Partnerships for the SDGs
On this page we share some of the exciting ways in which our faculty and staff engaged with the external community during 2022 to create meaningful impacts and catalyse change locally, nationally, and beyond.
SDGs policy making
In March 2022, the provincial government announced the creation of the new Ministry of Land, Water and Resource Stewardship. UVic’s POLIS Water Project team provided critical direction on the form and function of this ministry, including a number of invited briefings and workshops with provincial leaders involved in this process.
In response to UVic’s Environmental Law Centre’s request to protect bear in BC from inadvertently being destroyed by industrial activities, a Private Members Bill in the BC Legislature to amend the Wildlife Act to protect bear dens passed first reading, was re-tabled in February and forwarded to second reading.
In January 2022, the UVic’s POLIS Water Sustainability Project participated in a public engagement on the province’s first Watershed Security Strategy and Fund with the BC Minister of Environment and Climate Change Strategy, including regular meetings and briefings for the Minister, a bi-weekly working session with the executive team, and production of a number of public commentaries, opinion pieces and guidance document “Making a Collective Splash: Context and Guidance for Watershed Security Strategy Submissions to Government”
In June 2022, the federal government released their Single-use Plastics Prohibition Regulations, which bans six categories of single-use plastics: checkout bag, cutlery, foodservice ware, ring carriers, stir sticks and straws. This legislative change comes as a result of UVic’s Environmental Law Centre work on developing and coordinating strategic law reform for the production, use, recycling and disposal of plastics.
UVic Professor Calvin Sandborn helped bring attention to, and file a complaint with the Competition Bureau, which led to a three-million dollar fine for Keurig over false claims of the recyclability of its products.
In early 2022, the provincial government released an interim policy changing bonding rules for mining, which is a priority area of concern addressed in the Mining Law Reform platform. Upon release of the policy, Chief Permitting Officer for the Ministry of Energy, Mines and Low Carbon Innovation thanked the BC Mining Law Reform Network and acknowledged that the Polluter Pays report by UVic’s Environmental Law Centre helped inform the new policy.
In early in 2022, BC and the Skagit Environmental Endowment Commission and the Province of BC purchased Imperial Metal’s mining claims in the 5300 hectare Skagit Valley “Donut Hole” – an area of spotted owl habitat which UVic’s Environmental Centre had provided recommendations and advice regarding tenure purchasing as far back as 2005. This will ensure the preservation and protection of the natural and cultural resources of the area.
Led by UVic Engineer Caterina Valeo, researchers at the University of Victoria and the University of Calgary started working with the City of Vancouver to experiment with various types of soil and tree planting practices to find the ideal combination to boost trees’ benefits to the local climate and to society. The City of Vancouver will use the project’s results to develop guidelines and policies for designing, monitoring, operating and maintaining a type of tree planting to grow the city's urban forest.
The University of Victoria and the City of Victoria are co-developing a comprehensive framework for analyzing and comparing potential climate mitigation and adaptation solutions that can be implemented by municipal governments. The framework will encompass the main sources of carbon emissions (buildings, transport and energy), and be flexible enough to be replicable for other municipalities in the future.
Adam Sherk, Tim Naimi and Tim Stockwell, researchers from UVic’s Canadian Institute on Substance Research (CISUR), served on the expert advisory panels tasked with updating the Canadian Low Risk Alcohol Drinking Guidelines, developed by the Canadian Centre of Substance Use and Addiction.
Funded by Natural Resources Canada, and located at universities across Canada, the new entity aims to provide consistent, evidenced-based tools and information to policymakers on how best to transition from fossil fuels to cleaner energy sources, such as wind and solar.
UVic researchers are collaborating with Agriculture Agri-Food Canada to help reduce methane emissions in the cattle industry, which will make the industry more sustainable. These solutions will help Canada reduce overall emissions.
A joint-study between UVic and Environment and Climate Change Canada examined the probability of more atmospheric rivers like the ones experienced in British Columbia in 2021. The study provides insights on the need of infrastructure adaptation to climate change.
SDGs collaboration with NGOs
UVic’s Legacy Art Gallery joined the BC Museums Association Repatriation Call to Action, intended to help repatriate Indigenous art, and ensure Indigenous peoples are deciding how materials are to be cared for, and if appropriate held in a collection.
UVic has partnered with the Vancouver Maritime Centre for Climate to explore how we can transform one of the world’s largest shipping corridors into a leader in zero-carbon technologies. The team plans to use the research’s findings as the basis for policy and regulatory recommendations to both provincial and federal governments.
The CREATE in Water and Sanitation for Low-resource Contexts initiative is a joint initiative between NGOs and eight Canadian universities aiming to upskill the next generation of Highly Qualified Personnel with the necessary competencies to co-engineer fit-for-purpose solutions to multifaceted problems set in low resource contexts locally and globally.
UVic’s Environmental Law Centre and the BC Wildlife Federation called for an Audit of BC Hydro’s funding of Fish and Wildlife Compensation Program. The requested audit would examine the expenditure of B.C. Hydro funds to the Fish and Wildlife Compensation Program and the distribution of those funds to compensate for damage done by B.C. Hydro facilities.
The Indigenous Law Research Unit (ILRU) within the University of Victoria’s (UVic) Faculty of Law received a $1.2 million grant from the Law Foundation of B.C. to stabilize and to enhance staffing and operations and to explore dynamic new relationships with community partners, legal professionals, scholars, practitioners, and organizations in the service of their mission of rebuilding Indigenous laws and governance systems.
A UVic-led team is examining how to make reproductive health services more accessible to Indigenous communities, in partnership with Abortion Support Services Atlantic, Vancouver based ekw’í7tl Indigenous doula collective, Northern Reproductive Justice Network and Northern Manitoba Abortion Support.
A collaboration between UVic and the NGO SOLID that provides free drug checking services to locals to help address the opioid crisis which has claimed countless lives in British Columbia. The space is also helping to combat stigmas and reduce inequalities. Since its inception, the project has evolved and launched an island-wide service online, as well as pop-ups.
Learn moreSophia Carodenuto is partnering with the NGO Social Enterprise Development Foundation (SEND-Ghana) to better understand how domestic and international stakeholders perceive the potential of the Living Income Differential (LID) introduced recently by the governments of Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire.
SDGs cross-sectoral dialogue
Co-hosted by UVic and the Canadian Senate, the Victoria Forum had over 500 individuals connecting during three days to tackle some difficult issues and discuss solutions for bridging economic, social and environmental divides. One of the panels brought together leaders from the CIFALs network, representatives of the UN and a moderator from the Senate of Canada to discuss the contributions of CIFALs in the implementation of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
During its first year of operations, CIFAL Victoria connected the region with the global community and supported international knowledge-sharing and partnerships in advancing the SDGs. From over 99 hours of training and dialogue in its first 20 events, the 1601 participants engaged in multisectoral dialogue with 25 partners across the globe.
The Autumn School was a partnership between the Swedish International Centre for Local Democracy (ICLD), University of Victoria/CIFAL Victoria, UNITAR and University of Dar es Salaam. 30 participants from Tanzania, Kenya and Sweden learned arts-based methods for community dialogue during two months. After an initial phase of theory in weekly digital classes, they gathered in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, to put theory into practice and produce a joint project exploring “The Future We Imagine”.
The K4C – Knowledge for Change Consortium, led by the UNESCO Chair for Community-based Research and Social Responsibility in Higher Education, participated in the e Higher Education Week 2022 held in Barcelona. The session stimulated a collective reflection about how HE teaching and research can creatively and effectively address SDGs through epistemic justice and inclusive practice, in diverse local contexts.
Co-led by Simon Pek, the initiative addressed longstanding issues in the workplace, primarily workers’ inability to “have their say” at work, which can negatively impact their productivity and well-being. 32 Ontarians from all walks of life were selected through a democratic lottery to participate in five in-depth sessions over three months, helping to bring together a much more diverse set of participants and perspectives than are traditionally included in discussions of worker voice.
An ambitious research project will create the first assessment of the storage capacity of blue carbon ecosystems to help mitigate climate change, while also offering ways to protect Canada’s coastal communities from rising seas and flooding. The project is an interdisciplinary team, and incudes representatives from government and ENGOs including Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Parks Canada, BC Parks, Oceans North, the Kelp Rescue Initiative, and Nature Trust. The project also has partners from UBC, Dalhousie and Laval Universities.
A student-led initiative where members of the University of Victoria and local high schools embarked on a creative exploration and sharing of their experiences concerning life amidst climate change through dialogues, workshops, art exhibits and field excursions that revolve around several Sustainable Development Goals.
SDGs data collaboration
CIFAL Victoria developed the first SDG training dashboard to track the diversity of initiatives advancing SDGs at the university. The tool mapped the landscape of SDG impact from training activities championed by staff, faculty and leadership, and was shared with the larger network of 30 CIFALs across the world.
The VICCCLP was formed through the Association of Vancouver Island and Coastal Communities which represents elected municipal officials across the island. From this, there was a partnership struck with UVic to help inform and develop a Climate Action and Resilience Plan 2030 for the island and coastal communities. Overall, the goal is to create a long-term climate leadership plan that draws on and builds from the unique circumstances of individual communities – rural, urban and First Nations – at the same time thinking as a whole region.
UVic is a member of the Sustainable Development Solutions Network in Canada, a network that works in developing of indicators and measurement systems to track progress on the SDGs and help target resources, policies, and programs based on SDG performance.
Based at UVic, the initiative serves as a hub for knowledge co-creation and exchange between ranging from small start-ups, to large multi-national firms, federal departments, Crown corporations, and municipalities who are trying to develop policies and energy rebate programs, and researchers from universities in Canada and across the globe.
The project brings together students at UVic and several partner universities to collect and share the stories of people who have lived through climate change-related disasters. Partners involved in the project include domestic and international post-secondary institutions, journalists, psychologists, social workers, public administration experts, students and disaster survivors.
UVic’s ONC Initiative recently marked the 10th anniversary of the community-led Cambridge Bay cabled ocean observatory. This unique partnership empowers coastal community leadership in ocean sciences. The data collected alongside Inuit ocean knowledge provides valuable insights into the rapidly changing arctic.
WISER is a global network of women and non-binary academics in the field of clean, low-carbon, or sustainable energy research. It represents gender-diverse members across disciplines and career stages from a wide range of backgrounds, increasing the strength, visibility, and impact of gender-diverse energy scholars. Within this group are several UVic Faculty including Madeleine McPherson, Katya Rhodes, Christina Hoicka, Karena Shaw, and Sarah Wiebe.