Study Resource and Environmental Management in Canada
Natural
Resources Institute University of Manitoba Canada Who are we
The Natural Resources Institute's (NRI)
mission is to create, preserve and communicate
interdisciplinary knowledge in areas of resource and environmental management,
and to contribute to the well-being of the people of Manitoba, Canada and the
world. The NRI has gained a solid reputation for linking the
environment, economy, and the social well-being of people since its inception in
1968. A holistic interdisciplinary approach to natural resource and
environmental management is pursued in all NRI programming: teaching, research
and outreach.
Graduate
Programs
Natural resources
and environmental policy decision-making and practices provide the focus of our
academic activities. NRI's strength and expertise cut across a number of
resource and environmental fields including: human dimensions of environmental
and natural resources management, natural and environmental resource policy,
institutions, decision-making processes, risk assessment, environmental hazards
mitigation and management, community based resource management, traditional
ecological knowledge, habitat management and multi-stakeholder processes/public
involvement.
The NRI's academic
activities are focused upon local and global problem solving linked to the
strength and expertise of faculty members and the interests of our students. NRI
offers multidisciplinary education and professional training to foster
innovative thinking capable of confronting problems involving natural resources
and the environment. Environmental and natural resource problems encourage
students to appreciate the complexity and interdependence of natural and human
domains.
NRI faculty and
students contribute to the sustainable development knowledge - locally,
nationally and internationally. Our faculty members work closely with an
outstanding cadre of adjunct professors from other University of Manitoba
disciplines, the Universities of Brandon and Winnipeg, several government
departments (such as the Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans and the
Manitoba Department of Conservation), as well as non-governmental agencies and
the private sector.
Dr. Fikret Berkes,
was chosen to be the Community Based Resource Management Canadian Research
Chair. This research program provides a unique approach to the social aspects of
sustainability. It investigates the ways in which societies use environmental
knowledge and develop institutions dealing with sustainability, with emphasis on
change, complexity and uncertainty. The research approach involves analysis in
three related areas: co-management (the joint management of resources),
resilience (ability to absorb change), and use of local or indigenous knowledge,
with case study development. It aims to develop a critical mass of researchers
in the area of community-based resource management.
The Masters of
Natural Resource Management provides a forum for examining natural resource and
environmental issues, developing resource and environmental management skills
and expertise in research methods. The Masters program has both required and
elective courses and includes a Master's thesis. The Ph.D. degree program in
natural resources and environmental management provides studies with a holistic
and interdisciplinary approach. NRI programs and research will prepare students
to confront the complex natural resource and environmental issues using a
variety of tools and methods.
Research
Research at the
Institute can be divided into two categories,
student theses and
faculty research .
Theses are initiated either by students or by staff members at the Institute;
arrangements are made for students to research a particular resource problem.
The thesis is a written research report prepared to address a practical problem
or issue in natural resources management. Student thesis projects address a
broad range of issues in the natural resource and environmental sector and are
generally funded by government and private agencies. It is primarily through
this research process that links are created between the Institute and our
client community. Theses committees draw from a wide range of on-campus and
off-campus expertise. The Institute continues to demonstrate that the university
community has the people and the expertise to contribute solutions to complex
problems in the field of resources management. Moreover, the practical
experience gained by Institute students is invaluable in the education of
professional resource managers.
Faculty research is carried out on a variety of topics. Areas of strength include
natural resources policy; living resources; environmental and risk assessment;
sustainable development; northern resources and native peoples; resource
planning and administration and environmental hazard management. Major faculty
research projects, with graduate student participation, are carried out in the
areas of: sustainable floodplain management, risk perception and communication,
hazards knowledge and research assessment; sustainable development of Northern
Manitoba and comparative studies with the Russian North; environmentally and
culturally appropriate economic development based on natural resources;
community-based natural resource management, co-management of fish and wildlife,
and common property resources; waste management, particularly waste reduction,
local government and environmental decision-making;
traditional ecological knowledge (ethnobotany/ethnoecology), forests and
land-use planning, non-timber forest products, rural development, common
property resources, co-management and political ecology; landscape ecology,
prairie and wetland ecology, multi-species management, surrogate species, and
ecological statistics; and environmental justice, environmental health,
community development and information communication technology.
Results of faculty research projects
are published in national and international journals and the scholarly media,
and presented at world-class conferences. Applied aspects of these studies also
become the subject of policy reports.
Facilities
NRI offers
students a fully equipped computer laboratory with the latest software for word
processing, statistics and geographical information systems. The NRI facilities
also include the Centre for Community-Based Resource Management documentation,
with state-of-the-art facilities to analyze cases and to support joint projects
with diverse groups and agencies. NRI's collaboration on inter- disciplinary
research projects with a variety of agencies provides student and staff access
to a variety of research stations including the Delta Marsh Field Station, the
Fort Whyte Centre, and the Experimental Lakes Area of Fisheries and Oceans
Canada.
To find out
more
Email:
nriinfo@umanitoba.ca
Website:
www.umanitoba.ca/institutes/natural_resources
303 Sinnott Building,
University of Manitoba, Winnipeg MB R3T 2N2
Telephone: +1 204
474 8373
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