The Environmental Cooperation and Israel-Palestinian Peace event will take place March 15 at 1pm at 280A 91��ɫ Lanes, Keele campus.

Environmental cooperation has been much-lauded as a force of peace in the Middle East and has been leveraged in support of Track I peacemaking processes between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. It has been pursued as a practice of peace-building, valued for its ability to foster partnership-building, cooperation, identity change and sustainability. Still, the Israel-Palestinian conflict persists, even manifesting through cooperative environmental relations.

�ʲ��Ա���������ٲ��� (right), an international development, peace-building and dialogue researcher-practitioner, and Stuart Schoenfeld (left), chair of the Department of Sociology at 91��ɫ’s Glendon College, will present and discuss the issue. Drawing on their direct experience of working with practitioners, governments and stakeholders in the Middle East, they will critically examine assumptions and practices of environmental cooperation between Israel and the Palestinians. Abitbol and Schoenfeld co-chaired the AVOW initiative (Adaptive Visions of Water in the Middle East), hosted at IRIS from 2007-2009.

Abitbol specializes in hydropolitical issues, with a particular interest in Israeli-Palestinian relations. A Chevening Scholar and associate Fellow at IRIS, he is pursuing a PhD in peace studies at the University of Bradford in the United Kingdom, while teaching university courses at the nexus of environment and peace. As a consultant, he recently conducted the Conflict and Peace Effects Study of the Israel-Palestinian Authority-Jordan-World Bank "Red Sea Dead Sea Conveyance" initiative.

Schoenfeld's research on regional environmentalism in the Middle East began in the late 1990s. A network of Israelis, Palestinians and Jordanians began to work towards a common understanding of issues of water, energy, waste, transportation, consumption, biodiversity and sustainable development, and to fashion a way of turning that common understanding into one of the elements for peace and human security in the region.

The project continues to investigate this network and other regional frameworks. The project has produced publications on transboundary environmental networks, environmental peace building, approaches to regional environmental governance and the role of empathy in environmental peace-building.

For more information, visit the website.

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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Hyndman was in Sri Lanka within months of the 2004 tsunami. She saw first-hand not only the devastation wrought by the tsunami, but the complications of delivering humanitarian aid in areas of Sri Lanka and Indonesia that were already conflict-riddled and impoverished. She also witnessed how the natural and man-made disasters intersected to change the political dynamics of both countries – a peace accord in Indonesia and the end of war in Sri Lanka between the government and the Tamils.

Her experiences led to the recently released book, and companion videos by Hyndman and geographer and humanitarian aid worker Arno Waizenegger,  and . To watch the first video, enter the password, "Lhokse". Waizenegger also co-wrote one of the book's chapters with Hyndman.

The earthquake-triggered tsunami is estimated to have killed or displaced more than one million people – three women for every man – and billions in donations flowed in for relief efforts. Dual Disasters addresses pre- and post-humanitarian aid concerns and offers suggestions that are still relevant today.

“I examine two war zones that were then hit by the 2004 tsunami and trace how the conflict and the environmental disaster shaped one another in terms of outcomes,” says Hyndman of 91��ɫ's Department of Social Sciences in the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies, who has studied humanitarian emergencies, conflict-related human disaster and displacement for more than a decade. For the book, she focused specifically on Sri Lanka and Aceh, Indonesia.

Left: Jennifer Hyndman

The book examines the inequitable delivery of humanitarian aid, but also looks at how the cultural and political situation in both countries played into that. If more aid was given to the coastal areas of Sri Lanka, because of their tourist appeal, than to the people in the hinterland, who are hardest hit by war, that imbalance created a “potential and real threat to peace.” Similarly in Aceh, Indonesia, international tsunami aid was earmarked exclusively for tsunami survivors and not for civilians who had lost their homes and livelihoods in the decades old conflict. This became the cause of tensions and threats recorded in the book by Hyndman and her research assistants.

The problem was that aid agencies had little latitude to spend donated money. As it's often designated for specific things, some agencies collected more money than they could ethically spend, she says. That led to the hiring of sub-contractors who not only didn’t necessarily do the best job, but it also made it more difficult to monitor the funds. This could be remedied if donors gave aid agencies more leverage to spend their donations where needed, says Hyndman, associate director of the .

In addition, aid workers can unintentionally become wrapped up in the politics. “You need to pay very close attention to the political climate, otherwise you can become a political player in what you think is a humanitarian operation.” That can play out in as simple an act as talking to people living on one side of a road. What the aid workers may not realize is that the people on one side of the road are enemies with those on the opposite side, and the workers are seen as allies to one side only. “The unintended result is that humanitarian aid can actually fuel a conflict or create tensions."

Or, as in the case of the water pumps, what seemed like an easy and fast solution – provide villages with water pumps so they no longer had to dig wells – turned out to be not so simple in an area of Sri Lanka where tensions were already high between various factions. Bringing in water pumps heightened conflicting interests, instead of making life easier. “So unintentionally, a benign water project can fuel a war.”

It is just as important for aid workers to be aware of a country's cultural practices. One aid agency built much-needed, but culturally inappropriate housing. The new houses only had one room, when two were required to keep the women separate from the men. Hyndman says many of these issues could be avoided by providing regional cultural and political sensitivity orientation and training to humanitarian aid workers.

Competition between aid agencies for donor dollars was another issue raised by the book, but it has, at least in Canada, been addressed to some extent. Care Canada, Oxfam Canada, Oxfam Quebec and Save the Children formed a coalition after the 2004 tsunami to work together.

“It’s an excellent step in the right direction,” says Hyndman.

For more information, visit the .

By Sandra McLean, YFile writer

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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Research grants cover most of these expenses, but the geography graduate student welcomes the $15,000 she won as this year’s master’s-level recipient of the Garfield Weston Award for Northern Research. The money will help cover her tuition fees, books and living expenses. "It was definitely nice to get it."

The award is one of many scholarships presented by the Canadian Northern Studies Trust on behalf of the .

Right: Liz Miller on a dig

Miller is the second 91��ɫ geography graduate student to win it in two years. Last year, Anna Abnizova (BSc Spec. Hons. '05, MSc '07) was the doctoral-level recipient.

Both students are researching northern wetlands under the supervision of Arctic hydrologist Kathy Young, a geography professor in 91��ɫ’s Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies.

Last week, Miller returned to Toronto after three months studying the water flow of two hill streams that drain into the Polar Bear Pass wetland. It was her third trip to the North, her first to conduct her own research.

In the summer of 2009, Abnizova chose her as a field assistant to measure water levels, surface area and carbon fluxes in wetland ponds fed by snowmelt in this protected wildlife sanctuary.

Left: Liz Miller out 'fishing'

Their research adds to a growing understanding of the effect of climate change on the North. Polar Bear Pass is an oasis of vegetation in the middle of a polar desert. Its plant life nourishes insects, migratory birds and mammals, from lemming and fox to muskox and caribou, not to mention the polar bears that migrate through this protected wildlife area. That plant life depends on the sustainability of the wetland ponds, on the snowmelt and water flow.

Miller’s love of nature began as a child growing up in rural New Brunswick. She helped her father garden and went on camping and hiking trips across Canada with her parents. Unsure what to study after high school in Toronto, she enrolled at 91��ɫ because the Environmental Science Program offered such variety. She could take biology, geography, ecology and conservation and learn about everything from soils and hydrology to plants and animals. Her first taste of the Arctic came after third year when she helped Professor Rick Bello measure carbon release from peatlands in Churchill, Manitoba.

But, until Abnizova invited her to be a field assistant last year, Miller never imagined returning to the Arctic. For three years after earning a bachelor of science in 2006, she had hopped from one government contract to another. She still hasn’t narrowed her interest to a single field, but can boast a wealth of experience in conservation – assessing wetlands, mapping endangered-plant sites, doing surveys of red-shouldered hawks and forest inventories, evaluating the health of streams, restoring wetlands and planting trees.

Right: Rifle-totaing Liz Miller takes no chances in Polar Bear Pass

This week, Miller climbed aboard yet another plane to see Europe for the first time. In three weeks, she’ll return to finish her master’s degree and then decide whether to do a doctorate.

After witnessing the wildlife – caribou in particular – in Polar Bear Pass, she may branch into a broader investigation of the relationship between physical geography (land and water) and the biological community. “I like figuring out why plants grow where they grow and animals are where they are.”

By Martha Tancock, YFile contributing writer

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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The tower is the only building on campus to receive a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) silver certification. The internationally recognized green building certification system provides third-party verification that a building or community was designed and built using strategies aimed at improving performance in energy savings, water efficiency, CO2 emissions reduction, improved indoor environmental quality, and stewardship of resources.

“ standards were factored into the tower’s design from day one and provided solid guidelines in best practices,” says Bud Purves (left), president of the 91��ɫ Development Corporation. “After passing the six-month certification process, we’re pleased to have earned the silver designation and hope the learning from this project will be applied to other 91��ɫ buildings in the future.”

The tower’s sustainable features begin outside. The white roof and treated paving stones surrounding the building reflect heat instead of absorbing it, reducing cooling costs and the heat island effect. Its plant beds are also more self-sustaining: no potable drinking water is used for irrigation, 50 per cent of the plants were chosen because they require less water; and the beds themselves are deeper, allowing the plants to draw more water through their roots. Exterior light fixtures that reflect down instead of up or to the side also reduce the building’s light pollution.

Inside, electronic shutoffs on water fixtures and low-flush toilets reduce the tower’s water use by 30 per cent while a high-performance water boiler, leak-free structures and sun-friendly design have optimized its energy use. All equipment installations were supervised to ensure they would perform to their design specs and the building’s thermal output is monitored for compliance to LEED standards. Air quality management ensured construction dust didn’t get stuck to walls or end up under carpets while low chemical-emitting adhesives, such as paint, glue, carpet and laminates, were used to reduce the presence of phenols.

Above: The 91��ɫ Research Tower

During construction, 15 per cent of all new materials were made from recycled content; 20 per cent of extracted materials, such as gravel and stone, were sourced locally to reduce the building’s carbon footprint; and 75 per cent of extra materials were diverted from landfills.

Building occupants manage their own recycling and trash disposal, and "green" cleaning products have been introduced (see YFile, Aug. 13, 2009). In the future, educational information will also be provided to explain and educate the public about the building’s features.

“The certification reflects 91��ɫ’s strong commitment to the environment and to sustainability,” said 91��ɫ President & Vice-Chancellor Mamdouh Shoukri. “I would like to acknowledge those who made this achievement possible, particularly Bud Purves and his team in the 91��ɫ Development Corporation, with support from Vice-President Stan Shapson and staff from the Research & Innovation Office and Vice-President Gary Brewer and staff from the Finance & Administration Office. I can’t say enough to thank you for your efforts.”

By Elizabeth Monier-Williams, research communications officer. Photos courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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“The suburbs have not received a lot of attention, so we’re trying to shift the lens, so to speak,” says Keil, director of the City Institute at 91��ɫ (CITY). “Urbanization is at the core of the growth and crisis of the global economy today. Yet, the crucial aspect of 21st-century urban development is suburbanization, which is defined as the combination of an increase in non-central city population and economic activity, as well as urban spatial expansion.”

Left: Suburbs being built in 91��ɫ Region. Photo by Roger Keil.

With $2.5 million in research funding through the Social Sciences & Humanities Research Council of Canada’s program, Keil, along with some 43 researchers from around the globe, will study various aspects of what he likes to call the in-between city. Global Suburbanisms: Governance, Land and Infrastructure in the 21st Century is “the first major research project that takes stock of worldwide suburban developments in a systematic way. By studying suburbs, we analyze recent forms of urbanization and emerging forms of urbanism across the world, but we also take into view the dilemmas of aging suburbanity,” he says. Canadian suburbanization and suburbanism trends will serve as a critical basis for understanding suburbanization in the Americas, Europe, Africa and Asia.

What makes suburbs so important to study is their abundant growth. In the 1800s, only about two per cent of the world’s population was urbanized. That increased to about 10 per cent in the 1900s and to almost 50 per cent in the early 2000s. The suburbs are changing and growing, and, in North America at least, they are becoming the place to be. “It’s a percentage increase but also a real increase because the world population has risen dramatically,” says Keil. “More and more people don’t live in dense urban centres anymore, they live in suburbs. So now we call it suburbanization instead of urbanization.” Canada is one of the most highly urbanized countries in the world and that includes the suburbs. When people immigrate to Canada, they often move straight to the suburbs, places like Brampton and Markham, bypassing cities like Toronto altogether.

Right: Roger Keil

The question then becomes, “When we see a suburb, how do we understand it? We want to create a different way of looking at things,” says Keil. “We also hope in the process…this information becomes useful to users of suburban spaces, where they consume and produce, as well as to developers.”

By examining the governance of suburbanization, researchers will get a better idea of how development is guided and regulated, and how state, market and civil society actors are involved. The seven-year project is comprised of many smaller studies of two to four years in length. The two prime anchors will be land – housing, shelter systems, real estate, greenbelts and megaprojects – and infrastructure, including transportation, water and social services.

Keil’s own keen interest is in greenbelts and the relationships between natural and social, urban and suburban. How, for instance, does water fit in? Where does it come from, a pipe, a lake, a well? What is the relationship of suburbanization to water? How is it used? “We need to develop alternatives and this is particularly true in environmental metabolism of waste disposal, water, smog. The energy use has increased…the environmental bads growing out of suburbs have outpaced suburbanization,” he says. “We all live in one environmental global space.” There is a need to understand that interconnectivity.

Left: Suburb of Kuisebmond in Namibia, Africa. Photo by Roger Keil.

In the process of studying suburbanization, researchers will be up against the traditional biases and ingrained way people think about the areas surrounding the city core, often as urban sprawl. “We need to break down and expand the way people look at the suburbs,” says Keil. There is not just one type of suburban development. There are the squatter settlements in Africa and Latin America, the expanding outskirts of India and China, the peripheral high-rise developments in Europe and Canada, and North America’s gated communities. With the different types of development come different social and cultural norms, land-use patterns and forms of transportation. “Through one lens we say these are all suburbanizations.” Until now, there has been “no serious attempt to bring all these phenomena together.”

This project will look at the differences between central cities and suburbs, as well as the diversity of suburban development. “Suburbs are very diverse ethnically, culturally and lifestyle-wise and the gender roles are not as traditional as 'Leave it to Beaver' may have led us to believe.” People around the world have negotiated the suburban realm in a variety of different ways.

New forms of suburbanization are being created all the time. There are copycat North American suburbs in Calcutta, for instance. Keil expects that suburbs around the world have different trajectories of where they’re going and he hopes that they can learn from one another. As it turns out, all cities and suburbs are not looking like Los Angeles or Chicago, as once thought. “We’re turning that upside down,” says Keil. “Conceptually, we want to rewrite the books. The suburbs can all be understood under a number of guidelines we want to develop. So there is a common lens we can look through despite the large variety of forms we see.”

In addition to the various studies, classes, workshops and conferences will held around the world. There will be a travelling multimedia exhibition at the end, a book series and a series of documentaries produced in collaboration with the National Film Board of Canada. 91��ɫ’s Knowledge Mobilization Unit will connect the research with policy-makers and community organizations over the span of the project.

Through this project, the suburbs may finally get a little respect.

For more information, visit the CITY Web site.

By Sandra McLean, YFile writer

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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