9th Annual World Wetlands Day Research Symposium at the University of Waterloo
Our 9th annual World Wetlands Day Research Symposium will be held Tuesday, February 2, 2021 in a virtual format. The event will feature research talks in the afternoon by speakers from the University of Waterloo, Wilfrid Laurier University and McMaster University. In the evening, the Ecohydrology Research Group will co-host a virtual public event with the Waterloo Public Library featuring a Distinguished Lecture by Dr. Rebecca Rooney, Associate Professor at the University of Waterloo. A panel discussion featuring local wetland experts and policy makers will follow Dr. Rooney's lecture.
For more information, including a detailed program of talks, and to register, please see the full event listing on the ecohydrology webpage.
World Wetlands Day 2021 Distinguished Lecture & Panel Discussion
7:00pm-8:15pm EST | Co-hosted with Waterloo Public Library
Distinguished Lecture
7:00pm-7:30pm
Dr. Rebecca Rooney, Associate Professor, University of Waterloo
"Wetland loss when we know better."
Wetland ecologist and professor of Biology, Dr. Rebecca Rooney, has studied peatlands and marshes across Canada for nearly two decades, and knows well their gifts. What she finds perplexing is that despite overwhelming evidence of their importance for our health and prosperity, we continue to lose wetlands. Join us for World Wetlands Day, as Dr. Rooney describes some of those gifts and poses a challenging question “why are we still losing wetlands and how do we stop?”
Panel Discussion
7:30pm-8:15pm
"How do we as a society protect our wetlands?"
- Mike Schreiner, MPP for Guelph, Leader of the Green Party of Ontario and first Green MPP elected to the Ontario Legislature
- Natalia Moudrak, Director of Climate Resilience at the Intact Centre on Climate Adaptation
- Brad Stephens, Senior Manager, Planning Ecology at Toronto and Region Conservation Authority
- Chief Dave Mowat, Alderville First Nation
About World Wetlands Day
February 2nd is World Wetlands Day, which marks the day when the Convention on Wetlands was adopted in 1971 in Ramsar, Iran. The Convention is an international government agreement acknowledging the importance of wetlands and plays a central role in the wise use and conservation of these critical ecosystems. To learn more about the Convention, visit: https://www.ramsar.org/.