Earth Day op-ed by President Bacon: How UBC is Fighting Climate Change
22 April, 2024
An op-ed by Benoit-Antoine Bacon, President and Vice-Chancellor
Last year, Canada experienced its most devastating wildfire season in recorded history, both in terms of carbon emissions and area burned. Our community experienced that firsthand when wildfires forced the sudden evacuation of the University of British Columbia‘s beautiful Okanagan campus last summer. Already, this year is predicted to be at least equally dire.
Dozens of “zombie fires” — remnants of last year’s wildfire season — are still smouldering underground beneath remaining snow and ice in the boreal forest. Combined with widespread drought, low snow-pack levels, and warming temperatures, these are all signs of a dire new normal — a wildfire season that never ends.
The Centre for Wildfire Coexistence, led by Dr. Lori Daniels, is taking a balanced scientific approach to wildfire research grounded in Indigenous knowledge. This approach recognizes wildfires as natural ecological processes that, when properly managed, contribute to the health and diversity of forests. Dr. Mathieu Bourbonnais at UBC Okanagan, a former wildland firefighter himself, is working closely with the BC Wildfire Service and rural and Indigenous communities. Their team is developing new sensors as part of UBC’s 5G partnership with Rogers to monitor forest conditions in real time. Their work aims to reduce the intensity of future fires, protecting lives and properties. It also delivers economic benefits, given that the direct and indirect costs of wildfires run into the billions.
This is one example of how Canada’s universities contribute tangible, evidence-based solutions to mitigate climate change and its consequences. At the University of British Columbia, sustainability has been at the forefront of our academic mission and campus operations for more than 25 years. The university was an innovator of the “campus as a living lab” concept, using academic research to test solutions to operational issues on campus.
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