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- OPEN ACCESS
Integrating wood fuels into agriculture and food security agendas and research in sub-Saharan Africa
In sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), food security can be influenced by many factors including farmer productivity, access to soil amendments, labor availability, and family incomes (just to name a few). In this paper, we suggest that an additional issue contributes to food insecurity and has been historically absent from the discussion, namely access to cooking energy, particularly for very low income, food insecure individuals. This paper examines the most recent literature that describes the central role played by wood fuels, in particular firewood and charcoal, as a vital, though controversial, source of fuel used by the vast majority of rural and urban sub-Saharan Africans. We explore the reality that although the health risks of collecting and using firewood and charcoal in traditional manners are real, policy makers, researchers, and donors need to address the sustainability and viability of the current fuel types used by the majority of people. We end the paper with a series of practical suggestions for improving the wood fuel systems as they currently exist in the region. - OPEN ACCESS
- Lori E.A. Bradford,
- Tim Vogel,
- Karl-Erich Lindenschmidt,
- Kerry McPhedran,
- Graham E.H. Strickert,
- Terrence A. Fonstad, and
- Lalita A. Bharadwaj
There is movement in engineering fields and in Indigenous communities for enhancement of local participation in the design of community infrastructure. Inclusion of community priorities and unique cultural, spiritual, and traditional values harmonize the appearance, location, and functionality of developments with the social and cultural context in which they are built and contribute to holistic wellness. However, co-design processes that align community values and the technical needs of water facilities are difficult to find. A scoping review was conducted to explore the state of knowledge on co-design of water infrastructure in Indigenous Canada to build a knowledge base from which practices and processes could emerge. The scoping results revealed that articles and reports emerged only in recent years, contained case studies and meta-reviews with primary (qualitative) data, and involved community members in various capacities. Overall, 13 articles were reviewed that contributed to understanding co-design for water infrastructure in Indigenous Canada. Barriers to co-design included funding models for Indigenous community infrastructure, difficulties in engineers and designers understanding Indigenous worldviews and paradigms, and a lack of cooperation among stakeholders that contribute to ongoing design failures. A working definition of co-design for Indigenous water infrastructure is presented. - OPEN ACCESS
- Palmira Granados Moreno,
- Sarah E. Ali-Khan,
- Benjamin Capps,
- Timothy Caulfield,
- Damien Chalaud,
- Aled Edwards,
- E. Richard Gold,
- Vasiliki Rahimzadeh,
- Adrian Thorogood,
- Daniel Auld,
- Gabrielle Bertier,
- Felix Breden,
- Roxanne Caron,
- Priscilla M.D.G. César,
- Robert Cook-Deegan,
- Megan Doerr,
- Ross Duncan,
- Amalia M. Issa,
- Jerome Reichman,
- Jacques Simard,
- Derek So,
- Sandeep Vanamala, and
- Yann Joly
Open science can significantly influence the development and translational process of precision medicine in Canada. Precision medicine presents a unique opportunity to improve disease prevention and healthcare, as well as to reduce health-related expenditures. However, the development of precision medicine also brings about economic challenges, such as costly development, high failure rates, and reduced market size in comparison with the traditional blockbuster drug development model. Open science, characterized by principles of open data sharing, fast dissemination of knowledge, cumulative research, and cooperation, presents a unique opportunity to address these economic challenges while also promoting the public good.The Centre of Genomics and Policy at McGill University organized a stakeholders’ workshop in Montreal in March 2018. The workshop entitled “Could Open be the Yellow Brick Road to Precision Medicine?” provided a forum for stakeholders to share experiences and identify common objectives, challenges, and needs to be addressed to promote open science initiatives in precision medicine. The rich presentations and exchanges that took place during the meeting resulted in this consensus paper containing key considerations for open science precision medicine in Canada. Stakeholders would benefit from addressing these considerations as to promote a more coherent and dynamic open science ecosystem for precision medicine. - OPEN ACCESS
- Jennifer F. Provencher,
- Stephanie B. Borrelle,
- Alexander L. Bond,
- Jennifer L. Lavers,
- Jan A. van Franeker,
- Susanne Kühn,
- Sjúrður Hammer,
- Stephanie Avery-Gomm, and
- Mark L. Mallory
Marine plastic pollution is an environmental contaminant of significant concern. There is a lack of consistency in sample collection and processing that continues to impede meta-analyses and large-scale comparisons across time and space. This is true for most taxa, including seabirds, which are the most studied megafauna group with regards to plastic ingestion research. Consequently, it is difficult to evaluate the impacts and extent of plastic contamination in seabirds fully and accurately, and to make inferences about species for which we have little or no data. We provide a synthesized set of recommendations specific for seabirds and plastic ingestion studies that include best practices in relation to sample collection, processing, and reporting, as well as highlighting some “cross-cutting” methods. We include guidance for how carcasses, regurgitations, and pellets should be handled and treated to prevent cross-contamination, and a discussion of what size class of microplastics can be assessed in each sample type. Although we focus on marine bird samples, we also include standardized techniques to remove sediment and biological material that are generalizable to other taxa. Lastly, metrics and data presentation of ingested plastics are briefly reviewed in the context of seabird studies. - OPEN ACCESS
- Grace E.P. Murphy,
- Jillian C. Dunic,
- Emily M. Adamczyk,
- Sarah J. Bittick,
- Isabelle M. Côté,
- John Cristiani,
- Emilie A. Geissinger,
- Robert S. Gregory,
- Heike K. Lotze,
- Mary I. O’Connor,
- Carlos A.S. Araújo,
- Emily M. Rubidge,
- Nadine D. Templeman, and
- Melisa C. Wong
Seagrass meadows are among the most productive and diverse marine ecosystems, providing essential structure, functions, and services. They are also among the most impacted by human activities and in urgent need of better management and protection. In Canada, eelgrass (Zostera marina) meadows are found along the Atlantic, Pacific, and Arctic coasts, and thus occur across a wide range of biogeographic conditions. Here, we synthesize knowledge of eelgrass ecosystems across Canada’s coasts, highlighting commonalities and differences in environmental conditions, plant, habitat, and community structure, as well as current trends and human impacts. Across regions, eelgrass life history, phenology, and general species assemblages are similar. However, distinct regional differences occur in environmental conditions, particularly with water temperature and nutrient availability. There is considerable variation in the types and strengths of human activities among regions. The impacts of coastal development are prevalent in all regions, while other impacts are of concern for specific regions, e.g., nutrient loading in the Atlantic and impacts from the logging industry in the Pacific. In addition, climate change represents a growing threat to eelgrass meadows. We review current management and conservation efforts and discuss the implications of observed differences from coast to coast to coast. - OPEN ACCESS
- Jeremy R. Brammer,
- Allyson K. Menzies,
- Laurence S. Carter,
- Xavier Giroux-Bougard,
- Manuelle Landry-Cuerrier,
- Melanie-Louise Leblanc,
- Mikhaela N. Neelin,
- Emily K. Studd, and
- Murray M. Humphries
Traditional food systems based on harvest from the local environment are fundamental to the well-being of many communities, but their security is challenged by rapid socio-ecological change. We synthesized literature and data describing how a fundamental form of biodiversity, animal body size, contributes to the security of traditional food systems through relationships with species availability, accessibility, adequacy, and use. We found larger vertebrate species were more available, accessible, and used on a per kilogram basis, particularly for mammals. Conversely, larger species were no more or less adequate from a combined nutritional, health, and cultural perspective. Larger species represented more biomass, and this biomass required less time to harvest, with greater but more variable mean caloric returns over time. Smaller species provided more consistent caloric returns and were harvested during documented shortages of prey. This reliance on species with a range of body sizes is consistent with optimal foraging theory and the evolutionary value of flexibility, and highlights the importance of a biodiverse pool of species for traditional food security in times of change. Our synthesis of published literature and data highlights the many socio-ecological correlates of species size and how these relate to the security of traditional food systems. - OPEN ACCESS
- Jannie F. Linnebjerg,
- Julia E. Baak,
- Tom Barry,
- Maria V. Gavrilo,
- Mark L. Mallory,
- Flemming R. Merkel,
- Courtney Price,
- Jakob Strand,
- Tony R. Walker, and
- Jennifer F. Provencher
Marine plastic is a ubiquitous environmental problem that can have an impact on a variety of marine biota, such as seabirds, making it an important concern for scientists and policy makers. Although research on plastic ingestion by seabirds is increasing, few studies have examined policies and long-term monitoring programs to reduce marine plastic in the Arctic. This paper provides a review of international, national, and regional policies and long-term monitoring programs that address marine plastic in relation to seabirds in the Arctic countries: Canada, the Kingdom of Denmark (Greenland and the Faroe Islands), Finland, Iceland, Norway, the Russian Federation, Sweden, and the United States of America. Results show that a broad range of international, national, regional and local policies address marine debris, specifically through waste management and the prevention of pollution from ships. However, few policies directly address seabirds and other marine biota. Further, policies are implemented inconsistently across regions, making it difficult to enforce and monitor the efficacy of these policies given the long-range transport of plastic pollution globally. To reduce marine plastic pollution in the Arctic environment, pan-Arctic and international collaboration is needed to implement standardized policies and long-term monitoring programs for marine plastic in the Arctic and worldwide. - OPEN ACCESS
The value of paleolimnology in reconstructing and managing ecosystem vulnerability: a systematic map
Vulnerability can measure an ecosystem’s susceptibility to change as a result of pressure or disturbance, but can be difficult to quantify. Reconstructions of past climate using paleolimnological methods can create a baseline to calibrate future projections of vulnerability, which can improve ecosystem management and conservation plans. Here, we conduct a systematic map to analyze the range and extent that paleolimnological published studies incorporated the concept of vulnerability. Additional themes of monitoring, management, conservation, restoration, or ecological integrity were also included. A total of 52 relevant unique articles were found, a majority of which were conducted in Europe or North America since 2011. Common themes identified included management and adaptation, with the latter heavily focussed on climate change or disturbance. From this, we can infer that the use of paleolimnology to discuss the concept of vulnerability is an emerging field. We argue that paleolimnology plays a valid role in the reconstruction of ecosystem vulnerability due to its capacity to broaden the scope of long-term monitoring, as well as its potential to help establish management and restoration plans. The use of paleolimnology in vulnerability analysis will provide a clearer lens of changes over time; therefore, it should be frequently implemented as a tool for vulnerability assessment. - OPEN ACCESSFederal and provincial governments of Canada recently signed onto a Pan-Canadian Approach to Transforming Species at Risk Conservation. The approach is based on collaboration among jurisdictions and stakeholders to enhance multiple species and ecosystem-based conservation in selected biodiversity hot spots. In this review paper, we focus on one of the biodiversity hot spots—the South of the Divide area in the province of Saskatchewan—to propose appropriate mechanisms to incentivize stewardship on agricultural Crown lands. Through a focused review and synthesis of empirical studies, we propose a range of policy instruments and incentives that can help deliver multi-species at risk conservation on Crown agricultural lands in Saskatchewan. We outline a range of policy instruments and incentives that are relevant to conservation on Crown agricultural lands and argue that a portfolio of options will have the greatest social acceptability. More germane is the need to foster collaboration between the government of Saskatchewan, other provincial/territorial governments, and the federal government, nongovernmental organizations, and land managers. Such collaboration is critical for enhanced decision-making and institutional change that reflects the urgent call for creating awareness of species at risk policies, building trust, and leveraging the local knowledge of land managers for conservation.
- OPEN ACCESSA central contention of this paper is that conservation strategies are failing because they have become increasingly integrated into, and share the assumptions of, the structures of capitalism. As a result, conservation is becoming a strategic specialty within capitalism, rather than an ethical challenge to its basic assumptions. The paper examines this integration by analysing the way Hardin’s argument in the “tragedy of the commons” metaphor was taken up by policy makers in Canada’s East Coast fishery and a case is made that, as seen in the case of the fishery, this strategic integration limited the analytical capability of conservation to highlight the causes of environmental degradation. The critical literature on Hardin’s model points to the failure to recognize the importance of social relations and local institutional arrangements in combatting environmental failure. This paper contributes to the importance of “the social” in conservation debates by emphasizing Polanyi’s contrasting definitions of formal and substantive economics and the way they relate to contrasting conceptions of tragedy, as set out by Hardin (formal tragedy from above) and Goldmann’s conception of a historically specific tragedy that can be described as substantive tragedy from below. The analytical failure associated with Hardin’s metaphor can serve as a cautionary tale for current strategic and specific conservation strategies that tend to downplay the importance of ethical and social issues.
- OPEN ACCESS
- Kate Sherren,
- Kirsten Ellis,
- Julia A. Guimond,
- Barret Kurylyk,
- Nicole LeRoux,
- Jeremy Lundholm,
- Mark L. Mallory,
- Danika van Proosdij,
- Allison K. Walker,
- Tony M. Bowron,
- John Brazner,
- Lisa Kellman,
- B. L. Turner II, and
- Emily Wells
We review what is known about ecosystem service (ES) delivery from agricultural dykelands and tidal wetlands around the dynamic Bay of Fundy in the face of climate change and sea-level rise, at the outset of the national NSERC ResNet project. Agricultural dykelands are areas of drained tidal wetland that have been converted to agricultural lands and protected using dykes and aboiteaux (one-way drains or sluices), first introduced by early French settlers (Acadians). Today, Nova Scotia’s 242 km system of dykes protect 17,364 ha of increasingly diverse land uses—including residential, industrial, and commercial uses as well as significant tourism, recreational, and cultural amenities—and is undergoing system modernization and adaptation. Different ES are provided by drained and undrained landscapes such as agriculture from dykelands and regulating services from wetlands, but more complex dynamics exist when beneficiaries are differentiated. This review reveals many knowledge gaps about ES delivery and dynamics, including around net greenhouse gas implications, storm protection, water quality, fish stocks, pollination processes, sense of place, and aesthetics, some of which may reveal shared ES or synergies instead of trade-offs. We emphasize the need to be open to adapting ES concepts and categorizations to fully understand Indigenous implications of these land use decisions. - OPEN ACCESSNegative biodiversity trends are evident in Canada, in spite of its ecological and economic wealth and high governance capacity. We examined the current implementation of Canada’s national biodiversity strategy—the planning instrument to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity—through its existing legal framework. We did this by evaluating biodiversity-related strategies and plans and 201 federal, provincial, and territorial laws. We found that while most jurisdictions claim dedicated attention to biodiversity, there is little evidence of an integrated approach within provinces and territories and across the federation. Biodiversity conservation led by governments underscores the need for considerations of species and ecosystem services to be mainstreamed into economic and development decision-making. Key challenges to this include Canada’s unusual degree of decentralized constitutionally ascribed authority over natural assets and its historical and continued economic emphasis on extraction of natural resources—a conflict of interest for jurisdictions. Transitioning to scale-appropriate planning and integrated decision-making that can address the pressures and causes of biodiversity conservation in Canada will require transformative change. Law reform, while necessary, will not succeed unless accompanied by a whole-of-government approach, a shift to a bio-centric mindset, innovative governance (particularly Indigenous-led conservation), and federal leadership with strong levels of financial investment.
- OPEN ACCESSWildlife is declining around the world. Many developed nations have enacted legislation on endangered species protection and provide funding for wildlife recovery. Protecting endangered species is also supported by the public and judiciary. Yet, despite what appear as enabling conditions, wild species continue to decline. Our paper explores pathways to endangered species recovery by analyzing the barriers that have been identified in Canada, the United States, and Australia. We summarize these findings based on Canada’s Species at Risk Conservation Cycle (assessment, protection, recovery planning, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation) and then identify 10 “bridges” that could help overcome these barriers and bend our current trajectory of wildlife loss to recovery. These bridges include ecosystem approaches to recovery, building capacity for community co-governance, linking wildlife recovery to ecosystem services, and improving our storytelling about the loss and recovery of wildlife. The focus of our conclusions is the Canadian setting, but our findings can be applied in other national and subnational settings to reverse the decline of wildlife and halt extinction.
- OPEN ACCESSIntroduction: Early childhood overweight and obesity, as a result of unhealthy dietary habits and sedentary life, is a growing global public health concern, particularly in Canada. There are limited data on how socioeconomic factors influence dietary habits of young children living in developed countries. Methods: We conducted a scoping review to examine the existing literature on how socioeconomic settings influence food consumption patterns of children 2–5 years old in developed countries. The inclusion criteria were relevant articles in the English language between 2007 and 2019. Results: From the initial 1854 articles, only 12 articles from Europe, Canada, and the United States met the inclusion criteria. There are differences in eating patterns of preschool-aged children based on parental education, whereas income level did not have a clear influence on dietary patterns. The existing studies suffer from a variety of limitations that limit a cohesive conclusion. Conclusion: Studies with children 2–5 years old are scarce. Parental education seems to influence the dietary habits of young children, whereas the role of income is not clear. There is a need for further high-quality research, preferably longitudinal studies, to inform health promotion initiatives and preventive strategies to facilitate healthy growth and development in young children.
- OPEN ACCESS
- Arthur G. Green,
- Abdul-Rahim Abdulai,
- Emily Duncan,
- Alesandros Glaros,
- Malcolm Campbell,
- Rob Newell,
- Philip Quarshie,
- Krishna Bahadur KC,
- Lenore Newman,
- Eric Nost, and
- Evan D. G. Fraser
The application of technologies such as artificial intelligence, robotics, blockchain, cellular agriculture, and big data analytics to food systems has been described as a digital agricultural revolution with the potential to increase food security and reduce agriculture’s environmental footprint. Yet, the scientific evidence informing how these technologies may impact or enhance ecosystem services has not been comprehensively reviewed. In this scoping review, we examine how digital agricultural technologies may enhance agriculture’s support of ecosystem services. Keyword searches in academic databases resulted in 2337 records, of which 74 records met review criteria and were coded. We identify three clusters of digital agricultural technologies including those that make farm management more precise, increase connectivity, and create novel foods. We then examine modelling and empirical evidence gaps in research linking these technologies to ecosystem services. Finally, we overview barriers to implementing digital agricultural technologies for better ecosystem services management in the Canadian context including economic and political systems; lack of policies on data management, governance, and cybersecurity; and limited training and human resources that prevents producers from fully utilizing these technologies. - OPEN ACCESS
- Jolene A. Giacinti,
- E. Jane Parmley,
- Mark Reist,
- Daniel Bayley,
- David L. Pearl, and
- Claire M. Jardine
The protection and promotion of healthy wildlife populations is emerging as a shared goal among stakeholders in the face of unprecedented environmental threats. Accordingly, there are growing demands for the generation of actionable wildlife health information. Wildlife health surveillance is a connected system of knowledge that generates data on a range of factors that influence health. Canada recently approved the Pan-Canadian Approach to Wildlife Health that describes challenges facing wildlife health programs and provides a path forward for modernizing our approach. This scoping review was undertaken to describe the range of peer-reviewed Canadian wildlife health surveillance literature within the context of the challenges facing wildlife health programs and to provide a quantitative synthesis of evidence to establish baselines, identify gaps, and inform areas for growth. This review describes patterns related to species, location, authorship/funding, objectives, and methodology. Five areas are identified that have the potential to propel the field of wildlife health: representativeness, expanded/diversified collaboration, community engagement, harmonization, and a shift to a solutions-focused and One Health mindset. This scoping review provides a synopsis of 10 years of Canadian wildlife health surveillance, challenges us to envision the future of successful wildlife health surveillance, and provides a benchmark from which we can measure change. - OPEN ACCESSThe origins of this report, and of the Mental Health and Policing Working Group, can be traced to the unique situation Canadians have faced as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The unique circumstances of this global outbreak, which have for many Canadians resulted in serious illness and death, intensified economic uncertainties, altered family and lifestyle dynamics, and generated or exacerbated feelings of loneliness and social dislocation, rightly led the Royal Society of Canada’s COVID-19 Taskforce to consider the strains and other negative impacts on individual, group, and community mental health. With the central role that police too often play in the lives of individuals in mental and (or) emotional crisis, we were tasked with exploring what can be reasonably said about the state of our current knowledge of police responses to persons with mental illness.
- OPEN ACCESSIn Canada, the participation of Indigenous communities in research and monitoring is growing in response to calls for partnerships and heightened interest in bridging Indigenous and Western science-based knowledge. Yet, as settler scholars, we have noted inconsistencies in the articulation and operationalization of community participation in peer-reviewed literature. We conducted a scoping review of community participation in coastal and marine research and monitoring across Inuit Nunangat. This resulted in 72 studies, most of which were undertaken in Nunavut. Fourteen terms were used to articulate community participation, the most common being: participate, collaborate, community-based, consult, or variations of these terms. Among the studies that used community participation terms, we found that authors only defined terms 10% of the time. Community participation was operationalized primarily through interviews, mapping, and field observations. We assessed studies across a spectrum of community participation levels and found that most studies (81%) reflected minimal levels of participation (i.e., consultative, contractual, and less than contractual). Our results highlight the need for clarity in language use, transparency in reporting research practices, and stronger efforts to support Indigenous leadership and decision-making authority, all of which must be defined on a community or project basis.
- OPEN ACCESSClimate variability has influenced settlement and cultural activities of human populations for millennia, and our knowledge of the context of environmental drivers of migration can be inferred using paleolimnological techniques. We present a systematic map of literature to understand the breadth of paleolimnological research that exists on environmental change and its impact on subsistence cultures. We aim to illustrate how the “push” and “pull” of climate influenced human society over the late-Holocene. A systematic search found 68 unique relevant studies that discussed topics of human settlement and migration, stressors on the environment, and (or) ecological monitoring with respect to changes in climate using paleolimnological methods. We identified three primary themes: where people live, how people live, and how people will continue to live. Most studies took place in North America, within the last decade, and had a focus on diatoms, sediment characteristics, and climate. Topics ranged from reconstructions of changes in climate, human presence, human influence on the environment, subsistence strategies, and the importance of monitoring. We demonstrate the value of paleolimnological methods in understanding the timing of events, revealing long-term ecological trends, and providing baseline conditions for effective remediation and management purposes.
- OPEN ACCESSMany children and youth in Canada are identified as vulnerable due to educational, environmental, and social factors. They are more likely to be negatively affected by events that cause significant upheaval in daily life. The changes imposed by COVID-19, such as physical distancing, school closures, and reductions in community-based services all have the potential to weaken the systems of support necessary for these children to learn and develop. Existing inequities in educational outcomes experienced by vulnerable children prior to the pandemic have been greatly exacerbated as cracks in our support structures are revealed. Many children and youth have experienced disengagement, chronic attendance problems, declines in academic achievement, and decreased credit attainment during the pandemic, with the impact far deeper for those already at-risk. This chapter examines what is known to date regarding the impact of COVID-19 on vulnerable children and youth and provides recommendations to guide postpandemic planning. Vulnerable children, youth, and their families require access to reliable high-speed internet, effective and inclusive learning spaces, and a range of coordinated social services. All stakeholders need to develop and fund initiatives that address these critical areas to ensure that educational opportunities for all children and youth can be realized.