The role of tourism and social/cultural capital in building resilience to disasters​

Professor Sanjay Nepal Geography and Environmental Management Department, University of Waterloo

Professor Brent Doberstein Geography and Environmental Management Department, University of Waterloo

Dr. Erin O’Connell Lecturer and Associate Chair, Geography and Environmental Management Department, University of Waterloo

VIRTUAL SESSION 16 | June 20, 2024, THURSDAY ​12 PM-1 PM EDT

Recording of Lecture 16

Dr. Sanjay Nepal is a Professor in the Department of Geography and Environmental Management at the University of Waterloo. His research is focused on tourism, conservation, and communities.

Dr. Brent Doberstein is an Associate Professor in the Department of Geography and Environmental Management at the University of Waterloo and the past acting director of the Masters of Climate Change and Graduate Diploma in Climate Risk Management programs. He has been engaged in hazard, disaster, and climate change adaptation teaching and research in Canada and abroad for over twenty years.

Dr. Erin O’Connell is a Lecturer and Associate Chair of undergraduate studies in the Department of Geography and Environmental Management at the University of Waterloo. Her research focuses on hazard risk reduction and building more sustainable and resilient communities, with a particular focus on Southeast Asia.

Emergencies and Animal Response​

Cheryl Rogers

Canadian Disaster Animal Response Team (CDART) Founder

VIRTUAL SESSION 15 | APRIL 18 2024, THURSDAY ​12 PM-1 PM EDT

Recording of Lecture 15

Cheryl is a founder of CDART (Canadian Disaster Animal Response Team) and has deployed to Firestorm in 2003, Katrina in 2005 and Fort McMurray in 2016 as well as many smaller local emergencies. She is the CDART liaison with the BC government and represented CDART as part of the earthquake consultation with Henry Renteria.

The Canadian Disaster Animal Response Team (CDART) provides disaster response services for domesticated animals. They rescue, shelter and care for pets and livestock during disasters/emergencies when people are forced to evacuate and cannot care for their own animals.

CDART began in 2003 after the wildfires in Barriere, Kamloops and Kelowna. They deployed to those fires as Noah’s Wish volunteers but decided they needed a group of specially-trained, dedicated volunteers from/for Canada.

Intersecting injustices and competing narratives for climate change​

Terry Cannon​

Emeritus Research Fellow ​ Institute of Development Studies at University of Sussex, UK ​ Honorary Professor at University College London

HYBRID SESSION 14 | MARCH 21, 2024, THURSDAY ​12 PM-1 PM EDT

Recording of Session 14

Terry Cannon is a specialist in disaster risk reduction and adaptation to climate change, with particular expertise in rural livelihoods, community-based adaptation, and in vulnerability analysis for disaster risk reduction (DRR). He has pioneered the understanding of vulnerability analysis and social protection in the context of disasters as part of frameworks for risk reduction and adaptation to climate change. This has recently extended to assessment of the significance of culture as a factor in understanding people’s and organizations’ attitude to risk (relating to climate change and disasters). In 2014 he was lead editor of the IFRC World Disasters Report 2014 focus on culture and risk, has participated in a number of conferences and workshops to advocate for this ‘missing link’ in DRR. He is also part of a research group that is challenging the terminology of ‘community’ and ‘community-based’, which is used uncritically and not leading to helpful interventions.
He was leader of a DFID project to promote science for climate change in South Asia, with workshops in India and Nepal and support for young scientists to be published. Before that he was director of the DFID supported Strengthening Climate Resilience project at IDS that worked on the integration of climate change adaptation with disaster risk reduction and development. This included the emergence of new thinking on how specific forms of adaptation can emerge in the development context. He has also acted in an advisory consultancy to the IFRC Vulnerability and Capacity Assessment process in relation to climate change and urbanisation (2010-13) and its integration into community assessments of vulnerability. Participatory methods are being explored to assess how relevant these are to allocations of adaptation funding, including through social protection. A similar approach is being taken in research in Bangladesh and India, especially on diversification of rural livelihoods and potential for cyclone disaster preparedness. He also supports the International Centre for Climate Change and Development (ICCCAD), based at Independent University, Bangladesh where he provides training and advice on adaptation to climate change.