Strengthening Resilience by thinking of Knowledge as a nutrient connecting the local person to global thinking: The case of Social Technology/Tecnologia Social

In this chapter, we describe the Knowledge as a Nutrient framework that emerged from these conversations. We describe how it relates to the Tecnologia Social policy approach to sustainability, developed in Brazil (Dagnino et al. 2004, Fundação Banco do Brasil 2009, Costa 2013), which is not well known in the anglophone world. Tecnologia Social was both inspired by and rooted in Paulo Freire’s pedagogical thinking (2000, Klix 2014).   We show how this framework has the potential to increase community resilience and adaptive capacity, not only for communities that face and must adapt to climate change but for all communities in the throes of complex social, ecological, economic and political transitions.This research was supported by the International Development Research Centre, grant number IDRC GRANT NO. 106002-00

How will disenfranchised Peoples adapt to Climate Change? Strengthening the Ecojustice Movement

The Fourth assessment of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) acknowledged That millions of people are currently, and will increasingly be, affected by the impacts of climate change, in the form of floods, droughts and other extreme events, as well as related threats to food security. In response to these global environmental changes, the international community, including civil society, is acting on the need for immediate adaptation measures and is developing strategies for future adaptation. However, the impacts of climate change are unevenly distributed, with many of the poorest, most vulnerable peoples experiencing the immediate effects of climate change, in the here and now. As the IPCC noted, developing countries are disproportionately affected by climate change and often, the least able to adapt due to lack of infrastructure and resources

Preparing for and Responding to Disturbance: Examples from the Forest Sector in Sweden and Canada

Coping or adaptation following large-scale disturbance may depend on the political system and its preparedness and policy development in relation to risks. Adaptive or foresight planning is necessary in order to account and plan for potential risks that may increase or take place concurrently with climate change. Forests constitute relevant examples of large-scale renewable resource systems that have been directly affected by recent environmental and social changes, and where different levels of management may influence each other. This article views disturbances in the forest sectors of Sweden and Canada, two large forest nations with comparable forestry experiences, in order to elucidate the preparedness and existing responses to multiple potential stresses. The article concludes that the two countries are exposed to stresses that indicate the importance of the governing and institutional system particularly with regard to multi-level systems including federal and EU levels. While economic change largely results in privatization of risk onto individual companies and their economic resources (in Canada coupled with a contestation of institutional systems and equity in these), storm and pest outbreaks in particular challenge institutional capacities at administrative levels, within the context provided by governance and tenure systems.In Sweden, funding from the research agency FORMAS, the MISTRA Arctic Futures programme, and the Future Forests programme (funded by research agency MISTRA, the forest industries, Umeå University and the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences) as well as from the EU for data collection is acknowledged. Ryan Bullock acknowledges funding provided by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and by the Mistra Arctic Futures programme for preparing this paper.https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4907/2/2/50

Ptarmigan Field Researchers at La Pérouse Bay, Hudson Bay, Manitoba, Canada

L to R Dawn Bazely, Sue Stephenson, Jim Davies and ptarmigan research dogs, Tasha (left) and Jenny (right) in field track vehicle. Sue and Jim were Kathy Martin's field assistants. Kathy carried out her doctoral research on willow ptarmigans at La Pérouse Bay

RESPONSES OF SALT-MARSH VEGETATION TO GRAZING BY LESSER SNOW GEESE (Anser caerulescens caerulescens).

Masters Thesis completed in 1984 by D. R. Bazely at the University of Toronto. Supervised by Dr. R.L. JefferiesSUMMARY:1. The mechanisms by which grazing by lesser snow geese bring about an increase in cumulative net above-ground primary production (NAPP) of salt marsh vegetation at La Pérouse Bay, Manitoba were investigated.2. In the absence of grazing, cumulative NAPP was approximately 80 g m-2 in swards dominated by Puccinellia phryganodes in 1982 and 1983. Grazing by snow geese resulted in increases in cumulative NAPP of 46% in 1982 and 106% in 1983. These increases were significant (p < 0.05).3. There was a significant correlation between values of leaf Brea index and live standing crop in grazed and ungrazed sites (p < 0.05).4. Grazing stimulated tillering in P. phryganodes. This increase in axillary shoot production accounted for the increase in cumulative NAPP of grazed sites compared with ungrazed sites in 1982 and 1983.5. The rate of appearance of leaves and the rate of death of leaves was similar on main shoots of P. phryganodes in both grazed and ungrazed sites. However, the total number of leaves produced on axillary shoots of grazed plants was substantially higher than that of ungrazed plants. The average age of a leaf when grazed was 14 days, whereas the mean age of ungrazed leaves was 35 days.6. Significant increases in live standing crop were observed in exclosed plots fertilised with fresh snow goose drqppings compared with that in control plots which received no droppings (p < 0.05).7. Rates of nitrogenase activity, measured by acetylene reduction, were consistently greater in grazed than in ungrazed sites in 1983.8. Grazing maintained the total nitrogen content of P. phryganodes at a level of 2.4% on a dry weight basis, while that of ungrazed shoots of P. phryganodes declined by 30% two weeks after hatch.9. In the absence of snow geese, over a period of four years plant species diversity increased in exclosures while live standing crop declined and litter accumulated. The soil environment of ungrazed sites was cooler than that of grazed sites.10. It was concluded that the intensive grazing activities and colonial feeding behaviour of snow geese result in higher nitrogen availability for plant growth in grazed sites, and the maintenance of better quality forage as a result of the higher nitrogen content. Nitrogen is supplied from goose droppings and increased rates of nitrogen fixation in grazed sites. P. phryganodes, a grass, is able to withstand heavy grazing, and plants respond by producing tillers so that the amount of forage 13 increased significantly

Landscape view at Churchill, Manitoba, Canada, 1982.

Landscape to the south of trail between Knight's Hill esker and launch, Churchill, Manitoba, Canad

Kathy Martin writing up field notes in the lab trailer at La Pérouse Bay

Kathy Martin, doctoral student, Queen's University, writing up her daily field notes on the willow ptarmigan population of La Pérouse Bay, Manitoba, Canada

Susan Cargill and Michelle Kortnaar on Knight's Hill Esker, Hudson Bay, east of Churchill, Manitoba, Canada

Michelle Kortnaar, field assistant and Susan Cargill, M.Sc., Botany Department, University of Toronto (Robert L. Jefferies' research group) hiking along the Knight's Hill Esker, with Saxifraga tricuspidata (prickly saxifrage) flowering in foreground

Kathy Martin (doctoral student) and Sue Stephenson (field assistant) at La Perouse Bay

Kathy Martin (doctoral student) and Sue Stephenson (field assistant) at Camp Finney (Nestor 2) during spring snow melt of the Mast River, La Pérouse Bay, Hudson Bay, Manitoba, Canada

Brochure about the Churchill Community of Knowledge Digital Archive Project

Describes the digital archive project for the Churchill Northern Studies Centre, Wapusk National Park and Robert L. Jefferies Symposium.What is an Institutional Repository? An Institutional Repository is a type of Digital Archive hosted by an academic library. It is an Open Access online resource containing many different kinds of digitized content. Items are deposited to a Digital Archive by members of the institutional community who have been granted permission by the copyright owner of the digital item. A form containing metadata - the descriptive information for the item is filled in at the time of submission