The Learning for Governance initiative is led by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature Commission for Environmental, Economic and Social Policy, under the Theme for Governance, Equity and Rights in collaboration with Melanie Zurba’s Community Engaged CoLab at Dalhousie University. The initiative seeks to build a learning network with diverse practitioners around the world who are taking action to understand and improve environmental governance.

The initiative is also developing tools to support communication and learning, highlight diverse governance stories, and promote power sharing and equity within and beyond IUCN networks . The first tool being developed through the initiative is the online Learning for Governance portal, which features a story map highlighting governance stories, approaches and frameworks from across the globe. The goal is to create inclusive and equitable collaborative learning spaces and tools to foster dialogue and inspire meaningful action. The project will engage across scales and on equal terms to learn about and form diverse approaches to governing and to understanding and improving governance.

The learning for governance website with the story map can be accessed at the following link: https://www.learningforgovernance.org/

This project, funded through a SSHRC insight grant, aims to generate and enhance knowledge for shaping, implementing, and assessing Indigenous collaboration in governance frameworks for global protected areas (PAs). More equitable and inclusive governance frameworks are expected to generate more direct cultural benefits, such as those associated with connections to traditional territory, as well as economic benefits associate with better PA governance.

It is well recognized that complex social-ecological systems such as PA’s generally require collaboration from multiple partners, and there is growing recognition the social and environmental benefits of PA’s should be secured through Indigenous participation and collaboration within PA governance systems. Meaningful Indigenous participation in PA governance enables organizations to move beyond structural injustices often embedded in existing frameworks and support emergent frameworks that promote more equitable and environmentally sound processes and outcomes.

This project works as a global collaboration between partners from Indigenous Organizations and academic institutions with the aim of producing research that is valuable in both practical and academic contexts. 

Worried Earth, originally titled “Creating vocabularies and rituals for climate grief through multiple knowledge systems and the artistic process”, is a project focusing on the ways that people from diverse backgrounds express and process the emotions associated with environmental change.

The project is funded by a New Frontiers in Research Fund (Exploration stream), which aims to support “high risk/high reward research”. The high risk/high reward nature of the project relates to interdisciplinary tensions that are created by connecting ecology and climatology (biological and earth sciences), art theory and practice (fine arts), mental health and social wellbeing (health sciences), and learning theory (social science).

The project is led by Melanie Zurba from Dalhousie University (Nominated Principal Investigator) and Erica Mendritzki (Co-Principal Investigator) from NSCAD University. Other academic partners are Andrew Park (University of Winnipeg), Roberta Woodgate (University of Manitoba), David Busolo (University of New Brunswick) and Lisa Binkley (Dalhousie University).

More details on the project and can be found at the worried earth website here: https://www.worried-earth.ca

The Sustainable Nunatsiavut Futures project, funded through the Ocean Frontiers Institute, works to understand and predict the changing conditions of Nunatsiavut coastal systems brought on by the effects of climate change. Understanding change within these ecosystems requires the co-development of research objectives and approaches. As such this project is positioned as a co-production of knowledge where highly qualified personnel, co-supervisors and Inuit community members will co-develop the research program and integrate results. Dr. Melanie Zurba is co-lead with Dr. Megan Bailey (Dalhousie Marine Affairs) of Work Package 1, which focuses on developing principles for and studying the learning associated with knowledge co-production through the project

The project is structured as three research themes which (A) develop empirical understanding of dynamic coastal systems and (B) planning for changes in these dynamics through (C) knowledge sharing and co-production.

The aim of this project is to examine the experiences of newcomers from different cultures, ages, and abilities on using nature-based programs to improve their wellbeing. Working through partnerships with organizations in Halifax, Nova Scotia, the project team will engage newcomers through a community based participatory action research approach to understand their experiences and develop a pilot nature-based program to promote their wellbeing.  Funded for this project has been grated through a SSHRC Insight Development Grant. Alongside Dr.Busolo and Dr.Zurba, collaborating organizations on the project are Immigration Services Association of Nova Scotia (ISANS), African Diaspora Association of the Maritimes (ADAM), and Immigration Francophone Nouevelle-Écosse (IFNÉ). 

Through the perspectives gathered from newcomers, the researchers, newcomers, and service providers will work collaboratively to develop and implement a pilot nature-based program to promote newcomers wellbeing. The research team will evaluate the nature-based program and provide recommendations for future nature-based programming to support their well being The proposed research will be the first of its kind to be carried out in Atlantic Canada and will generate research findings on newcomers’ experiences of using nature based programs to promote their wellbeing