In The News

B.C. Hydro reducing power generation at Alouette Lake as drought conditions worsen

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.

Where's the Rain in BC?

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.

Severe drought torments British Columbia, a year after devastating floods

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.

Pakistan's Killer Floods: The Pressing Need for Greater International Engagement

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.

Flooding in Pakistan shows that climate adaptation requires international support and regional co-operation

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.

Flood Damage in BC

Dr. Zafar Adeel, executive director of Pacific Water Research Centre (PWRC) was interviewed by News Talk 980 CKNW on flood damage in BC.

Urban Water Resilience: Pitfalls, Possibilities and Prospects

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.

Messages and action on Earth Day 2022

Zafar Adeel, executive director of Pacific Water Research Centre (PWRC) and professor in the School of Sustainable Energy Engineering (SEE) at SFU’s 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 SFU’s 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.

The Challenge of Rebuilding Flood-Damaged Roads in British Columbia

Zafar Adeel, executive director of the Pacific Water Research Centre (PWRC) at Simon Fraser University, 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.

Avoiding Climate Catastrope by Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions

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 Simon Fraser University, it is possible to "limit human-induced global warming" provided that "we are able to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and achieve net zero".

Using Our Own Agency to Tackle Climate Change and Promote Sustainability

In an interview with the Toronto Star, Zafar Adeel, executive director of the Pacific Water Reaearch Centre (PWRC) at Simon Fraser University, 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.

All the Apocalyptic Things That Happened Because of the Heat Wave
Hundreds dead, marine mammal life decimated, and a town burned to the ground are all consequences of the sweltering heat in Canada and the U.S. Zafar Adeel, executive director of the Pacific Water Research Centre at Simon Fraser University, told the Vancouver Sun the province should expect more intense and frequent heat waves.
Extreme heat shatters B.C. temperature records in June
Zafar Adeel, executive director of the Pacific Water Research Centre at Simon Fraser University, said the wildfires following the heat wave were an example of what he called a “cascading hazard,” where one extreme event — such as a heat wave — triggers others. “Heat waves, as you can imagine, can trigger or amplify forest fires,” he said, “but after forest fires, because your surface is denuded of vegetation, you get these extreme flash floods coming through.”
Study Calls for Co-ordinated Effort to Stem Run-Off Toxic to Salmon
Urban development and toxic stormwater run-off is harming salmon and aquatic habitats in the Lower Mainland, and more can be done at the local and provincial levels to avoid the damage, according to a joint study out of Simon Fraser University and the Fraser Basin Council.
Exploring Food Injustice and Food Insecurity
In this interview with Embark Sustainability, Dr. Zafar Adeel discusses the Nutrition through Engagement and Agricultural Technologies (N-EAT) project, where they have collaborated with the Kitasoo/Xai'xais First Nations in building a community greenhouse to achieve food sovereignty and security. Then Dr. Tammara Soma explains her work and research in further understanding the food inaccessibility crisis and how we may work towards creating sustainable food systems.
SFU Report Finds Urban Design Standards Needed to Protect Fraser River Salmon
A joint research study by the Pacific Water Research Centre at Simon Fraser University and the Fraser Basin Council points to the use of certified, nature-based solutions for protecting salmon and aquatic habitats in the Lower Mainland.
Bottled Water Sellers Beware: This Student is Coming for you
Bottled water producers will be watching warily to see where 21-year-old Mireta Strandberg-Salmon chooses to do her graduate studies. In 2017, she led her high school, Moscrop Secondary in Burnaby, B.C., to ban vending machine sales of bottled water. In January 2021, her student-led “Ban the Bottle” campaign persuaded Simon Fraser University, where more than 33,000 bottles of water were sold yearly, to follow suit.
SFU Food Sustainability Researcher Tackles Food Security Issues
PWRC member and Resource and Environmental Management professor Tammara Soma discusses the Food Systems Lab, which she co-founded, and ways to address food security issues.
Re-Use for Good
As of January 2021, thanks to increased access to water bottle filling stations around our campuses, we are now phasing out single-use plastic water bottles in vending and dining areas. Resolve to bring your refillable water bottles to help reduce the impact of single-use plastics around our campuses.
SFU Researchers' SSHRC Funding to Bolster First Nations Food Sovereignty
SFU researchers are among recipients of $4 million in funding grants announced by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) today. The funding is aimed at facilitating research into COVID-19’s social, cultural and economic impacts.
Growing Food Sovereignty at Klemtu
The Kitasoo/Xai’xais First Nations in Klemtu on B.C.’s central coast are working to develop food and nutritional resilience through greenhouse gardening and home garden boxes. The project started in 2018 with a team from Simon Fraser University (SFU), and has just received a fresh injection of funding from the federal Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and two private foundations.
Preventing Extinctions: Architecting an Acretocene
Photojournalism piece by adjunct professor Andrew S. Wright in the National Observer.
Aquaculture community finds a N-EAT way to get fresh food
Feature in SeaWestNews
Building Rain Gardens in the Climate Emergency Era
Water sustainability feature in Waterbucket
Adeel: Water – Canada's new peacekeeping opportunity
Op-ed by Zafar Adeel
Executive Director of the PWRC, Zafar Adeel, discusses current issues in water security on World Water Day
March 22nd, 2019
PWRC's Adjunct Professor Andrew Wright and Research Associate Nastaran Arianpoo are Interviewed about "To Catch a Falling Sky" Public Talk Series
Island Voices: Sustainability, the new science
Op-ed by Jon O'Riordan and Tim O'Riordan
Adeel's Interview with CBC Radio on Earth Day

NEWS ARCHIVE

May 22, 2018
SFU environmental science director & faculty of environment professor Jeremy G. Venditti on recent BC flooding

“This happens every year,” Dr. Venditti said, referring to the spring runoff. “The flooding this year is typical.” Read more.

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. Read more

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. Read more

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:
http://cirh2.streamon.fm/listen-pl-14893

February 5, 2018
SFU News Features Adeel about Canada's opportunity to be a world leader

January 24, 2018
Op-Ed by Adeel in the Ottawa Citizen: Water – 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. Read More

October 13, 2017
Community Engaged Research in Pender Harbour
SFU recruited as partner of Pender Harbour Ocean Discovery Station (PODS) on Sunshine Coast. Read More

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. Read More

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. Read More

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: http://bit.ly/2nc27lr (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, School of Mechatronic Systems Engineering, 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 SFU 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: http://bit.ly/2nhENUZ

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 – 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: http://cirh2.streamon.fm/listen-pl-8136

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 SFU'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, SFU) 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 http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2017/01/03/1612066114.abstract

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 website. 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."