Published on May 06 2013

May 06, 2013
By: Samantha Purdy

Dr. Liette Vasseur, professor and researcher at Brock University, has been recently appointed as the Thematic Leader for the Ecosystem based Adaptation to Climate Change Group. This group is part of the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Commission of Ecosystem Management (CEM). Dr. Vasseur is a member in the Environmental Sustainability Research Centre (ESRC), a professor in the Department of Biological Studies, and a member of the Women and Gender Studies Program at Brock University. She has been a member of IUCN’s CEM since 2003.

Founded in 1948, IUCN is the world’s first global environmental organisation and is highly influential on sustainable development and environment issues at a global level. The aim of IUCN is to provide a neutral setting for scientists, NGOs, governments, local communities, and businesses to come together to find real-world solutions to challenges surrounding conservation and development. IUCN is framed by a Global Programme, which includes six Commissions, including CEM. CEM has a mandate to promote and provide guidance for ecosystem approaches to “build resilience of socio-ecological systems to address global changes”.

Dr. Vasseur will lead the Ecosystem based Adaptation to Climate Change Group and in collaboration with CEM members will develop an agenda on this subject for IUCN. “Climate change is a huge issue when we examine ecosystem management. It impacts certain ecosystems in drastic ways and there is a need for consolidated efforts in finding adaptation strategies that will help protect the environment” says Vasseur. Other thematic groups in CEM include: Disaster Risk Reduction, Dryland Ecosystems, Ecosystems and the Private Sector, and more.

For more information about the IUCN, please visit http://www.iucn.org/

For more information please contact:
Dr. Liette Vasseur
E. lvasseur@brocku.ca; Tel. +1-905-688-5550 x4023