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Policy and planning

My policy and planning work seeks to improve the effectiveness of conservation programs, communications and policy applications with a focus on environmental monitoring in northern Canada and species- and ecosystem-level Red Lists.

The state of environmental monitoring in northern Canada

I led a collaborative gap analysis of the state of environmental monitoring in northern Canada whilst based at the Canadian Polar Commission in 2014. This ambitious effort included collating meta-data on all atmospheric, freshwater, marine, terrestrial, cryospheric and human health-related monitoring programs in northern Canada, with a focus on the past 15 years.

This massive database then enabled analyses of geographic and thematic gaps in coverage, and identification of potential synergies for increasing the effectiveness of the existing monitoring network or new investment.

The final report was released in early 2015 and is available here and metadata files stored here. The Canadian Polar Commission joined with the former S&T program of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada June 1, 2015, to become Polar Knowledge Canada (POLAR), such that future work and application of this project will come through POLAR.

National Red Lists

I managed the National/Regional Red List Programme at the Zoological Society of London from 2007- 2008, during which time we developed the initial centralized database, network and website for hosting all national red listing information. This website (www.nationalredlist.org) has continued to grow since, accommodating the needs of the national red listing community.

We also conducted a thorough lit review of all national and regional red lists in existence at the time, which is presented as a gap analysis in Conservation Biology (2010), and proposed solutions to addressing these gaps most effectively within the context of limited financial resources.

Arctic monitoring science for policy makers

Whilst at the Canadian Polar Commission, I managed the SAON Canada file, which included developing communication tools to better promote the work of monitoring networks in northern Canada. SAON is the Sustaining Arctic Observing Networks, an Arctic Council initiative under the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Program (AMAP), and seeks to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of arctic monitoring through increased coordination and facilitation.

A primary challenge for monitoring is gaining and maintaining support. In order to address this challenge and communicate the value of monitoring to policy makers, the Canadian Polar Commission coordinated the launch and implementation of the new SAON Canada Results Bulletin. The bulletins include concises summaries of new results from environmental and human health-related monitoring programs in the Canadian north, with links to a more detailed policy briefs. This program was implemented with the Association of Polar Early Career Scientists (APECS), from which the policy analysts came. SAON Canada Results Bulletins to date are available here.

Ecosystem Red Lists

Through my work on species-level red listing, I became involved in a new project looking at the development of Red List Criteria for determining the threat status of ecosystems. This project is now managed by the IUCN CEM (Commission on Ecosystem Management) and Provita. For more information:

http://www.iucnredlistofecosystems.org/

The spatial and conceptual boundaries of ecosystems are more ambiguous than that of species, which presents new challenges for designing criteria that can be effectively applied across a range of ecosystems, and with quantitative thresholds that are robust to ecological theory.