Addressing the environmental, community and health impacts of resource development: Challenges across scales, sectors and sites

Work that addresses the cumulative impacts of resource extraction on environment, community, and health is necessarily large in scope. This paper presents experiences from initiating research at this intersection and explores implications for the ambitious, integrative agenda of planetary health. The purpose is to outline origins, design features, and preliminary insights from our intersectoral and international project, based in Canada and titled the “Environment, Community, Health Observatory” (ECHO) Network. With a clear emphasis on rural, remote, and Indigenous communities, environments, and health, the ECHO Network is designed to answer the question: How can an Environment, Community, Health Observatory Network support the integrative tools and processes required to improve understanding and response to the cumulative health impacts of resource development? The Network is informed by four regional cases across Canada where we employ a framework and an approach grounded in observation, “taking notice for action”, and collective learning. Sharing insights from the foundational phase of this five-year project, we reflect on the hidden and obvious challenges of working across scales, sectors, and sites, and the overlap of generative and uncomfortable entanglements associated with health and resource development. Yet, although intersectoral work addressing the cumulative impacts of resource extraction presents uncertainty and unresolved tensions, ultimately we argue that it is worth staying with the trouble

Addressing the environmental, community and health impacts of resource development: Challenges across scales, sectors and sites

Work that addresses the cumulative impacts of resource extraction on environment, community, and health is necessarily large in scope. This paper presents experiences from initiating research at this intersection and explores implications for the ambitious, integrative agenda of planetary health. The purpose is to outline origins, design features, and preliminary insights from our intersectoral and international project, based in Canada and titled the “Environment, Community, Health Observatory” (ECHO) Network. With a clear emphasis on rural, remote, and Indigenous communities, environments, and health, the ECHO Network is designed to answer the question: How can an Environment, Community, Health Observatory Network support the integrative tools and processes required to improve understanding and response to the cumulative health impacts of resource development? The Network is informed by four regional cases across Canada where we employ a framework and an approach grounded in observation, “taking notice for action”, and collective learning. Sharing insights from the foundational phase of this five-year project, we reflect on the hidden and obvious challenges of working across scales, sectors, and sites, and the overlap of generative and uncomfortable entanglements associated with health and resource development. Yet, although intersectoral work addressing the cumulative impacts of resource extraction presents uncertainty and unresolved tensions, ultimately we argue that it is worth staying with the trouble

Mining, Inuit traditional activities and sustainable development: a study of the effects of winter shipping at the Voisey's Bay nickel mine

The need to incorporate the idea of sustainable development has become a component of any large-scale industrial project in recent times. The Voisey's Bay Nickel Mine (VBNM) Project, which began production in August 2005 and which currently has an operational life expectancy of 14 years, provided a case study example of how the costs and benefits of mining on communities can be anticipated and managed in the context of sustainable development. The specific focus of this research was to study the potential effects of the VBNM winter shipping route on the traditional activities of the Labrador Inuit. The study involved the compilation of background information from secondary sources and informal interviews with a number of key informants residing in three communities in Newfoundland and Labrador. The project determined that in the context of the sustainable development of VBNM winter shipping, Labrador Inuit traditional activities have been adequately addressed

Elderly Men and Health Service Provision for Type 2 Diabetes Management: A Critical Analysis of Knowledge Gaps

Chronic long-standing type 2 diabetes and subsequent complications (comorbidities) represent a major clinical and public health challenge for elderly men from a prevention and management viewpoint. In the developed western countries, evidence suggests that 80% of premature deaths and disability due to diabetes and heart disease can be prevented. Diabetes care in the elderly include further challenges in management of comorbidities such as hypertension, the metabolic syndrome (MetS), kidney problems including nephropathy and chronic renal failure, vision abnormalities such as cataract and retinopathy. The comorbidities are subsequent to complex mechanistic processes incurred by the hyperglycemia and reduced insulin sensitivity in diabetes. Management of diabetic elderly patients with type 2 diabetes is further challenged by lack of specific clinical guidelines tailored to this population. Existing clinical guidelines are based on evidence from clinical trials conducted in younger (< 65 years of age) patients. There is a need for designing improved models of health care delivery, assessment of comorbidities and polypharmacy in elderly men, including mental health issues such as depression and dementia that may persist with diabetes. An integrated, comprehensive, and patient-oriented management care plan seems the best practice clinical approach to ensure that the risk of hypoglycemia does not increase while treating elderly diabetic men with existent multimorbidity