May, 30TH, 2019
News
CCAPPTIA Members Published Scholarly Article on Institutions and Climate Adaptation Management
CCAPPTIA members, Adolf K.Y. Ng and Jason Monios, have published an article, entitled "Climate adaptation management and institutional erosion” in Journal of Environmental Planning and Management. The study performs an institutional analysis of the adaptation to climate change by ports. It reveals how, in the case of an unprecedented challenge like climate adaptation, relying on informal institutions with less agency can erode the strength of existing institutions in a form of negative institutional plasticity. In this case, emerging polycentric governance was unsuccessful, unable to construct clearly demarcated responsibilities due to impedance by the path dependence of the current federalist system. The latter works well for traditional infrastructure investments with a closed pool of stakeholders, but not for ports where multiple scales of embeddedness, both horizontally and vertically, produce a collective action problem with no mechanism for resolution.
The paper can be downloaded freely here: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09640568.2018.1435410
June, 06TH, 2019
News
The 42nd AMOP technical seminar on environmental contamination and response
CCAPTIA member Dr. Mawuli Afenyo attends 42nd AMOP Technical Seminar on Environmental Contamination and Response in Halifax from 4-6 June,2019. Dr. Mawuli Afenyo presented a paper on the topic Experimental Observations of Oil Encapsulation and Migration in Ice. The conference is organised by Environment and Climate Change Canada and brings together government representatives, scientists and students to address the issues of oil spills in the Arctic and many more. Mawuli’s presentation focused on understanding the behaviour of oil during freezing and subsequently the melting season. This information is key to contingency planning and response efforts. The information about AMOP can be found at
https://www.canada.ca/en/environment-climate-change/services/science-technology/arctic-marine-oilspill-program/about.html. The proceedings are also available by request from Environment Canada.
May, 3RD, 2019
CCAPPTIA member, Adolf K.Y. Ng, was invited to participate and share his expert views on Arctic shipping during the China-Canada Workshop on Arctic Shipping, held in Ottawa, ON, Canada, 1-2 May 2019. The workshop consists of more than 20 scholars and policymakers from both China and Canada.
During the workshop, Ng stressed the importance of developing a long-term vision by the Canadian government and the northern, indigenous communities on how the establishment of Arctic ports and infrastructures, including external investments (e.g., China and its Belt & Road Initiatives), would and should re-shape the future socio-economy of the Canadian Arctic Area.
In this case, Ng gratefully acknowledged the support from the GENICE project (genice.ca) in supporting his participation in the workshop.