- This event has passed.
Climate Conversation: Compound Hazards
March 14 at 12:00 pm - 1:20 pm
As the climate changes, both the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events is also increasing
Heatwaves, wildfires, droughts, floods and other extreme events present serious hazards that may result in either loss or damage to people and infrastructure. The Insurance Bureau of Canada recently announced that 2024 shattered records for the costliest year for severe weather-related losses in Canadian history, reaching 8.5 billion dollars. A compounding hazard is the combination of two or more hazards that occur either simultaneously or one after the other, and which increase overall risk.
In this Climate Conversation presented jointly by the Disaster Resilience Research Network and the Climate Solutions Research Collective, we will hear from researchers studying compound hazards from a number of disciplinary perspectives. Each will share from their research experience, leaving opportunity for questions and dialogue.
Please feel welcome to bring your lunch; coffee or similar will be provided. Please pack a mug wherever possible.
Please note that registration is not mandatory, but will allow us to send you updates in the event of any changes.
Speaker Biographies
Adeniyi P. Asiyanbi, Assistant Professor, Geography
Department of Community, Culture and Global Studies
Irving K. Barber Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
Adeniyi Asiyanbi’s research applies insights from critical geography and interdisciplinary political ecology to the intersection of climate change, forests and development. Part of his research program explores how forests get constituted as spaces of ‘climate-related risk’ of wildfires, and particularly how notions of risk, enterprise, resilience and security are put to work in this context. He seeks to understand the rationalities, practices and technologies by which wildfires are being rendered governable at a time of significant uncertainty. His current SSHRC-funded project examines expectations of shared responsibility for wildfire protection in Whistler, British Columbia. He is an affiliate faculty with the UBC Centre for Climate Justice.
Kaushal Gnyawali, Doctoral Student
School of Engineering
Faculty of Applied Science
Kaushal Gnyawali is a Geotechnical Engineer-in-Training. His PhD focuses on mitigating post-wildfire debris flow hazards on fans of small watersheds with deflection berms and ditches. He is partnering with the BC Ministry of Forests, several First Nations in south-central BC, and industry for this research. He has industry experience in landslide hazard assessment, earthquake and multi-hazards chain, as well as disaster risk management in the central Himalayas, where he was born and raised. Gnyawali is also one of the first cohort of Public Scholars at UBC Okanagan and was one of the first cohort of Solutions Scholars under the supervision of Dr. Dwayne Tannant.
