Water Economics Research Group members present at national and international conferences
WERG group members presented their work this summer at conferences across Canada and Europe. Four group members presented the outcomes of projects funded by Environment and Climate Change Canada under the Climate Action and Awareness Fund over the past few years, focusing on the role of wetlands and peatlands as nature-based solutions to reach Canada’s climate targets. An international visiting graduate student presented his work on the role of water pricing in water demand management under climate change in the State of São Paulo, Brazil.
Jullian Sone presented his study on the effect of the Greenbelt on wetland conversion in southern Ontario at the European Geosciences Union (EGU) General Assembly 3-8 May, 2026 in Vienna, Austria. His work shows that the Greenbelt has had limited effect on the further deterioration of wetlands in southern Ontario over the past two decades.
Jullian Sone, post-doc in WERG, in front of his poster presentation at the EGU conference in Vienna, Austria
Iban Ortuzar, a former post-doctoral fellow in the group who recently started in the European Commission’s Joint Research Center in Seville, Spain, presented the impact of the five IPCC Shared Socioeconomic Pathways on wetland loss in Ontario at the 60th annual meeting of the Canadian Economics Association hosted by the Department of Economics at Simon Fraser University (SFU) from May 28th to May 30th, 2026. He developed an econometric model for southern Ontario that projects how land use changes might look like under different socioeconomic futures.
Iban Ortuzar, former post-doc in WERG, gave his presentation online at the meeting of the Canadian Economics Association
Khusro Mir participated in person in the same annual meeting of the Canadian Economics Association and presented the results of a large-scale landowner survey across Ontario, focusing on their past decisions to drain, retain or restore wetlands and how these past actions affect their intentions to drain or protect wetlands in the future.
Khusro Mir, post-doc in WERG, presenting at the Canadian Economics Association meeting in Vancouver
Predrag Rajsic, assistant professor in the University of Waterloo’s School of Economics and also a member of WERG, presented the paper “Agricultural Land-Use Change and Peatland Risk in Ontario: Evidence from an Extended Socioeconomic Scenario Framework” at the annual meeting of the Canadian Agricultural Economics Society in Ottawa, 3-5 June, 2026. His presentation examined how future agricultural land-use changes could affect peatland ecosystems in Ontario under alternative socioeconomic development scenarios.
Predrag Rajsic, assistant professor in Economics, presenting at the annual meeting of the Canadian Agricultural Economics Society in Ottawa
Finally, Fernando Schuh Rörig, who visits WERG for one year, attended the 2026 World Congress of Environmental and Resource Economists from June 29 to July 3rd in Carcavelos, Portugal, where he presented his work on the effect of water shortages, rationing, and increasing block rates on residential water demand and private well use in Brazil. His study examines how access to private wells can shift water demand under unreliable water supply and how households respond to price setting under these circumstances, highlighting inequity issues related to urbanization and well access.
Fernando Schuh Rörig, international visiting PhD student in WERG, presenting at the World Congress of Environmental and Resource Economists in Carcavelos, Portugal