Digital Commons Network^™

No. 58: Wild Foods, The Nutrition Transition And Urban Food Security In Northern Namibia, Ndeyapo Nickanor, Lawrence Kazembe, Jonathan Crush

Hungry Cities Partnership

Rapid urbanization and food system transformation in Africa have been accompanied by growing food insecurity, reduced dietary diversity and an epidemic of non-communicable disease. While the contribution of wild and indigenous foods (WIF) to the quality of rural household diets has been of longstanding attention, research on their consumption and role amongst urban households is much more recent. This paper focuses on the consumption of WIF in three towns in northern Namibia with close ties to the surrounding rural agricultural areas. Based on data from a household survey of food sourcing and consumption patterns in 2018, the paper shows that …

No. 60: Opening Access To Urban Food Security Data In Africa From The Hungry Cities Partnership, Gareth Haysom, Bruce Mcdougall, Samuel Owuor, Ndeyapo Nickanor, Ines Raimundo, Lawrence Kazembe, Lynn Woolfrey, Jonathan Crush

Hungry Cities Partnership

The Hungry Cities Partnership (HCP) initiated a 7-year programme of food system research in eight cities of the Global South in January 2015: Mexico City, Mexico; Kingston, Jamaica; Windhoek, Namibia; Cape Town, South Africa; Maputo, Mozambique; Nairobi, Kenya; Bangalore, India; and Nanjing, China. This paper describes the research process in the four African cities of Cape Town, Maputo, Nairobi, and Windhoek. The HCP data provide rich and context-specific information useful in avoiding generalizations in theory and inserting a Southern and African perspective into wider food studies and global policy debates. The paper describes and compares the survey methodology in the …

No. 59: Increasing The Use Of Spatial Data In Urban Household-Level Food Security Measurement, Jordan Blekking, Kurt Waldman

Hungry Cities Partnership

Measuring urban food security in Africa is challenging because the current food security metrics were designed for rural contexts, and often feature a bias toward food availability, yet limited urban food production means urban food security measurement requires a multi-dimensional evaluation that also takes stock of the spatial and behavioural dimensions of food security. Current metrics are poorly suited to evaluate urban food security because they do not incorporate the spatial and behavioural dimensions of urban livelihoods, which relate to the variability of entitlements across space and how urban infrastructure accessibility enhances or constrains the choices available for a household …

No. 56: Towards A New Food Security Index For Urban Household Food Security, Cameron Mccordic, Bruce Frayne, Naomi Sunu, Clare Williamson

Hungry Cities Partnership

The multidimensionality of food security can confound both statistical modelling and clear policy narratives. That complexity can become amplified in urban areas where food security is often a function of both local and global factors. Rather than focusing on one dimension of food security metrics, this investigation proposes a method for building an index of urban household food access, utilization and stability. The performance of this index is compared across three aggregation methods using household surveys collected from five cities around the world. The findings indicate that each aggregation method was internally consistent, although one of the aggregation methods, relying …

Best Practices For Integrating Climate Change Into Protected And Conserved Area Management Plans And Planning Processes In Canada, Stephanie Barr, Christopher J. Lemieux, Pamela Wright, Jen Hoesen, Claudia A. Haas

Geography and Environmental Studies Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Distributed Spatial Data Sharing: A New Era In Sharing Spatial Data, Majid Hojati

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The advancements in information and communications technology, including the widespread adoption of GPS-based sensors, improvements in computational data processing, and satellite imagery, have resulted in new data sources, stakeholders, and methods of producing, using, and sharing spatial data. Daily, vast amounts of data are produced by individuals interacting with digital content and through automated and semi-automated sensors deployed across the environment. A growing portion of this information contains geographic information directly or indirectly embedded within it. The widespread use of automated smart sensors and an increased variety of georeferenced media resulted in new individual data collectors. This raises a new …

Utilizing Ground-Penetrating Radar To Estimate The Spatial Distribution Of Snow Depth Over Lake Ice In Canada’S Sub-Arctic, Alicia Pouw

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

With the expected rise in air temperature, it becomes important to understand how snow will respond in different climate scenarios. The presence of snow over lake ice largely influences the ice thickness, and as Canada’s Arctic and sub-arctic regions are experiencing warming at twice the global rate, concerns rise as changes in the snowpack will significantly impact northern communities that rely on lake ice as a means of transportation, source for drinking water, and feeding their families. The distribution of snow depth is highly sensitive to changes in climate over time, as such a slight increase in air temperature or …

Wildlife Value Orientations And Recreation Conflict: A Focus On Hunters And Non-Hunters In Alberta, Canada, Yuvana Sequeira

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Parks and other forms of protected areas are considered a vital tool in the effective conservation of biodiversity. These areas also provide important spaces for nature-based tourism and recreation (NBTR), where activities such as hiking, swimming, canoeing, and socializing with friends and family often occur. In some cases, hunting may also occur within a protected area, but there is little understanding of how such activities affect the experience and overall satisfaction of other recreationists (and vise-versa). While NBTR is a popular and growing industry, there is limited research in Canada about the values of tourists and recreationists and the …

Spatial And Temporal Characteristics Of Historical Surface Climate Over The Northwest Territories, Canada, Bhaleka D. Persaud

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Climate change is putting many of the Northwest Territories (NWT) ecosystems, its people and animal populations at risk due to accelerated warming, permafrost thaw, and changing precipitation regimes. As the NWT continues to warm, at disproportionately higher rates when compared to the rest of Canada, threats to the stability of NWT’s ecosystems are expected to increase. Consequently, understanding how climate warming has changed historically and its implications on natural ecosystems requires point-to-region-specific, long-term climatic data to elucidate important drivers of observed changes relevant to decision makers at community, Indigenous, Territorial and Federal government levels. However, in situ climate data are …

The Vital Role Of Dehcho Dene Knowledges In Climate Change & Permafrost Thaw Adaptation In Jean Marie River First Nation Nwt, Mackenzie Bell

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Across the globe climate change has become an issue of growing concern for both Indigenous and non – Indigenous peoples alike. In Northern Canada this narrative is no different. For Indigenous groups such as the Jean Marie River First Nation (JMRFN) anthropogenic climate change is not only a reality but is visible through their daily interactions with the environment around them. Additional insight pertaining to these climatic changes and their impacts can be found through analyzing the traditional knowledge systems of the JMRFN and how these before mentioned interactions have changed over time. This two-year participatory research project has investigated …

Assessment Of Stream Metabolism And Associated Environmental Drivers In The Greiner Lake Watershed, Nunavut, Canada, Nicole Gotkowski

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Stream metabolism is an ecological process that can be monitored to assess carbon cycling and productivity within a stream ecosystem. GPP (gross primary productivity) is measured as oxygen produced by autotrophs and ER (ecosystem respiration), which is measured by oxygen depleted by all living organisms. Complications arise when estimating GPP and ER in the Arctic because most methods require a period of darkness when GPP ceases, however, summer regimes of photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) do not reach zero. Furthermore, natural diffusion of oxygen from the atmosphere (k) must be accounted for but this requires extensive field work, thus posing problems …

The Dynamic Relationship Between Permafrost And Landcover In Northwestern Canada’S Discontinuous Permafrost Zone, Olivia Carpino

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Northwestern Canada’s subarctic is among the most impacted regions in the world as it is experiencing rapid climatic and environmental change. As a result, northwestern Canada has been experiencing region-wide permafrost thaw and disappearance, both of which are also occurring at unprecedented rates. Permafrost temperatures in the Taiga Plains have been warming steadily over the last several decades, which has been particularly detrimental across its lower latitudes of the discontinuous permafrost zone where the permafrost is already relatively thin and warm. These factors indicate that permafrost in the southern Taiga Plains may be in a state of disequilibrium with the …

Exploring The Effectiveness Of Ecological Momentary Assessment And Video At Eliciting The Impact Of Park Features On Human Health And Well-Being In A Protected Area Context, Katelyn O'Bright

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

It is increasingly recognized that contact with nature in parks and other forms of protected areas provides benefits to visitors’ physical, mental, social, spiritual, and intellectual health and well-being. However, the methods used to assess these outcomes, including the influence of different environmental features that lead to these benefits, is under-researched. To address this gap, this study used a mixed methods design to explore the effectiveness of using Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) and video to assess the impact of various park features on the self-perceived (subjective) health and well-being of visitors. Participants were prompted by a mobile application on their …

“Bright Spots” And Effectively Communicating The Ecological And Social Outcomes Of Protected And Conserved Areas In Canada, Jen Hoesen

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Healthy and resilient protected and conserved areas are the foundation of biodiversity conservation, improve livelihoods, and drive sustainable development. Protected lands and seascapes radiate life sustaining ecosystem services and provide important places for nature connection, rejuvenation, and inspiration. Although escalating human pressures and climate change-related risks continue to place many protected and conserved areas under increasing threat, “conservation bright spots” have emerged as a key communications strategy to illustrate where and how biodiversity and the social benefits it provides is performing relatively well. Given the crucial need to educate the public about biodiversity-related issues and amplify solution-centric approaches to support …

Nitrogen: Both A Potential Stimulator And Suppressor Of Cyanobacterial Blooms In Temperate Lakes, Catherine Goltz

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Cyanobacterial blooms are complex phenomenon that are impacted and controlled by various factors such as lake depth, air temperature, wind, and nutrient loading. Nutrients such as phosphorus, nitrogen and iron all have very differing effects on cyanobacterial blooms. While phosphorus and iron are known to drive cyanobacterial biomass, nitrogen has been observed to have a direct impact on toxin synthesis. Nitrogen exists in the environment in many different forms such as atmospheric N₂, in inorganic forms such as nitrate and ammonium as well as in organic forms such as urea which can all affect cyanobacterial bloom development differently. …

A Machine Learning Approach To Classify Open Water And Ice Cover On Slave River Delta, Ida Moalemi

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Seasonal temperature trend and ice phenology in Great Slave lake (GSL), are strongly influenced by warmer inflow from Slave river. The Slave river flows to GSL through Slave river delta (SRD), bringing a rise in temperature that triggers the ice break-up process of the lake. Slave river discharge is subject to multiple stressors including climate warming and upstream water activities, which in turn, directly affects the GSL break-up process. Consequently, monitoring the break-up process at SRD, where the river connects to the lake, serves as an indicator to better understand the cascading effects on GSL ice break-up. This research aims …

Transformations Towards Just Urban Sustainabilities: A Community Psychology Approach To Analyzing And Fostering Urban Changes, Bianca C. Dreyer

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Cities are uniquely positioned to drive social change towards more just and sustainable futures. However, while discourses of ‘transformations towards sustainability’ have gained prominence, their focus on integrating equity and justice and tackling the root causes of current unsustainabilities is lacking. This document outlines a research endeavor aimed at analyzing and fostering urban sustainable transformations from a community psychology perspective. This research is based on the assertion that without radical change based in equity and justice considerations, transformative efforts fail. First, a theory of just urban sustainable transformations (JUST) is suggested that draws on urban transformations and just sustainabilities scholarship. …

“To Be Involved In A Meaningful Way”: Mobilizing Indigenous Knowledge In Environmental Monitoring Practices In Northern Ontario, Alanna Robbins

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

A steady shift in the environmental management literature encourages greater inclusion of traditional knowledge (TK) alongside Western science, much of it seeking to directly support Indigenous communities develop their own frameworks for environmental monitoring and stewardship. To date, little attention has been placed on research practices themselves as sites where interdisciplinary and intercultural work takes place to bridge between different knowledge systems and develop best practices for effective collaboration. Matawa Water Futures (MWF), the object of study for this thesis project, is a three-year water stewardship project involving Indigenous and non-Indigenous researchers, environmental managers, and community interns, working with the …

Comparison Of Permafrost Thaw-Related Changes To Hydrological Response And Land Cover In Subarctic Peatland-Dominated Landscapes, Mikhail Mack

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The hydrological implications of discontinuous permafrost thaw in peatland-dominated basins are not well understood. While there is evidence suggesting that permafrost-thaw-driven land cover change increases annual runoff and the runoff ratio in the Taiga Plains of northwestern Canada, few studies have evaluated the impact on small to medium-sized basins (< 10⁵ km²) outside this ecoregion. Here, we assess runoff, runoff ratio, and precipitation trends for 34 peatland-dominated basins, of which 28 are in the discontinuous and sporadic permafrost zones and 6 in adjacent permafrost-free environments. We calculated annual and monthly trends between 1970 and 2016 using the Mann-Kendall …

“Anything From The Land Is Good”: Understanding How Community Gardening In Kakisa, Northwest Territories, Can Contribute To Indigenous Food Sovereignty, Michelle Malandra

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Rates of food insecurity in Canada’s northern Indigenous communities are at levels that should constitute an emergency. Dominant explanations for these high rates of food insecurity often ignore the ongoing impacts of colonization and over-emphasize individual choices and nutritional guidelines developed by outsiders. The importance of holistic community health is ignored, along with the cultural and social values and practices that support community health and well-being, including traditional food systems. As the acute impact of climate change in the North threatens traditional food access, a shift toward an Indigenous food sovereignty approach in health and food policy is needed. With …

A Departmental Dilemma: The Genesis Of Canadian Military Export Policy, 1945-1960, Paul Esau

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Recent sales of Canadian military equipment to Saudi Arabia have highlighted a contradiction between Canadian policy on paper and in practice. This dissertation seeks to explain these contradictions by exploring the evolution of Canadian conventional military export policy in the key years between 1946 and 1960. It loosely divides this 15-year span into three periods, which correspond to the genesis of Canadian military export policy (1946-1949), its expansion and formalization (1950-1955), and its first existential challenge (1956-1960). With a particular focus on the Department of External Affairs, this work explores the political considerations and bureaucratic debates which shaped government decision-making …

Water Stories: An Exploration Of Human-Water Connectedness In Ontario And The Implications For Water Sustainability, Tracey Ehl

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Abstract

Water is the great connector. Water connects people, health, wellness, culture, spirituality, nature, and the economy. Clean, safe water (potable water) and sanitation were recognized over a decade ago by the United Nations General Assembly (UN) as a basic human right, and more recently the UN has also identified water sustainability and management as one of 17 sustainable development goals for all people in all countries. Water is inextricably connected to humans. Yet, in Ontario, Canada, a place with access to some of the largest freshwater reserves in the world, robust regulatory frameworks, involvement, some investment by all levels …

Controls On Thermokarst Lake Water Balances In The Inuvik - Tuktoyaktuk Region, Evan J. Wilcox

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

There are tens of thousands of thermokarst lakes in the Inuvik-Tuktoyaktuk region, located in the northwest corner of the Northwest Territories, Canada. These lakes formed following the last glacial period in areas where ice-rich permafrost thawed and created depressions in the landscape. The Inuvik-Tuktoyaktuk region is one of the fastest warming regions in the world, leading to changing precipitation patterns, permafrost thaw and deciduous shrub expansion, all of which are affecting the water balance of thermokarst lakes. During the past several decades, lake expansion and contraction have been observed in response to fluctuations in precipitation. While these changes in lake …

Contrasting Seasonal Cycling Of Arsenic In A Series Of Subarctic Shield Lakes With Different Morphometric Properties, Jeremy Harbinson

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The subarctic shield near Yellowknife, Northwest Territories (NWT), is populated with thousands of small lakes (<1.5 km²) and several large lakes. Historic mining activities in the region have left a legacy of environmental impacts and widespread arsenic (As) contamination in both aquatic and terrestrial environments. In particular, several small subarctic lakes near Yellowknife have been previously documented to be contaminated with high levels of As. Subarctic lakes are characterized by seasonal ice-cover that can persist for more than half of the year, yet little is known about the under-ice spatial and seasonal dynamics of As cycling. The objective of …

Navigating Waters: Experiences Of Filipino Canadian Identity Making In The Diaspora, John Felix Tolentino

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Research states that while Filipino Canadians are the largest growing migrant population in Canada, they are the least represented and understudied subjects in the academy. The primary purpose of this qualitative study is to better understand the experiences of Filipino Canadians and how they create their identities in the diaspora. Since few studies take on a social work lens to explore these important stories, I attempt to unearth these experiences using these guiding questions: (1) How do Filipino Canadians integrate their cultural identity in the diaspora? (2) What are the sociopolitical and historical conditions that inform these identities? Following Charmaz’s …

Review Of "The Secret History Of Rdx: The Super-Explosive That Helped Win World War Ii" By Colin F. Baxter, Alex Souchen

Canadian Military History

Review of The Secret History of RDX: The Super-Explosive that Helped Win World War II by Colin F. Baxter

No. 04: Pandemic Precarity And Food Insecurity: Zimbabwean Migrants In South Africa During Covid-19, Godfrey Tawodzera, Jonathan Crush

Migration and Food Security (MiFOOD) Network

A notable silence in the emerging literature on migrant precarity is any consideration of the relationship between precarity and food insecurity. The links between migrant precarity and sudden economic, political or environmental shocks are relatively untheorized. Researchers were thus conceptually under-prepared to understand how and in what ways the COVID-19 pandemic intersected with general forms of precarity and food insecurity. More recently, the concept of pandemic precarity has been proposed as a corrective. At its most basic, pandemic precarity refers to the increased incidence and severity of pre-pandemic conditions of poverty, inequality and economic insecurity during COVID-19. In relation to …

Les Sirènes De L’Image Numérique, Olga Tsvietkova

The Goose

Notre courte réflexion textuelle et photographique introduit l’idée d’une sirène visuelle. Cette métaphore suggère un potentiel caché de l’image numérique, ainsi que les influences hypnotiques que celle-ci exerce sur le spectateur.

The Still Unfathomed Trans+Oceanic, Daze Jefferies

The Goose

For centuries, violence against mermaids has coexisted alongside slippery sexualizations in much of Newfoundland’s folk and popular cultures. This is demonstrated most grievously in colonist Richard Whitbourne’s 1620 text, A Discourse and Discovery of Newfoundland. The fishy reality of simultaneous disposability and desirability also mirrors the life histories of trans women and sex workers in the capital port city of St. John’s. Imagining mermaids as trans and sex-working ancestors in a province that has been structured by ecologies of fish trade, this work of research-creation drifts through precarious survival in the North Atlantic.

No. 03: Covid-19, The Hukou System And Migrant Food Security In Urban China, Fei Xu, Taiyang Zhong, Jonathan Crush

Migration and Food Security (MiFOOD) Network

The COVID-19 pandemic has issued significant challenges to food systems and the food security of urban and mobile populations. COVID-19 has had a disproportionate negative impact on household food security. In China, there have been no studies to date specifically focusing on the food security of migrants during the pandemic. This paper uses data from an online questionnaire survey of food security in Nanjing City, China, conducted in March 2020 to examine the different experiences of migrant and non-migrant households. The paper situates the research findings in the general literature on the migrant experience more generally during the pandemic and …