CCUB's research focus areas include:

  • Urban Climate Justice: Creating sustainable pathways for humans and other species
  • Urban Landscape Stewardship: Sharing our campus with other species 
  • Tackling Eco-Anxiety - Through direct climate and biodiversity action 

1. Urban Climate Justice: Creating sustainable pathways for humans and other species

Context: 

Urbanization and climate change generate negative impacts to marginalized peoples. Urban climate justice recognizes how the most vulnerable have less power and capacity to respond to climate change impacts. Human and non-human vulnerabilities are intimately intertwined at the urban scale.

Policy context:

UBC Strategic Plan, Indigenous Strategic Plan, Inclusion Action Plan,  Climate Action Plan,  Campus Vision 2050, Wellbeing Strategic Framework, Public Realm Plan, UNDRIP, Aichi target 14, SDGS 10, 11, 13, 14, 15.

Objectives: 

a. Raise awareness of ‘Nature’s rights’ and recognize them in policies and practices

b. Manage endangered species on UBC campus and in Metro Vancouver to adapt to climate change by bridging TEK, Western science and other approaches

c. Prioritize social, economic, and ecological impacts of climate change to the most marginalized populations

Approach:

Collaboration with the Climate Hub, the Equity and Inclusion office, and Faculty of Arts to co-define pathways for engagement in urban climate justice.

 


Biodiversity in a Changing Climate – UBC Policy Analysis Project. In partnership with Campus & Community Planning, a graduate student from the Faculty of Land and Food Systems is assessing how existing and emerging UBC climate policies and plans intersect with biodiversity interests and priorities on UBC’s Vancouver Campus.

2.  Urban Landscape Stewardship: Sharing our campus with other species 

Context: 

Urbanization and climate change are two major drivers of global change. If human actions are part of the problem, then they are a fundamental part of the solution.

Policy context:

Campus Vision 2050, Updates to REAP 4.0, Climate Action Plan, Green Building Action Plan, Land conservation, SDG 15, SDG 11, City of Vancouver goal #6

Objectives: 

a. Increase range of endangered species or vulnerable populations by ensuring ecological connectivity via green corridors

b. Foster community activities (e.g., planting, agroforestry, local food production)

c. Monitor urban biodiversity via citizen science (e.g., soil/biodiversity monitoring)

Approach:

Citizen-science, community-based solutions.

 

3. Tackling Eco-Anxiety - Through direct climate and biodiversity action 

Context: 

With global-scale disasters and the pressure that human activities have on the environment, people are feeling overwhelmed by the existential challenge of climate change. So what can we actually do? The good news is we are not alone, we can make a difference when it seems like everything has a bad impact on the climate and ecosystems. 

Policy context:

Campus Vision 2050, Climate Action Plan 2030, Green Building Action Plan, Land conservation, Indigenous Strategic Plan, Inclusion Action Plan, Wellbeing Strategic Framework, SDGS 3, 11, 13, 15, 16, 17.

Objectives:

a. Raise awareness of our environment and evokes the responsibility of humans to respect, protect, and preserve the natural world.

b.  Encourage individuals and collective actions to advance sustainability.

Approach: 

Collaboration with the UBC Climate Hub, the Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion office. Co-create interdisciplinary workshops and community-based solutions.