not provided by the applicant. not provided by the applicant.

Future Ancestors Services seeks to build a database that explores the teachings of various peoples around the world and what ancestry and ancestral accountability means to them in the context of current socio-political and environmental issues. This research project explores the ways in which the lived experiences of black people in Sub-Saharan Africa impact their experience and understanding of COVID-19, and how the disease has been harmful at not just a physical level, but also a spiritual and emotional level.

Resource extraction has caused extensive landscape change that impacts wildlife. This is especially true in Alberta, Canada, where forestry, oil and gas and similar industries stretch across the province. While these industries are known to negatively affect some wildlife species, other species benefit from the features that these industries introduce, such as roads. In consequence, wildlife communities in human-modified landscapes consist of ‘winner’ and ‘loser’ species.

With the recent legalization of recreational cannabis in Canada, cultivation of cannabis sativa has increased significantly, including rapid adoption of outdoor cultivation. Given the cheaper cost of production compared to indoor cultivation, the growth in outdoor cultivation will likely outpace that of indoor. However, while outdoor cannabis cultivation faces many of the same pest challenges as indoor cultivation, there are no pesticides registered for outdoor cannabis. Growers must rely on other integrated pest management (IPM) tactics to manage pests.

Canada is a signatory to global commitments to reduce greenhouse gas levels and one important way this will happen is through the implementation of nature-based solutions for climate change. One example of natural climate solutions is GHG offsets based on restoration, protection and establishment of forests, wetlands, grasslands and peatland areas. Indigenous Peoples are critical to the success of natural climate solutions.

Potatoes are among the top five crops worldwide. With the rate of climate change accelerating, the pressures on potato production systems (e.g., heat stress, water stress, pest pressures) will intensify adaptation efforts. Although climate change is already happening, it is often seen as an abstract and distant problem that diverts resources from current production challenges. However, drone and remote sensing technology can reconcile this false dichotomy. They can help growers better respond to crop needs with targeted use of inputs, which improves the bottom line.

Soil organic matter and soil organic carbon (SOC) are the important drivers of soil health. Although winter wheat and red clover have improved the soil health and system resiliency in Ontario (Gaudin et al., 2013), little is known on how quickly changes to soil health can be made and under which management systems. With Federal and Provincial government policies on carbon trading, a better understanding of the impact of management on carbon sequestration would be valuable. However, meaningful Ontario data are needed.

The Laurentian Great Lakes and many Canadian inland waters have experienced a resurgence of cyanobacteria-dominated harmful algal blooms (cHABs), which negatively impact recreational uses, aesthetics, taste and odor in drinking water. The presence of toxins can also have dire repercussions on aquatic wildlife and human health. The factors that influence the occurrence and magnitude of algal blooms and toxin production (e.g., nutrient enrichment, climate change) vary in space and time and are poorly understood.

A rare inland population of fin whale uses the remote Kitimat Fjord System (KFS) in northern British Columbia (in the marine territory of the Gitga’at First Nation). This is the only fjord system, both historically and currently, that this predominantly offshore species has used within Canadian waters. Fin whales returned to the KFS only recently, at the same time as industrial development planning accelerated for northern BC coast.

Saltmarshes and coastal wetlands in Atlantic Canada are some of the habitats that have experienced the greatest decline in area over the past 400 years. Various organizations have monitored habitat change and bird use of these sites for decades, but no one has undertaken a comprehensive examination of changes in habitats or avian abundance, potential factors that influence those (including government policies), and the perspectives of local stakeholders on the successes and failures of conservation efforts in these region.