Source: The Conversation – Canada
Governments, corporations and other institutions must all play constructive roles in mitigating the impacts of climate change. Universities, too, can and must help with that effort. We are based at Royal Roads University in the south of Vancouver Island, a region that represents how communities need to plan for climate risks both big and small.
This summer, El Niño means warmer seas and drier conditions. In June, early melting meant the island had already reached zero per cent snowpack reserve. The Canadian government’s drought assessment shows above-normal temperatures and lower precipitation across the Pacific Northwest this El Niño season.
An early-season drought — which could affect Vancouver Island — will negatively impact farms, wetlands, wildfire risks and water demand from seasonal tourism. Higher temperatures, tinder-dry forests and already scarce water supplies are a lethal combination. Given those climate realities, the most successful, influential and forward-thinking universities won’t be measuring excellence using status rankings and H-factors.
Instead, they will show their value through community-based metrics: directly and persistently applying their expertise to help local communities deal with the risks they face. This means an intentional, place-based approach to research and teaching that’s organized around a region’s unique and specific problems — its people, histories, economies, risks and opportunities.
At a place-based or community-embedded university, excellence comes via a whole-institutional approach that goes beyond rhetoric to meaningful action. Threats to coastal communities Coastal regions have distinct social and ecological characteristics shaped by their proximity to water, limited land and strong local attachments.
Coastal communities are often deeply dependent on the natural world. Economies can be tightly tied to fisheries, agriculture, ports and tourism. But the risks are also very real: intensifying storms, sea level rise, flooding, heat, as well as drought damage to coastal infrastructure, drinking water security, marine ecosystems and essential services.
Even without El Niño, Vancouver Island’s new normal means dry summers that stress and weaken large trees. Then winter windstorms bring those trees down, sometimes knocking out power lines, often for days, and blocking roads.
Meanwhile, essential services — transport, energy, water, waste management, health care, emergency response and food supply — depend on fragile lifelines such as underwater cables, small water or waste treatment plants or ferries. Those same winter windstorms disrupt ferries connecting Vancouver Island to the mainland.
If the ferries aren’t running, that immediately impacts Vancouver Island’s food supply.
The South Island Prosperity Partnership found that “more than 80 per cent of our food com[es] from off-Island, only 20 to 30 per cent of our farmable land [is] in production, and only three days of fresh food [is] available at any given time.” We also know that southern Vancouver Island has multiple and overlapping vulnerabilities.
Intense population pressures, compounded by climate risks and by the possibility of a major earthquake and tsunami. Those risks heighten the potential of social discord as fear of losing homes, livelihoods or cherished landscapes grows, so too can inequity, distrust, scapegoating and injustice.
The urgency is very real for us. What universities can do All universities should be implementing a place-based approach that directly helps their community. But what does this mean in the day-to-day of university function?
At Royal Roads, we recognize that we won’t have all the answers. But we can use interdisciplinary tools to research and assess community needs, risks, strengths and vulnerabilities. This means encouraging our faculty, students and staff to identify what’s already working in our community and help support productive, problem-focused partnerships with school boards, municipalities, community groups and the private sector.
As educators, we can deliberately incorporate a lot more experiential learning and community project opportunities in our courses. For example, students in tourism, communications, business or environmental science can partner with local communities to complete solution-focused projects across diverse coastal landscapes.
Students in health, leadership, disaster and emergency management programs can help design pre- and post-management scenarios for wildfires and earthquakes with community experts and organizers. We can partner with Canada’s eastern and northern coastal universities to develop joint, interdisciplinary coastal science degrees.
These joint programs linking coastal universities would expand students’ opportunities and extend our available expertise, datasets and community impact. However, universities aren’t limited to undergraduate or graduate degree options. We can also serve as hyper-regional hubs through continuing education to connect researchers and applied expertise in science, health, culture and policy to communities’ challenges.
Continuing education can make that happen by providing a centralized learning infrastructure: connecting the needs of employers, non-governmental organizations and municipalities with curriculum to more effectively deliver training that is specific to the community’s needs.
The ways universities can help prepare our communities are plentiful, but the time we have is not.
This summer’s El Niño is just the beginning: it’s time for Canada’s universities to rethink our priorities, partner with like-minded institutions and get moving.
Sarah Elizabeth Wolfe receives funding from Canada’s Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.
Philip Steenkamp does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Original source: https://analysis1.mil-osi.com/2026/06/25/universities-have-a-vital-role-to-play-in-tackling-climate-change/