UBC's Delegation for COP31

Guangyu Wang was selected as a delegate through our pilot official side event competition. His 90-minute official side event “From Community Solutions to National Climate Action: Forests, Bamboo and Coastal Ecosystems,” will examine how locally grounded ecosystem initiatives can be integrated into national climate strategies and international finance. Convened by Friendship, the University of British Columbia, and Zhejiang A&F University, the event will connect community implementation, scientific evidence, policy development, and climate finance. Experiences from Bangladesh, China, Canada, and international climate governance will illustrate how mangrove restoration, sustainable forest management, and bamboo landscapes can advance mitigation, adaptation, biodiversity conservation, and resilient livelihoods. Speakers will discuss NDC implementation, Article 6 cooperation, carbon and nature markets, credible measurement, transparent accounting, permanence, additionality, equitable benefit sharing, and safeguards against greenwashing. Through expert presentations, a moderated roundtable, and audience discussion, the event will generate practical recommendations for scaling high-integrity nature-based climate action and strengthen South-South-North collaboration among communities, researchers, policymakers, practitioners, and finance institutions and youth leaders.

Dr. Amy Harris is an experienced research manager and scholar. From the UK originally, Amy has now lived in Vancouver for the last 15+ years where she has recently completed her PhD in climate communication at Simon Fraser University. Her research investigates the role of museums and exhibitions in helping publics connect with climate futures. She now brings that focus to UBC and the Centre for Climate Justice, where she is working to advance climate justice principles across multiple interdisciplinary projects, making their findings accessible and usable, and supporting the affiliated faculty and students.

“As both a climate researcher and staff member working at a climate justice research centre, I have unique perspectives to incorporating CCJ and UBC perspectives at COP. I am interested to see how the intersecting impacts of climate change and social dimensions, such as housing precarity, are discussed at COP. Learning about how policy discussions are framed at COP directly will enable me to improve CCJ’s capacity to cater our research projects to provide policy recommendations and improve the impact of our work.”

Daile Zeng is a PhD student in the Faculty of Forestry and Environmental Stewardship at the University of British Columbia. Her doctoral research focuses on integrated watershed carbon management under climate change, examining how watershed-scale carbon flows, land-use dynamics, socioeconomic development, and policy incentives can support credible and community-responsive nature-based climate solutions. She has also built science-to-policy experience through UNFCCC and COP-related work and international engagement on nature-based solutions, climate change, and restoration, including leadership in the International Forestry Students’ Association and participation in multiple IUFRO conferences.

"Growing up in southern China, I observed how abnormal weather events and extreme heat affect communities. At UBC, my Forestry PhD examines integrated watershed carbon management for high-integrity nature-based solutions, and my experience supporting work under Article 6.4 of the Paris Agreement at the UN Climate Change secretariat has allowed me to engage directly with international climate policy. I look forward to bringing these perspectives to COP31 and sharing what I learn with the UBC community."

Dr. Zeina Baalbaki is an engineer and educator with a blend of experience in environmental consulting, research, and curriculum development. Her consulting and research work focuses on helping industries across North America manage water resources, advance waste recycling and reduce climate impacts. She has developed and taught nine environmental courses at three Canadian universities. As a Lecturer at UBC, she has developed key elements of the UBC’s new Environmental Engineering program since its early development. She has built the program’s final-year capstone design experience from its inception, nurturing industry partnerships, integrating real-world sustainability challenges, and shaping how future environmental engineering leaders are trained.

“As an engineer and an educator focused on translating climate commitments into action, COP31’s focus on implementation resonates strongly with my work. I’m interested in dialogue on the complex interplay between climate policy and technology, particularly across COP31’s thematic areas such as zero waste, clean energy transition and green industrialization.”

Bayar Chinzorigt is a renewable energy project developer now pursuing a Master of Public Policy and Global Affairs at the University of British Columbia. Originally from Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, he studied mathematical economics at the American University in Bulgaria and earned a master's in project finance and development economics at Humboldt University of Berlin. He began his career as a data scientist at DIW Berlin – The German Institute for Economic Research, then spent years at Akuo – the leading renewable energy developer company developing wind, solar, battery storage across Central and Southeast Asia, before leading climate-readiness projects at the Global Green Growth Institute. He is currently the Business Development Manager at Stardust Solar Energy Inc., the largest solar installer in North America.

"Having developed various renewable energy projects across Asia-Pacific and North America, I've seen how much depends on whether international climate commitments translate into workable policies on the ground. This COP31 is where that translation happens, and I want to participate in the event as a sectoral expert and practitioner, if possible, sharing my view of what makes projects financeable to those negotiations."

Chantal Moore is a science communicator in the UBC of Faculty of Medicine, where she shares health research stories and hosts the podcast Transforming Health Insights. She studied health policy as an undergraduate and is currently completing an MSc in Epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, with an emerging focus on environmental epidemiology. Her interests include how air pollution, extreme heat and climate change shape health, especially in communities that have contributed least to the climate crisis. She brings an equity lens to climate-health storytelling.

"Climate change is already shaping our health and daily lives, but its impacts are not felt equally. I’m honoured to represent UBC at COP31, where I hope to learn from diverse perspectives and use my skills as a communicator to bring important conversations about climate solutions and equity back to the UBC community."

Christine Chen is an associate professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and an associate director of the Clean Energy Research Centre. She also leads a Research Excellence Cluster in Accelerating Research Interdisciplinarity in Sustainable Electricity. Her research is in the control and operation of electric power systems, with an emphasis on renewable integration. In addition to her domain expertise, she is interested in exploring ways to improve practical adoption of advanced technical solutions aimed at the energy transition by effectively integrating social, economic, and policy dimensions.

"As a COP observer, I hope to learn about regulatory, corporate, and financial forces that dictate how technologies get funded and scaled, along with variations thereof around the globe. I would also like to link traditional electrical engineering curricula with fields like law, economics, and public health to offer our students with a broader view on the impact they can have."

Kirthana is a Ph.D. student at the Peter A. Allard School of Law, researching corporate accountability for technology-related risks. She is an Affiliated Research Scholar at the Canada Climate Law Initiative, where her work includes authoring a guide on climate-conscious boards and co-authoring research on the anti-ESG movement’s impact on Canadian institutional investors. She previously worked as a Research Assistant at the Yale Initiative on Sustainable Finance, researching corporate net-zero commitments and ESG regulation. In summer 2026, she served as a UBC Sustainability Scholar, researching the energy, emissions, and air quality impacts of AI data centres, and she also guest lectures on climate law topics through UBC’s Climate Teaching Connector program.

"As a researcher on corporate accountability and AI infrastructure, I believe COP31 is a chance to bring Big Tech’s climate footprint into the global conversation. I want to engage with international disclosure frameworks, learn from diverse regulatory perspectives, and help shape stronger accountability standards for the technology sector."

Dr. Megan Smith is the UBC Okanagan Impact Research Chair in Societal Resilience and Immersive Futures and an Associate Professor in Creative Studies at the University of British Columbia Okanagan. She directs the CFI-funded Critical Future Studio/Lab, where her interdisciplinary research brings together climate science, artificial intelligence, immersive media, and public engagement. Her current SSHRC Insight-funded project, Truth Machine, transforms climate data into experiential and multisensory encounters designed to strengthen climate literacy and resilience. Her internationally exhibited satellite visualization project, All the Stars We Cannot See, received an Honorary Mention at the 2022 Prix Ars Electronica. In 2026, she is leading SCI_ART, an initiative connecting artists, researchers, and cultural partners from the European Union and Canada to explore climate change and shared planetary futures. 

"Participating in COP31 will allow me to connect global climate priorities and policy discussions with my research in immersive media, climate communication, and public engagement. I am particularly interested in bringing artistic and interdisciplinary perspectives into these conversations and sharing what I learn with UBC students, colleagues, and communities through research, teaching, and SCI_ART."

Rishma Chooniedass is an Associate Professor of Teaching in the School of Nursing and currently serves as Associate Dean (pro tem) of Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and International Initiatives. She has been teaching on the Okanagan campus for the past nine years, with a strong commitment to advancing equity in education. Her teaching and scholarship focus on cultural safety, global health and planetary health, preparing future health professionals to address complex social and environmental challenges.

"I recently started teaching Planetary Health and it has deepened my understanding of the urgent and interconnected challenges posed by climate change. I am particularly interested in examining how the economic benefits of activities that drive climate change are often concentrated among those with the greatest resources, while the burdens of climate-related crises disproportionately affect marginalized and structurally disadvantaged communities. Attending COP31 would provide an opportunity to learn from global leaders and advocates about how to repair the social, environmental, and health harms caused by climate change while advancing equitable and sustainable futures for all communities."