{"id":4532,"date":"2023-08-12T18:33:41","date_gmt":"2023-08-12T18:33:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nebn.davidbeyer.ca\/?p=4532"},"modified":"2023-08-21T18:44:47","modified_gmt":"2023-08-21T18:44:47","slug":"finding-a-balance-between-research-education-and-outreach-through-learning-from-nature","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nebnetwork.org\/fr\/finding-a-balance-between-research-education-and-outreach-through-learning-from-nature\/","title":{"rendered":"Finding a balance between research, education, and outreach through learning from nature"},"content":{"rendered":"

I grew up close to nature between a farm and the woods in <\/span>various regions of the province of <\/span>Quebec. <\/span>I love nature and <\/span>I decided <\/span>early on <\/span>to become a biologist as a teenager. <\/span>Through my undergraduate and graduate studies, I returned to nature for reconnection and research. I rapidly discovered the importance of protecting nature and <\/span>reducing<\/span> human impacts. This is probably why my master\u2019s degree was in conservation and my postdoctoral work on climate change. Then, everything changed when I became research associate at University of Sherbrooke where I discovered the importance of interdisciplinary research. This is when I realised how research alone is not enough. Education is important but especially community outreach. This is where the tires hit the road. <\/span><\/p>\n

From my first position as a professor at Saint Mary\u2019s University in Nova Scotia, I became very involved with protected areas, especially Kejimkujik National Park. This is where I learned about UNESCO Biosphere Reserve<\/span>s,<\/span> as Cliff Drysdale from the park prepared the papers for the designation of the Southwest Nova Biosphere. <\/span>I<\/span>t didn\u2019t take long<\/span> when I moved to Moncton as the KC Irving Chair on Sustainable Development<\/span> to be<\/span> approached to be part of the initial group to develop the proposal for the Funday Bay Biosphere. So, coming to Brock <\/span>in<\/span> 2009, it was not a surprise that I took great interest in the Niagara Escarpment Biosphere. <\/span>When in 2012, Brock University asked me to become UNESCO Chair, I immediately thought on how the N<\/span>iagara Biosphere<\/span> could be an integral part of my work as a researcher, an educator<\/span>,<\/span> and a person highly interested in community outreach. <\/span><\/p>\n

My<\/span> inspiration comes from working with rural and coastal communities in Canada and abroad (e.g., Ecuador) to find paths to resilience in the face of multidimensional cris<\/span>e<\/span>s of climate and biodiversity, embracing traditional and local knowledge.<\/span><\/p>\n

My current research is interdisciplinary. It embraces the concepts of conservation, ecosystem management, sustainability, understanding (and still learning) the importance of traditional knowledge and Tw<\/span>o<\/span>-Eyed Seeing<\/span>,<\/span> to find solutions that can help social-ecological systems adapt to these various crises and become more resilient. My projects are therefore related to sustainable agriculture in Canada as well as Ecuador and <\/span>China,<\/span> and ecosystem management and climate change adaptation of rural and coastal communities in Canada and abroad.<\/span><\/p>\n

In most of my work, cultural, social<\/span>,<\/span> and environmental aspects are integrated in order to find solutions and strategies that will be more appropriate <\/span>at<\/span> the local level, a<\/span>n<\/span> important<\/span> principle<\/span> in ecosystem governance. Interestingly, we also work with Biospheres in Ecuador and<\/span> on<\/span> issues such as cultural practices in sustainable agriculture and the right balance between economic development, tourism<\/span>,<\/span> and sustainability are discussed. In the N<\/span>iagara Escarpment Biosphere<\/span>, so much remains to be explored, learned from<\/span>,<\/span> and finding paths for better nurtur<\/span>ing<\/span> of Mother Earth for conservation and sustainability of this great ecosystem.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014<\/span> \u00a0<\/span>Liette Vasseur<\/span> is professor of Biological Sciences at <\/span>Brock University<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I grew up close to nature between a farm and the woods in various regions of the province of Quebec. I love nature and I decided early on to become a biologist as a teenager. Through my undergraduate and graduate studies, I returned to nature for reconnection and research. I rapidly discovered the importance of […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4532","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nebnetwork.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4532","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nebnetwork.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nebnetwork.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nebnetwork.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nebnetwork.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4532"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nebnetwork.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4532\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4534,"href":"https:\/\/nebnetwork.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4532\/revisions\/4534"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nebnetwork.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4532"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nebnetwork.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4532"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nebnetwork.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4532"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}