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Passengers on BC Ferries this summer have an exciting opportunity to help scientists better understand ocean health and declining salmon populations in the Salish Sea.

Passengers on BC Ferries this summer have an exciting opportunity to help scientists better understand ocean health and declining salmon populations in the Salish Sea.

Science is closer to linking some weather-related disasters to human-caused climate change. This spring, a US National Academy of Sciences committee鈥攐n which Zwiers served鈥攔eleased a milestone report acknowledging that progress is being made on attributing some extreme events to climate change caused by human activity.

A new project looking at the critical issue of BC鈥檚 water laws will have a vital impact on water stewardship in BC for decades to come. The project is the first to examine both Indigenous and colonial water stewardship, and will focus on three regions of the province where water use is at issue鈥攖he Similkameen Valley, the Cowichan Valley of eastern Vancouver Island, and the Nemiah Valley in the Chilcotin.

In a UVic-led study, the first data-driven estimate of the Earth's total supply of groundwater shows that less than six per cent of groundwater in the upper two kilometers of the Earth's landmass is renewable within a human lifetime.

The balancing act of water stewardship Hazy skies, brown grass, forest fires across the province鈥攊t鈥檚 hard to miss the signs of an unusually dry spring and summer on Vancouver Island and across western Canada. Such dry conditions raise questions: should we conserve water at the expense of UVic鈥檚 renowned gardens? Should we water selectively to avoid tinder-dry conditions that could create a fire hazard? And what about the bigger picture of reducing water consumption throughout the year? At UVic, this is the balancing act of water stewardship.

Groundwater: it鈥檚 one of the planet鈥檚 most exploited, most precious natural resources. It ranges in age from months to millions of years old. Around the world, there鈥檚 increasing demand to know how much we have and how long before it鈥檚 tapped out.

New research on the future of BC鈥檚 most important resource from the POLIS Project on Ecological Governance With the replacement of its over a century-old Water Act with the new Water Sustainability Act in 2014, British Columbia has a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to modernize its freshwater legislation and usher in a new era of water stewardship. The Water Sustainability Act has many promising features that can better protect the province鈥檚 freshwater resources. Yet full implementation of the new act hinges on passing critical supporting regulations that will provide the necessary details to make the act fully functional.聽

BC鈥檚 new Water Sustainability Act will not successfully protect the province鈥檚 freshwater resources unless the right regulations and resources are in place to make the law fully functional, says an analysis by the 番茄社区鈥檚 POLIS Proj鈥�

The 番茄社区鈥檚 Ocean Networks Canada (ONC) recently expanded its world-class ocean observatories to include data collected from three BC Ferries.

BC can learn from California鈥檚 extreme drought and recent groundwater law reforms when drafting its own regulations that will have an impact on communities across the province, indicates a new study. California鈥檚 Oranges and B.C.鈥檚 Apples? Lessons f鈥�

The summer of 2014 was a remarkable period in Canadian legal history. Within the span of three weeks, two Supreme Court of Canada judgments involving aboriginal title and treaty rights were brought down. Together, they significantly altered fundamental elements of national governance and current plans for economic development, as well as the legal landscape relating to land and resource entitlements.

Schoolchildren learn in the classroom about the importance of water and water cycles in daily life. Now, thanks to landscape architect and 番茄社区 environmental studies master鈥檚 student Catherine Orr, this learning experience moves ou鈥�

Landscape architect and environmental studies master鈥檚 student Catherine Orr saw her graduate project as a way to connect with a local school and a community about water and the importance of rainwater management.

鈥淲ater is a natural resource essential for life,鈥� says Moussa Traore, an economics student in the Faculty of Social Sciences who receives his BSc from UVic this month. Traore arrived in Montreal seven years ago鈥攍eaving his home in Burkina Faso, Africa, a landlocked country that has endured a series of droughts and military coups over the past few decades.

A woman milks a water buffalo on a floating island near homes made from reeds. This image of a simple yet sustainable life in the southern Iraqi marshes鈥攁n image formed by Wilfred Thesiger鈥檚 classic text The Marsh Arabs鈥攊s vastly different from the present reality. The 番茄社区鈥檚 Canada-Iraq Marshlands Initiative (CIMI) wrapped up last year, but it is still not clear whether the traditional way of living will be anything more in future than descriptions of old photos or lives lived on the marshland margins.