Adapting to Surprise in Our Coastal Ocean: Lessons from Ecology, Archaeology and Indigenous Knowledge

Balancing the needs of people and nature is among the central challenges of our time.  Yet, it has been for millennia. Coastal ecosystems of the Pacific Northwest have sustained human-wellbeing for thousands of years. Consequently, indigenous people have exploited, overexploited and learned how to adapt to abrupt changes in coastal ecosystems. By drawing on examples from kelp forests, ancient clam gardens and the Pacific herring fishery in British Columbia, Canada, I will discuss key characteristics of coupled human-ocean systems and factors that confer their resilience, that is, their ability to learn, re-organize and adapt in the face of sudden change.

Speaker:  Anne Salomon, School of Resource & Environmental Management, Simon Fraser University

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