study provides useful insights to policymakers for setting up targets for e-waste reduction and recycling to recover valuable resources from e-waste,” said Komal Habib, professor in the School of Environment, Enterprise and Development and Waterloo Industrial Ecology Group. “E-waste could also help to create a secondary supply chain of critical materials, reducing the risks of potential supply disruptions.”

The estimated growth of e-waste is attributed to consumer habits and Canada’s growing population. As the number of households increases, so does consumption. The study found that large household appliances, such as refrigerators and washing machines, dominate the e-waste stream considering mass. However, the less bulky items dominate in quantity; household lighting is the top item, followed by toys and sports equipment, and information technology (IT) and telecommunications equipment, such as cellphones and laptops.

There are pros and cons of the expected increase in e-waste for the recycling industry. When it comes to IT and telecommunication equipment, the industry’s efforts to make lightweight products are leading to the dilution of precious and critical materials per product, creating a challenge for recyclers to recover. However, increasing quantities of this e-waste could lead to potential incentives for the continuous operation of the recycling industries.

“The findings will be beneficial for stakeholders to explore possible material and revenue generation opportunities from e-waste,” said Habib. “For example, it can help electronic manufacturers and recyclers to understand the potential for urban mining, plan for future extractions of critical materials, and identify the need for safe handling of any hazardous materials.”

The study also indicates that more attention should be given to improving repair, refurbishment, and product life extension opportunities rather than focusing solely on recycling and material recovery. In the future, the researchers indicated that assessing consumer behaviour data to create a more accurate and complete picture of e-waste management in Canada is necessary to better inform sustainable management practices.

The study, A first comprehensive estimate of electronic waste in Canada, appears in the Journal of Hazardous Materials.

“Look beyond the beauty of our coastal wetlands, and you’ll find this habitat is hard at work,” starts the short video by Navya Vikraman Nair, PhD candidate in Sustainability Management (Water). Her work has been selected as one of this year’s top 25 Storytelling Challenge finalists; a national competition run by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC).

The annual contest, now in its 10th edition, challenges postsecondary students from across the country to show Canadians, in up to three minutes or 300 words, how social sciences and humanities research is affecting our lives, our world and our future for the better. Navya submitted a video about her current research on linkages among water quality, blue carbon ecosystems and coastal fisheries.

"I am beyond thrilled and honored to be selected as a finalist among the Top 25 in 2023 SSHRC Storytellers challenge” she said. “It's an honour to have the opportunity to share my research and its importance with a wider audience, and I am grateful for the chance to inspire others to take action towards a more sustainable future."

The top 25 storytellers were selected from a pool of nearly 200 applicants and represent 14 postsecondary institutions. Each finalist is awarded a cash prize and will compete for a top five spot in this year’s showcase.

Finalists will present their story at the Storytellers Showcase at the Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences on Monday, May 29, 2023, at 9 a.m. E.T.at York University. The final five winners will be chosen from among the 25 finalists and will be revealed at a Big Thinking event the same day.  

Sustainability Management Ph.D. Candidate Kaylia Little recently returned from Washington, DC, where she attended a working meeting with 30 international academics and practitioners working in Arctic spaces. The purpose of the meeting was to bring together a diverse group of Arctic professionals to share current work, identify challenges to and opportunities for cross-border and cross-disciplinary collaborations. Attendees came from Canada, Sweden, Norway, Greenland, Iceland, and of course, the USA. The Arctic is a critical region that is experiencing significant environmental, social, and economic changes due to climate change, which can have implications for the entire planet. As a result, there is a pressing need for collaborative research that involves diverse perspectives and disciplines to address the challenges facing the Arctic. The meeting provided a unique space for open discussions about the challenges of Arctic research collaboration, which is essential for promoting effective and meaningful research especially in a region that is traditionally successful at international cooperation. After presenting current research projects, all participants identified points of collaboration across attendees. In addition to the workshop-style meeting, there were opportunities to network with Arctic public service employees in DC and hear from National Geographic archivists about their vast polar records. The meeting was very successful with its goals of creating cross-disciplinary and cross-border networks. The groundwork was laid for joint publications and projects across the attendees at this initial meeting. The excitement of the meeting will continue with online collaboration that will be facilitated over the course of the summer before the group reconvenes in Alaska this fall. Dr. Victoria Herrmann of Georgetown University organized the meeting through a National Science Foundation grant which created the Migration in Harmony Research Coordination Network (https://migrationharmony.org/about).
Friday, April 21, 2023

Best SEED PhD Qualifying exam

SEED wishes to congratulate L. Feor and D. V. Jones on receiving the Best SEED PhD Qualifying exam. The Qualifying Exam Committee recognized both of these papers for their unique and ambitious answers, depth and breadth of knowledge, critical thinking and writing quality.

If anyone is interested in reading the papers, please contact the authors.

Wednesday, March 22, 2023

V2V Thematic Webinar

Title of the Webinar: The Legal Instruments for the Development of Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries Governance in Nigeria

This talk provides an overview of the major challenges in the sustainability of small-scale fisheries governance in Nigeria. It addresses the gaps in the administration of the legal instruments in the sector and discusses any possible obstacles in the socio-economic development of small-scale fisheries within the legal structure of Nigeria, international laws/treaties that are yet to be domiciled and could facilitate the transition from vulnerability to viability, the functionality of domestic laws being implemented, any awareness deficit on the legal framework amongst operators and enforcers and ways to improve or actualize it.

Date: Mar 31, 2023 (Friday)

Time: 8:00 AM EDT to 9:15 AM EDT (Waterloo time)

Speaker: Foluke Omotayo Areola | The President-Elect of the African Chapter in the World Aquaculture Society, Nigeria

YouTube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pfw4wG_XH2Y(watch this webinar live and participate in its Q&A session)

📍 Click HERE or see the attached poster for more details about this webinar.

📆 Click HEREto add this event to your calendar.

The combined efforts of supervisors, post-doctoral fellows and research students, have produced the following publications:

Sabine Weber, Olaf Weber, Komal Habib, & Goretty Dias. (2023). Textile waste in Ontario, Canada: Opportunities for reuse and recycling. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 190, 106835. 

Rosella Carè, & Olaf Weber. (2023). How much finance is in climate finance? A bibliometric review, critiques, and future research directions. Research in International Business and Finance, 64, 101886. 

Francisco Martin del Campo; Simron Singh; Tomer Fishman; Michael Drescher;  Can a small island nation build resilience? The significance of resource‐use patterns and socio‐metabolic risks in The Bahamas.  January 2023, Journal of Industrial Ecology  DOI: 10.1111/jiec.13369

Adam Payler; Anthony Piscitelli; Sean Geobey  Navigating the space between politics and administration: The informal practices of Ontario school board trustees; February 2023, Canadian Public Administration; DOI: 10.1111/capa.12513

Larry Swatuk; Corrine Cash, Toward Just and Effective Climate Action.  October 2022, DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-12619-2_10; In book: "The Political Economy of Climate Finance: Lessons from International Development"

Corrine Cash; Larry SwatukClimate Finance: Lessons from Development Finance; October 2022, DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-12619-2_1; In book: "The Political Economy of Climate Finance: Lessons from International Development"

Anne-France Bolay; Anders Bjørn; Olaf Weber; Manuele Margni;  Prospective sectoral GHG benchmarks based on corporate climate mitigation targets; September 2022, Journal of Cleaner Production 376:134220, DOI: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2022.134220

Sadaf MollaeiLeia M. Minaker; Derek T. Robinson; Goretty M. Dias;  Including sustainability factors in the derivation of eater profiles of young adults in Canada; October 2022, British Food Journal; DOI: 10.1108/BFJ-06-2022-0476

Chris Gouett-Hanna; Greg Oulahen; Daniel Henstra; Jason ThistlethwaiteFlood risk assessment data access and equity in Metro Vancouver; September 2022, Canadian Water Resources Journal 47(1):1-14, DOI:  10.1080/07011784.2022.2122083