The Global Goals can only be met if we work together.
SDG 17 encourages global partnerships to build a better world. EUC researchers have worked extensively to establish collaborative networks and programs, spanning continents, disciplinary focus, and applying research to real-world solutions.
Addressing climate vulnerability through nature-based solutions
Rural communities in the semi-arid regions of the Volta basin are at an existential tipping point. Human- and climate-induced land degradation in wetlands and riparian zones of the basin undermine the livelihoods and well-being of local communities in multifaceted and complex ways. In an effort to build resilience to climate change and natural hazards in Africa and the Asia-Pacific region, Professor Joseph Mensah from the Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change at York University is collaborating with several researchers across university in region on a 2-year project that supports nature-based solution using transdisciplinary engagement of wetland communities.
(Re)Building Canada’s First Indigenous-led research station
The Scotty Creek Research Station (SCRS) is a world-class climate research hub located 50 km south of Fort Simpson, in the Dehcho region of the southwest Northwest Territories, Canada. The station is an all-season field research station and a place for Indigenous community members and researchers to share knowledge and experiences on climate change. In 2022, the station burned to the ground in a late-season wildfire. Less than two years after the fire, Dehcho community members and SCRS researchers gathered together to celebrate the reopening of the station. The SCRS is now fully re-opened and operational, and once again collecting data on the impacts of fire and climate change on the land and water.
Ghanaian researchers visit York for collaborative project on women’s health and trade
The Faculty of Environmental & Urban Change recently hosted a renowned group of visitors from Ghana as part of an ongoing collaboration under the IDRC Women RISE initiative. The project, “Examining the Socio-Economic and Health Vulnerabilities of Female Bushmeat Traders in the Context of COVID-19 in Ghana,” aims to draw lessons to provide input into Ghana’s COVID-19 recovery programme through training and material interventions. Leading this important research are Prof. Yaa Ntiamoa Baidu from the Centre for Biodiversity Conservation Research at the University of Ghana, Prof. Joseph Mensah from the Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change, and Dr. Emmanuel A. Odame from the Ghana Ministry of Health.
GenUrb – Urbanization, Gender, and the Global South
Linda Peake’s Urbanization, Gender and the Global South (GenUrb) SSHRC partnership project is transforming understandings of poverty and inequality in middle-income countries. GenUrb is a collaborative project, uniting a global cohort of scholars and activists across a breadth of institutions through public education and policy enrichment. It exemplifies the incredible work which results from international cooperation.
Las Nubes EcoCampus in Costa Rica
York’s Las Nubes EcoCampus unites the York University community with researchers and communities in Costa Rica. Through collaborative approaches, the Las Nubes program has made significant achievements in biodiversity protection, rural sustainability, and environmental education in local schools. York University students can attend the Las Nubes EcoCampus for courses and knowledge exchanges while supporting local sustainable development, capacity building, and science-based cooperation.
Building Migrant Resilience in Cities
Valerie Preston’s Building Migrant Resilience in Cities (BMRC-IRMU) is a research partnership and a multi-sector collaboration. It draws on over 20 years of experience in bringing together a range of key actors working on issues of immigration and settlement through CERIS, a leading Ontario network of migration and settlement researchers, practitioners, and policymakers. The unique initiative explores the concept of social resilience to examine how institutions can facilitate migrant settlement in urban areas across Quebec and Ontario.
SEI – Sustainable Energy Initiative
The Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change, through the Sustainable Energy Initiative (SEI), has been able to build and strengthen the teaching, research, and partnerships needed to create new green energy economies in Canada and around the world. Through collaborative partnerships, the SEI is shaping policy, educating future leaders, and investing in sustainable energy to tackle climate change.
Developing the Ecological Footprint Initiative
The Ecological Footprint Initiative is a partnership between the Global Footprint Network and York researchers who are working to enhance the accounting methodology and improve data on which the concept of ecological footprint is based. The goal is for York to become the global data center for the National Ecological Footprint Accounts and to lead an international network focused on making ecological footprint more accepted, accessible, and policy relevant. The research makes significant contributions in the development and implementation of resource allocation, protection, and measurement policies in Canada and around the world.
Paleolimnological methods to assess environmental change across Canada
Jennifer Korosi studies permafrost as a dominant feature of the Canadian landscape with EUC fellow faculty Joshua Thienpont. Considering that empirical evidence of long-term impacts to lake ecological and biogeochemical function is lacking, Korosi’s LPRG project is using paleoenvironmental techniques to track permafrost landscape change in the Northwest Territories. The field sites are based in the Inuvik-Tuktoyaktuk region and the Dehcho region and is conducted as part of the Dehcho Collaborative on Permafrost, an initiative that aims to fuse scientific and Indigenous knowledge on permafrost to co-develop new predictive decision support tools and risk management strategies to manage permafrost and adapt to permafrost thaw.
Click on the icons below to explore how EUC is contributing to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals
