CEAR supports research about environmental assessment (EA) processes and methods, and helps integrate this information into practice. Research conducted and supported by CEAR contributes to resource development by furthering knowledge about the role that EA plays in helping to advance natural resource management practices that benefit Canadians.
The Complex Environmental Systems Lab is a new research facility at UBC Okanagan. We study the management and governance of natural resources from a complex systems perspective. We work at the scale of regional landscapes, acknowledging the intricate interdependency of human and environmental systems.
The FiLTER Lab is a new research facility accessible to researchers across UBC’s Okanagan campus as well as external researchers. Made possible by investments from the Government of Canada and the generous donations of Charles Fipke, it specializes in trace element analysis and electron microscope imaging. Services include inductively coupled plasma spectrometry, scanning electron microscopy, and electron probe micro analysis.
BRAES is a group of over 30 faculty members and their graduate students working in ecology, biodiversity and conservation, and environmental sustainability on UBC’s Okanagan campus. BRAES’ special strength is its multidisciplinary focus, with members from disciplines of biology, mathematics and statistics, literary and cultural studies, earth and environmental sciences, physical geography, economics, and creative arts.
The PALEO LAB specialises in the use of midge fossils for the reconstruction of past environmental changes, particularly glacial and postglacial climates, and recent human impacts on lake ecosystems. We collaborate extensively with researchers at universities across Canada, as well as Parks Canada and the Royal British Columbia Museum.
Our research is aimed at examining displacement and distortion in convergent margins. We are currently conducting research programs in the Tama Kosi area of east-central Nepal, the Kanchenjuga region of far east Nepal, the Hindu Kush of northwestern Pakistan, and the cratonic rocks of Northern Saskatchewan. These study areas provide the opportunity to examine well-exposed sections of exhumed middle to lower crust within the youthful Himalayan orogen and contrast that with similar rocks involved with ancient orogensis. This type of research enables us to identify and track common processes across different orogens through time.