June 5, 2021
Professors, students research works to protect natural world
The emergence of COVID-19 has also shown just how disastrous the consequences of ecosystem loss can be. By shrinking the area of natural habitat for animals, we have created ideal conditions for pathogens 鈥 including coronaviruses 鈥 to spread.
With this big and challenging picture, is focused on ecosystem restoration and its theme is 鈥淩eimagine. Recreate.Restore.鈥
means preventing, halting and reversing this damage 鈥 to go from exploiting nature to healing it. This World Environment Day will kick off the (2021-2030), a global mission to revive billions of hectares, from forests to farmlands, from the top of mountains to the depth of the sea.
Only with healthy ecosystems can we enhance people鈥檚 livelihoods, counteract climate change and stop the collapse of biodiversity.
Mapping Canada's climate governance network
, is an associate professor at 草莓污视频导航 Law. He is also the principal investigator of a multistage, multiyear, SSHRC-funded project. The project aims to map Canada鈥檚 climate governance network, identify where institutional supports are needed, then assist in building them. By the end of 2021, Fenner hopes that the mapping stage will be complete. This mapping research will result in two open-source, edited volumes. Each volume will identify key strategies for accelerating the decarbonization process in Canada.
The project has financial and in-kind support from the Government of Canada, the 草莓污视频导航, the Canada Climate Law Initiative, the Centre for Business Law at UBC, the Canadian Institute of Resources Law, the Commonwealth Climate and Law Initiative, and Oxford University. The diverse group of experts participating in the first stages of this project includes Janis Sarra (the Founder and Principal Co-Investigator of the Canada Climate Law Initiative and Director of the Commonwealth Climate and Law Initiative); Margot Hurlbert (Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Climate Change); John Borrows (Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Law); and C茅line Bak (a climate specialist knighted in France for mobilizing the private sector before the Paris Agreement). 鈥淪upport for this project has been extraordinary,鈥 Fenner reports, 鈥淚 am honoured to have so many important and capable people lending their efforts to help ensure this project鈥檚 success.鈥
Some of our top students are also project members. Jo茫o Victor Germano de Aquino Lima reflects upon the project and remarks that 鈥渋t is interesting to see the development of network governance in action, and how it can be used to tackle the complexity of climate change.鈥 He sees significant advantages in 鈥済etting the private sector involved and aligning their financial interests with long-term climate goals.鈥 He adds that such strategies are 鈥渓ikely to produce creative, sustainable, and tailored solutions at a more local level鈥 to the problems that climate change creates. While Shaun Williamson feels that 鈥渨orking with Fenner on this project has been a great opportunity to see how law and governance theory can be harnessed to help pull climate policy forward.鈥
Amelia Harman finds the project work rewarding, noting it is 鈥渋mportant and necessary since it brings together and shares a diversity of perspectives, knowledge, and understandings of what climate policy means to different actors.鈥 While Laura Glover finds the project鈥檚 progress 鈥渋ncredibly encouraging and inspiring,鈥 noting how 鈥渆xperts from many backgrounds, areas of expertise, and from all around the world are contributing to the success of this important project.鈥 She adds that working on the project to date has added 鈥渁 greater breadth of knowledge鈥 to her understanding 鈥渙f how policy initiatives can help in the battle against climate change.鈥
Charlotte Woo describes this project as 鈥渧ery relevant as Canada continues to take steps to reduce carbon emissions鈥. She adds that working on the project has been 鈥渁 fantastic learning experience,鈥 and it has granted her an opportunity 鈥渢o learn more about how to inspire change in ways not typically taught in law school.鈥 Similarly, Katelyn Deyholos explains that working on the project has been 鈥渁 great learning opportunity.鈥 She adds that 鈥減rojects like this are essential for future climate policy.鈥 Finally, Nick Ettinger adds that working on the project has 鈥減rovided the very type of exposure to Canada's climate policy network that I had hoped to gain in coming to law school at the 草莓污视频导航.鈥
The role of cost-benefit analysis in environmental decision-making
One stream of 鈥檚 research is focused on the role of cost-benefit analysis (CBA) in environmental decision-making. Unlike other jurisdictions where CBA has prominent roles in natural resources and environmental law and policy, CBA has had relatively limited deployment in Canada. Instead, weighing of burdens and benefits tends to take place without a transparent analytical framework for examining trade-offs and values. This is particularly problematic given the ongoing degradation of ecosystems and the immense value they hold at local, regional and global levels. As an existing analytical tool for deciding whether or not to proceed with a particular course of action, CBA may serve as a methodology that generates more consistent, transparent and defensible decision-making. This may in turn may address a marked decline in public confidence in government decision-making, which is exacerbated in today鈥檚 鈥減ost-truth鈥 context.
This area of Prof Wright鈥檚 research may also contribute to better understanding important CBA critiques and limitations, especially where monetary values may be inappropriate, for example in relation to the rights and interests of Indigenous communities. This research project also stands to advance knowledge about CBA in a context where ambitious decarbonization agendas are likely to accelerate proposals for major infrastructure projects and changes to review and permitting processes. In the current context, where governments are implementing post-COVID-19 economic recovery measures within a 鈥渘ew normal鈥 that includes shifts in the assumptions and values that underpinned pre-pandemic decision-making, CBA may hold potential to be calibrated with societal shifts (e.g. shifted risk tolerances) and then serve as a grounding mechanism for decision-makers in an otherwise fluid and untethered context. Professor Wright has applied for a Tri-Council grant to pursue this research further.