Shannon Hagerman
Societal aspects of emerging climate adaptation strategies
Shannon Hagerman is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Forest Resources Management and founder and lead of the Social-Ecological Systems Research Group at the University of British Columbia. She is the Co-lead for the GE3LS research (short for “genomics-related ethical, economic, environmental, legal and social aspects”) within the CoAdapTree: Healthy Trees for Future Climates project.
Shannon’s research expertise and interests center on the science-policy-management interface in the context of conservation and climate change adaptation. Her research addresses dilemmas at the nexus of rapidly changing biophysical conditions wrought by global climate change, and plural values and contested visions for what “ought to be done” in conservation policy and management in a human-dominated, “Anthropocene” world. In this context, Shannon’s research explores three interrelated questions: (1) How are different types of knowledge (and associated uncertainties), evaluated, negotiated and incorporated into climate adaptation policies at multiple scales? (2) What are the roles of human behaviour (e.g. attitudes, environmental values and perceptions of risk), and institutions (e.g. trust) in shaping evolving and contested ideas about conservation, and support/opposition for emerging climate adaptation strategies (e.g. “climate-smart” protected areas, assisted migration, assisted gene flow)? (3) How do these governance and human behavioral dimensions shape policy dynamics and societal outcomes in specific complex adapting regional forest management systems? Answers to these questions will help advance understanding of societal dimensions of conservation and resource management in an era of global change, as well as provide applied and targeted insights for the development of climate adaptation strategies for forest management that take into account the societal context, including the diverse goals and values of multiple constituents. For more information, please visit Shannon’s website. You can also find her on twitter @SES_UBC.
