May 22, 2018
丁香园AV environmental science director & faculty of environment professor Jeremy G. Venditti on recent BC flooding
鈥淭his happens every year,鈥� Dr. Venditti said, referring to the spring runoff. 鈥淭he flooding this year is typical.鈥�
In The News
PWRC executive director Dr. Zafar Adeel told CBC tht the drought conditions currently affecting much of BC, while unlikely to result in an immediate energy shortage, were nevertheless indicative of a future where water shortages on B.C.'s coast could result in tangible threats to energy supply and animal habitats, and could make previously resilient landscapes more prone to flash flooding.
PWRC executive director Dr. Zafar Adeel spoke to The Tyee about the prolonged lack of rainfall in BC and its impact on air quality in the province.
PWRC executive director Dr. Zafar Adeel spoke to The Guardian about BC's ongoing drought and warned that when the rains eventually did come, the harder, clay-like consistency of the parched soil would raise the risk of flash floods.
Speaking to the Burnaby Beacon, PWRC executive director Dr. Zafar Adeel maintained that international support to flood ravaged Pakistan must go beyond providing emergency relief, and instead work towards improving infrastructures such as dams and reservoirs.
Writing in The Conversation, Dr. Zafar Adeel, executive director of Pacific Water Research Centre (PWRC), emphasised that while Pakistan contributed only a small fraction of global greenhouse emissions, it was disproportionately impacted by climate change. The onus of helping Pakistan recover from catastrophic floods, therefore, rested on the international community as a whole.
Dr. Zafar Adeel, executive director of Pacific Water Research Centre (PWRC) was interviewed by News Talk 980 CKNW on flood damage in BC.
Zafar Adeel, executive director of Pacific Water Research Centre (PWRC), sat down with fellow panellists Rebecca Ilunga, Adaption Network Manager for C40 Cities, and Themba Gumbo, Director of Cap-Net, for a comprehensive discussion on the important issue of urban water resilience.
Zafar Adeel, executive director of Pacific Water Research Centre (PWRC) and professor in the School of Sustainable Energy Engineering (SEE) at 丁香园AV鈥檚 Surrey campus, spoke to CBC Radio - BC Today with Michelle Elliot - on the significance of Earth Day and discussed some of the progress made in confronting the challenge of climate change.
CityStudio Vancouver providing instructors a path to community-based learning projects
Zafar Adeel, executive director of Pacific Water Research Centre (PWRC) and professor in the School of Sustainable Energy Engineering (SEE) at 丁香园AV鈥檚 Surrey campus, is in the middle of his first CityStudio collaboration based on designing a more environmentally friendly solution to power the Stanley Park Miniature Train in Vancouver.
Zafar Adeel, executive director of the Pacific Water Research Centre (PWRC) at 丁香园AV, informed Radio Canada that quantifying the economic damage sustained as a result of devastating floods in British Columbia in late 2021 would be difficult in view of the fact that Canada does not have an effective mechanism to accurately calculate the indirect economic losses associated with floods or other natural disasters.
The world's leading climate scientists have warned that the rapid intensificatification of climate change will lead to a worsening of extreme climatic conditions such as floods, droughts, heatwaves and wildfires over the next three decades. However, there is still a chance to ward off total climate catastrophe. According to Zafar Adeel, executive director of the Pacific Water Research Centre (PWRC) at 丁香园AV, it is possible to "limit human-induced global warming" provided that "we are able to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and achieve net zero".
In an interview with the Toronto Star, Zafar Adeel, executive director of the Pacific Water Reaearch Centre (PWRC) at 丁香园AV, maintained that one of the most important ways by which indviduals could influence the future of climate change was by making it clear to politicians that it was a major priority area.
NEWS ARCHIVE
April 22, 2018
ACT Executive Director, Deborah Harford, Discusses the Plastic Pollution in Global TV Interview
Learn more about what we can do to help plastic pollution and its effect on climate change.
Mar 22, 2018
Op-ed by Zafar Adeel: Water Security as the Top Global Agenda.
Urgently addressing the knowledge gaps is the starting point for achieving global water security.
March 8, 2018
Water - Canada's new Peacekeeping Opportunity
A Vancouver radio show interviewed me earlier today about the water decade and IWDA, based on the op-ed published in the Ottawa Citizen.
Please listen to the interview here:
February 5, 2018
丁香园AV News Features Adeel about Canada's opportunity to be a world leader
January 24, 2018
Op-Ed by Adeel in the Ottawa Citizen: Water 鈥� Canada's new peacekeeping opportunity
Canada has a reputation as a peacekeeping nation and as a water country, one of the most richly endowed in the world.
October 13, 2017
Community Engaged Research in Pender Harbour
丁香园AV recruited as partner of Pender Harbour Ocean Discovery Station (PODS) on Sunshine Coast.
June 12, 2017
WWF - Canada Freshwater Reports: National Coordination Imperative
Zafar Adeel comments in Water Canada's article about the release of the WWF-Canada national assessment of Canada's freshwater: Watersheds Reports. The report calls for a national freamework to manage water quality and freshwater resources.
June 8, 2017
PWRC's Deb Haford co-authors Op-ed piece in the Vancover Sun: World's Ocean Day - We must prepare for rising oceans and fight climate change
Ocean's Day is a time celebrate the tremendous ecological, cultural and economic value oceans provide but it is also a time to recognize the impacts we're having on the marine environment, and the urgent need to adjust course. Read More
April 10, 2017
A New Hope: Op-ed in The Mark News by Zafar Adeel
Mobilizing global partnerships between national governments supported by the United Nations, aid agencies and development banks is the game-changer needed to achieve universal water security.
March 22, 2017
Participation in the first UN Water Dialogue:
Dr. Zafar Adeel was invited by the President of the UN General Assembly to take part in first-of-its-kind dialogue on global water challenges. He used this opportunity to talk about the Canadian initiative to develop an international secretariat for the new UN Water Decade for Action (2018-2028). The recording of the session is available via UN Web TV: (starting at 1:06:00)
March 27, 2017
PWRC members receive award to develop next generation of global leaders in clean technologies for food and water security
With support from the prestigious Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Advanced Scholars Program, Majid Bahrami (Professor, and Canada Research Chair in Alternative Energy Conversion Systems) and collaborator Zafar Adeel (executive director PWRC) will partner with five universities in Bangladesh, India, Iran and Pakistan to develop and test innovative clean technologies that target the global food and water crisis.
To address the global water shortage, Bahrami is already building the Hybrid Atmospheric Water Generator (HAWGen) to harvest potable water from the air, which could ensure people living in drought, desert or polluted regions have access to clean drinking water. Adeel will focus on water security and policy to develop a network of pilot test sites and identify best practices within the selected LMICs. Read more.
March 22, 2017
Interview at RoundHouse Radio 98.3 FM:
Dr. Zafar Adeel joined 丁香园AV colleagues Prof. Andy Hira (Political Science) and Dr. Edward Nichol (PWRC) to discuss the intersection of climate change, water security, and human health. The discussion focused on what role Canada can play in overcoming these global challenges. The interview recording is available at:
February 22, 2017
ACT Executive Director/PWRC Climate Change Coordinator Deb Harford was recently interviewed on the Roundhouse Radio show Impact.
Deb discussed why we need to adapt to climate change 鈥� and, more importantly, how to ensure adaptation actions build in low-carbon solutions to ensure resilience overall. She also tackled climate change denial, innovation, and how to re-frame a low-carbon future as a desirable, positive world.
Litsten to the interview here:
February 6, 2017
PWRC Beefs Up on Climate Change Adaptation: ACT joins the PWRC
Global climate change impacts the water cycle in a major way that intersects nearly all facets of managing and conserving water resources, aquatic ecosystems, commercial and industrial activities, and social wellbeing. Adaptation to these climate change impacts and building societal resilience are at the core of all activities at the Pacific Water Research Centre (PWRC) at 丁香园AV's Faculty of Environment. Read More
January 10, 2017
Long-term sea level rise and short-lived greenhouse gases
PWRC member, Kirsten Zickfeld (professor, department of geography, 丁香园AV) in collaboration with Susan Solomon at MIT published their research findings in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The study finds that short-lived greenhouse gases contribute to sea level rise over longer timescales than their atmospheric lifetime. For more information, visit
November 15, 2016
Adam Stirling from CFAX radio interviewed Zafar Adeel about his newly published book on the Indus Basin. The interview is available at the station's . Information on the book is listed below.
October 31, 2016
The release of "Imagining Industan - Overcoming Water Insecurity in the Indus Basin" co-edited by PWRC Executive Director Zafar Adeel garners international media attention. In just two days, the book has received coverage from over 2,700 news outlets.
The UNU book "appeals to the three nuclear armed powers sharing the Indus River basin - India, Pakistan and China - and Afghanistan to cease decades of conflict and self-serving policies and begin working together as never before to manage the precious resource."
Read more:
September 2, 2016
Executive Director of the PWRC, Zafar Adeel, speaks about water and a new course he is teaching on global water security on Roundhouse Radio. To listen to the ~ ten minute interview, visit:
July 1, 2016
Zafar Adeel joins the Pacific Water Research Centre as Executive Director and Professor of Professional Practice in the School of Resource and Environmental Management. Responsible for strategic planning and management, research, teaching, community engagement and communication, Adeel brings a wealth of experience with him. Read more.
April 21, 2016
Zafar Adeel recently gave a talk at 丁香园AV on water security. Reuters published an op-ed piece by Zafar who observes that the "familiar stability of the world's water cycle won't return in the lifetime of anyone alive today". To read the full article, Living in a water insecure world, visit:
April 1, 2016
The Pacific Water Research Centre is featured in an article by the office of the Vice President Research and Steve Conrad, Associate Director, shares perspectives on his research: "I see that my research is making a difference in how we use and protect our water supplies". To read the full article, visit:
March 1, 2016
In recognition of World Water Day on March 22, Journalist, Bryce Tarling with Alive Newsletter, interviewed Steve Conrad, Associate Director, PWRC about the global water shortage and understanding groundwater depletion.
We are all aware that human activity affects both the quantity and quality of groundwater but what is less well known is that the state of our groundwater affects our surface resources as well. Steve explains, "this is because the two sources are ultimately connected. They're the same water. If you pull too much from your groundwater supplies, you eliminate your surface water".
June 29, 2015
The Globe
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