Tue, March 14, 2017 12:00 PM - 1:30 PM LIU INSTITUTE FOR GLOBAL ISSUES. Free. Join us for this talk by Nadja Kunz, Assistant Professor at the Liu Institute for Global Issues and Norman B Keevil Mining Engineering at UBC, as part of the ongoing Policy@UBC series. Nadja works at the interface of research and practice to resolve private sector water challenges, with a focus on the mining and resources sector.
This presentation provides an overview of Nadja’s evolving research program that focuses on developing new tools and frameworks to improve collaborative decision-making by governments, communities and industry towards more sustainable water allocation and efficient water use.
Water is an essential input for mining and resources projects. However, communities are increasingly concerned about the sector’s impact on regional water systems, triggering company-community conflicts globally. This is exemplified in statistics from the International Finance Corporation (IFC), which reveal that since 2000, 68% of complaints about IFC investments in the mining sector included water issues.
Nadja’s research focuses at two geographical scales: (1) within the mine lease, and (2) within mining regions. At the mine site level, research focuses on developing new engineering models to improve quantification of water risk, and Nadja investigates organizational constraints to implementing optimal system-level solutions. At the regional level, Nadja studies the evolving role of the mining sector in water stewardship and governance. She is especially interested in how mining can best contribute towards the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, including SDG6 which focuses on provision of water and sanitation.