Climate Conversation: Compound Hazards (Kelowna)

As the climate changes, both the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events is also increasing. 

Heatwaves, wildfires, droughts, floods and other extreme events present serious hazards that may result in either loss or damage to people and infrastructure. The Insurance Bureau of Canada recently announced that 2024 shattered records for the costliest year for severe weather-related losses in Canadian history, reaching 8.5 billion dollars.  A compounding hazard is the combination of two or more hazards that occur either simultaneously or one after the other, and which increase overall risk.  

In this two-part series of Climate Conversations presented jointly by the Disaster Resilience Research Network and the Climate Solutions Research Collective, we will hear from researchers studying compound hazards from a number of disciplinary perspectives.  Each will share from their research experience, leaving opportunity for questions and dialogue.  The first session will be based in Vancouver with researchers joining both in-person and online on February 26; this second session is based in Kelowna and will be in-person.

Please feel welcome to bring your lunch; coffee or similar will be provided.  Please pack a mug wherever possible.

Fill in the webform below to let us know that you will be coming!  

Please note that registration is not mandatory, but will allow us to send you updates in the event of any changes.

Interested in learning more about disasters across British Columbia?  The DRRN is currently working on a BC Atlas of Disaster which seeks to visualize and map climate disaster impacts in BC in order to equip communities and decision-makers with detailed information that promotes proactive climate adaptation, disaster risk reduction and climate justice. Check back soon for the first maps and visualizations from this project.

Speaker Biographies

	Adeniyi P. Asiyanbi, Assistant Professor, Geography (Community, Culture and Global Studies in the Irving K. Barber Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences) Adeniyi Asiyanbi’s research applies insights from critical geography and interdisciplinary political ecology to the intersection of climate change, forests and development. Part of his research program explores how forests get constituted as spaces of ‘climate-related risk’ of wildfires, and particularly how notions of risk, enterprise, resilience and security are put to work in this context. He seeks to understand the rationalities, practices and technologies by which wildfires are being rendered governable at a time of significant uncertainty. His current SSHRC-funded project examines expectations of shared responsibility for wildfire protection in Whistler, British Columbia in Canada. He is an affiliate faculty with the UBC Centre for Climate Justice
	Kaushal Gnyawali, PhD Candidate, School of Engineering (Faculty of Applied Science) Kaushal Gnyawali is a Geotechnical Engineer-in-Training. His Ph.D. focuses on mitigating post-wildfire debris flow hazards on fans of small watersheds with deflection berms and ditches. He is partnering with the BC Ministry of Forests, several First Nations in south-central BC, and industry for this research. He has industry experience in landslide hazard assessment, earthquake- and multi-hazards chain, and disaster risk management in the central Himalayas, where he was born and raised. Kaushal is also one of the first cohort of Public Scholars at UBC Okanagan and was one of the first cohort of Solutions Scholars under the supervision of Dr. Dwayne Tannant.

UBC Disaster Resilience Research Network 

The UBC Disaster Resilience Research Network (DRRN) is building transdisciplinary connections and identifying shared research goals to inform disaster risk reduction policy and decision making at community and governance levels.  The network aims to advance multi-hazard assessment and mitigation in support of an inclusive and equitable development of just disaster risk management, with a focus on BC informed by international perspectives.  Join the mailing list here. 

 

 

UBC Climate Solutions Research Collective

The Climate Solutions Research Collective is a UBC pan-university initiative designed to build connections across UBC climate researchers, groups and initiatives and to encourage new collaborative research on climate change solutions.  Through seminars, workshops, and a graduate student Solutions Scholars program, it aims to foster engagement across departments and Faculties, and to support graduate students and faculty in applying their research and expertise to climate change mitigation, adaptation, and/or education.  Join the mailing list here.