As stated by Dr. Basurto in presenting the award, “Professor Fikret Berkes has been a consistent voice and strong influence in various areas of knowledge as his hundreds of articles and many books demonstrate.” He noted Berkes’ work in the area of commons (the governance of jointly used resources such as fisheries and forestry), and his approach involving social and ecological resilience and learning from traditional ecological knowledge (Indigenous knowledge). Basurto named some of Dr. Berkes’ notable publications throughout his years of research. “In 1989, he published Common Property Resources: Ecology and Community-based Sustainable Development.” The book was part of a cohort of contributions that together made a strong case for self-governance and community-based management, including McCay and Acheson’s The Question of the Commons (1987) and Elinor Ostrom’s Governing the Commons (1990), for which she received the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences in 2009.

Berkes’ collaboration with Dr. Carl Folke, Beijer Institute for Ecological Economics (Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences) and Stockholm University, started in the early 1990s, paving the way for the trailblazing book, Linking Social and Ecological Systems (Cambridge University Press, 1998). This book and its 2003 sequel, Navigating Social-Ecological Systems (which included three chapters co-authored with U of M scholars), connected commons research with social-ecological resilience and traditional ecological knowledge. This work also led to Ostrom’s social-ecological systems framework, the consolidation of the Resilience Alliance, and the Stockholm Resilience Centre, among other important research initiatives and ideas, Basurto noted. In the area of traditional ecological knowledge, Berkes’ book Sacred Ecology (Routledge, 1999; presently in its 2018 fourth edition) is used widely as a textbook internationally. It has been translated into Chinese and Persian, with a Spanish translation in progress.

In concluding the award presentation, Basurto said “…if you work on traditional ecological knowledge, resilience, social-ecological systems, community-based conservation, or commons issues, Fikret has been behind the development of these fields. The International Association for the Study of the Commons awards this Certificate of Honor to Fikret Berkes for his lifelong contributions to Commons Theory, teaching and practice. For being a holder of stories of commoners, commoning, and commons.” Berkes’ theoretical focus is on the conditions through which the “tragedy of the commons” may be avoided. His practice is guided by the idea that people should be able to participate in resource and environmental decisions that affect their lives and livelihoods.

Originally trained as a marine ecologist, Berkes’ work across academic disciplines started in the 1970s, at a time when interdisciplinary research was not common and not rewarded. Combining various natural science and social science disciplines and learning from Indigenous ways of knowing and the wisdom of traditional peoples, led to a (then unusual) transdisciplinary approach. However, such approaches are increasingly considered to be necessary for dealing with the complex environmental problems of today’s rapidly changing world. Disciplinary approaches are simply insufficient to cope with or adapt to problems such as climate change.  

Dr. Berkes came to the U of M in 1991 as the Director of the Natural Resources Institute. He is a two-term Tier 1 Canada Research Chair (2002-16) and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. In 2016, he became Distinguished Professor Emeritus at the U of M. About one-third of his 280 refereed publications over 50 years has been co-authored with U of M graduate students and faculty. As of August 2025, his 116,000 Google Scholar citations makes him the most highly cited U of M scholar. His recent books include Governing for Transformation towards Sustainable Small-scale Fisheries (FAO, Rome, 2025, open-access https://doi.org/10.4060/cd4289en), Advanced Introduction to Resilience (Edward Elgar, 2023), and Toward a New Social Contract (TBTI, 2021). His website https://umanitoba.ca/environment-earth-resources/dr-fikret-berkes-profile-page includes a list of Publications.

Drawing from his experience in Zero Till farming, a deep commitment to climate responsibility, and a passion for leaving a better world for his grandchildren, Rourke offers a grounded yet innovative perspective on how farmers can lead in the fight against global warming. 

What exactly is “net positive carbon grain farming” and why is it important? 

David Rourke: “Net Positive”, or “NP” carbon grain farming is the ability to drastically lower emissions and increase carbon sequestration to the point where sequestration is larger than emissions. While many countries and companies have a target of Net Zero in place for 2050, grain farmers [are sought] due to the ability to sequester atmospheric [carbon] into the soil. This helps increase the productivity of the fields at the same time as it sequesters the extra carbon. This makes farming quite unique. 

Why does your research focus on the Northern Great Plains?   

David Rourke: While most of my work is in Western Canada, the term Great Plains also included the western plains of the USA. Three of my participants were from North and South Dakota. The Great Plains are a semi arid to sub-humid growing region, making them distinctly different from the humid soil zones of Eastern North America where 40 inches of rain is normal, whereas the Great Plains would have 10 to 20 inches of annual participation. Some “Best Management Practices”, or “BMPs” that work well in a place like Guelph fail when tried in the Great Plains area — unless there is irrigation. 

A series of different sized equipment used by David Rourke on the farm.

What is your background like, and how has it influenced your approach to this work? 

David Rourke: First, I am an active grain farmer in the Great Plains and have experienced the effects of limited rainfall and occasionally excessive precipitation. My MSc looked at crop residue management in Zero Till. I have been using Zero Till to limit erosion, increase water use efficiency and fertiliser efficiency since 1980. Although from time to time I have ventured off the path looking for something better, repeatedly a Zero Till based production system gives the best results. However, my general rule is that when something becomes the preferred system of production and is used continually, nature finds a way to leverage those vulnerabilities. Zero till’s vulnerability is herbicide resistance; we must be vigilant in this regard. 

What methods of analysis have you found most instrumental in your studies, and why? 

David Rourke: My study used narrative research based on in-depth qualitative interviews. Using a number of sources and connections I was able to identify 16 participants who I considered to be interested in and, in some cases, successfully active in developing Net Positive practices on their own farms. Dr. Debra Davidson, in a 2019 study conducted in Alberta, found up to 90% of the farmers surveyed did not believe the climate was changing or did not believe the 100 million barrels of oil equivalents that the world uses every day could possibly have any effect on the climate. Thus, to find these 16 participants that believe in anthropogenic global warming, or “AGW”, and want to be part of the solutions makes them innovative and unique. 

Can you expand on your journey as a student, and what led you to studying at the Natural Resources Institute? 

David Rourke: When I first looked for a project, a university, and an advisor to do the PhD, I looked at several quantitative projects at North Dakota State University, University of Saskatchewan, University of Guelph as well as UM. After a discussion with Dr. Martin Entz about a project where I would interview farmers on their innovative practices, he suggested I talk to Dr. Iain Davidson-Hunt at the Natural Resources Institute at the UM. This was the right choice for the project and for me. Covid was a blessing for me and my project. I took all my courses online and did all my interviews on Zoom. It was efficient and low carbon. I perhaps did not have as much collegial interactions as would 25-year-old on-site students, but being an active farmer and living 250 km from the UM, [along with] Covid and on-line technology made the project feasible. 

While my scientific experience in the 45 years leading up to my PhD study was in quantitative science (small plot replicated research), I was looking for a new system; a system developed by farmers who were already trying to address AGW. And at the same time looking to record their successes, enablers, as well as failures, or at least the gaps and barriers that limited their ability to move the needle. I developed the BERT/E adoption rating score allowing me to characterize the strength of BMPs that were being promoted in Western Canada to tackle AGW.  The interdisciplinary approach used at NRI was an excellent fit to this type of qualitative discovery.

David Rourke posing for a photo on “Rourke Farms” property.

You’ve mentioned your grandchildren as a key factor in your motivation behind your work. Could you expand on how they inform your research? 

David Rourke: There is a saying, if you were born in Canada, you have won the lottery of life. I have had a blessed life, I have been privileged, not that I come from a rich family or was given a large sum of money to start life. I was privileged to be encouraged and enabled to go to university, to find a life partner when I was only 17, being given a chance to rent 300 acres to farm as a start and over time able to buy 6000 acres, completing a M.Sc. degree and then using all of that to leverage many opportunities, including the development of the largest independent field research service company in Western Canada. The point is for the last 100 years the world has grown in an unbelievable way based on the ignorance of negative externalities caused by our fossil fuel-based societies.  It is “payback time” if we have any hope of our descendants to have anywhere close to the blessed life our generation has had. Pope Francis in his “Encyclical on Climate Change and Inequality”, states that man has created this climate change problem and it is not right to pass it on to the next generation, we must take responsibility now. I have 9 grandkids who depend on us to make the right decision and actions now. 

Have you noticed any challenges or pushback from other farmers? What opinions have you encountered?  

David Rourke: I developed the language and an approach for my research so that my conversations with farmers and others working in western agriculture were a step in the evolution of best management farm practices (BMPs). Fortunately, the ways to become Net Positive are also ways to increase profitability and resilience on many Western Canadian farms.  I use [terms] such as No Regret BMPs, Neutral BMPs , Sacrifice or even Dead End BMPs to sharpen the point of the readiness of specific BMPs to be taken up by western grain farmers in their farming operations. Being a commercial grain farmer helps me to consider language that will speak to farmers in their assessment of BMPs to move towards net positive for their farms. Unless the BMPs can make farm practice either more profitable, faster, or easier to do they are not likely to be adopted by farmers. This is not theory – it is reality on my farm as it is on all farms. I have found some people that get quite excited believing that AGW is not a real thing. We need to find the common ground focusing on BMPs that are good for the farmer, society, and the environment – I believe my research is a step towards that goal. 

A diagram created by David Rourke that illustrates his “General Farm Practice Change Theory”.

What’s next for you and your work?  

David Rourke: I am looking for opportunities to use my finding to help move the needle. I have made presentations to Agriculture and Agri-food Canada’s agriculture policy advisors, to conservation NGOs, and to farm groups who believe in Net Positive. I have an extensive quantitative field research program on Soil Health, Biological Nitrogen replacement products and a Zero Till project on dry beans, which can be tricky to get just right. My field tour was July 29th, 2025 at Minto, Manitoba. The plot work is supported by Living Labs, (Manitoba Association of Watershed and AAFC), Scotiabank, MB Forage and Grassland Association, MB Pulse and Soybean Growers, MB Crop Alliance, and MB Canola Growers. 

I am also pursuing the development of a Net Positive Farm Network and NP Community of Practice. The NP Network would be a think tank and information sharing network but could also be valuable as a unique interface to connect with what I call the Science Based Target Initiative (SBTi) companies who have set Net Zero by 2050 pledges and are looking for Net Zero or NP supply chains. This would help identify gaps and solutions, and in the end, help demonstrate new No Regret BMPs. 

To listen to the entire conversation, please follow the link to CBC Manitoba.

This influential board is made of up of noted academics, community leaders and experts from diverse backgrounds and disciplines. They play a vital role in conducting investigations, public hearings and mediation around environmental management in Manitoba. Their recommendations play a key role in helping the Minister of Environment and Climate Change in shaping policy decisions that will influence the province’s environmental future.

Congratulations to these UM alumni and faculty:

Aimee Craft, Chair – Adjunct Professor in the Faculty of Law and the Department of Native Studies, University of Manitoba. Craft holds a Bachelor of Arts jointly from the University of Manitoba and Université de Saint Boniface, Master of Law and Society (Victoria), Bachelor of Law (Ottawa).

Cameron Armstrong – (B.Sc., Manitoba) Program specialist at the Youth Climate Lab.

Mark Hudson – Professor, Department of Sociology and Criminology and co-director of Global Political Economy program, University of Manitoba.

Durdana Islam – (PhD, Natural Resources and Environmental Management, Manitoba) Project director and climate planner at Narratives, founder of the Waverley Climate Action Team.

Donald Labossiere – (B.Sc., Manitoba) Former director of environmental compliance and enforcement at Manitoba Conservation and Water Stewardship.

Jennifer L. Schultz – Associate Dean and Professor of the Faculty of Law, University of Manitoba.

John Sinclair – Professor, Clayton H. Riddell Faculty of Environment, Earth and Resources and Director of UM’s Natural Resources Institute.

Defining ‘Resilience’

The term resilience has many definitions, including those for psychological resilience and engineering resilience. Advanced Introduction to Resilience treats it as a systems concept, informally defined as “the capacity of a system to deal with perturbations” or “the ability to persist and adapt”, or even “the ability to successfully deal with change”. Maintaining diversity is one of the ways to build resilience. For example, biodiversity can provide resilience in the face of climate change, as illustrated by the example of Potato Park (Parque de la Papa) in Peru.

The Park is home to eight known wild and cultivated potato species, and some 1,300 varieties. It is located near the center of the domestication of potatoes and therefore at the center of potato genetic diversity. The Park is an internationally recognized protected area and Biocultural Heritage site. It has high landscape heterogeneity and varieties adapted to a diversity of habitats. By conserving a high level of potato biodiversity, the Park provides “insurance” for potato farming everywhere.

Potatoes are grown all over the world, but only a limited handful of varieties are used in various localities, including parts of Canada. This results in a high degree of vulnerability given the accelerating change in environmental conditions. The world will most likely need new potato genetic resources to modify the widely used varieties to enable them to adapt to deal with warmer or dryer conditions or new diseases.

A sample of potato biodiversity in Parque de la Papa, Peru, which serves as a source of potato genes and therefore resilience for the impacts of climate change on potato farming all over the world. Photo: Vanesa Ramos.

The book is of interest to students and academics in the area of environment and related disciples. One critical acclaim regards the book as “…a crucial ingredient of healthy environments, societies, and communities…” (Dr. Anthony Charles, Community Conservation Research Network based in Halifax). Another review characterizes the book as “…a brilliant synthesis of resilience scholarship. It provides a fresh perspective on ways that society can address its most urgent challenges despite prevailing uncertainties about the future” (Dr. F. Stuart Chapin III, University of Alaska).

Additional Information

Advanced Introduction to Resilience is published by Edward Elgar as part of the Elgar Advanced Introduction Series. https://www.e-elgar.com/shop/usd/advanced-introduction-to-resilience-9781802202212.html

Dr. Berkes has published some 250 peer-reviewed papers, and is the author or editor of 14 books, including Sacred Ecology (Routledge, 2018) which has recently been translated into Chinese. At over 100,000 citations, he has the highest Google Scholar score at the University of Manitoba. His profile and list of publications are in: https://umanitoba.ca/environment-earth-resources/dr-fikret-berkes-profile-page

During the conversation, Anishinaabe Elder and knowledge keeper Phyllis Pinesse explained that the waters of Shoal Lake have a holistic health meaning to Indigenous People in Treaty 3. She pointed out how this relation was interfered with by the construction of the dams and the aqueduct constructed in the early 1900s through which water flows to Winnipeg. These developments change water levels, and periodically reverse the flow of water, resulting in an increase in contamination. algae, and sedimentation patterns of what was once pristine water. She also explained that for their ceremonial practices they use water and copper, a mineral that Anishinaabe People used to trade with other First Nations for their healing properties.

Anishinaabe Elder and knowledge keeper Phyllis Pinesse sharing about her helpers that support holistic healing.

Mayan scholar Filiberto Penados shared that in Yucatan language people greet each other asking “how is your walking?”, a greeting that has a profound notion of relational wellbeing. He explained that this speaks for the importance of relationships with other beings. As he noted, Indigenous People have always had ways to relate to others, to sustain relationships and bring these into balance. Relationships with the land have been interrupted and there is a need of restoring them in an Indigenous way. He emphasizes that the healing is not only required within Indigenous communities but within humanity as a whole.

Ărramăt co-leader María Eugenia Choque Quispe shared her personal story about the discrimination she suffered when she entered university and how she “healed her spirit” through revaluing her identity. For her, practicing her language was important to reconstruct and disseminate the ancestral Aymara oral history. Furthermore, she understood that this cultural practice can only be reproduced through the restitution of their territorial rights and the ability of Indigenous Peoples to exercise their territorial autonomy in their Ayllus. In the land-based and Indigenous-led project that she is working on with the community of Corque Marca, Aymara People are recording their songs, myths, and legends as a way to heal their relationship with the territory.

For more information on the Ărramăt project see: https://arramatproject.org

Participants in the Conversation:

Phyllis Pinesse is a Natural Resource technician from Iskatewizaagegan Independent First Nation. She is a Knowledge Keeper, Grandmother and Mother. She is also a teacher of medicinal plants, and cultural values and vision.

Filiberto Penados, a Maya scholar from Belize is Associate Professor and Research Director at Galen University.  His activist scholarly work focuses on Indigenous and critical education and development. He has a long history of working in and with Indigenous communities and organizations in Belize. Dr Penados chairs the Julian Cho Society and is a technical advisor to the Belize National Indigenous Council and Toledo Alcaldes Association.

María Eugenia Choque Quispe, Aymara woman from the Plurinational State of Boliva with Social Work Degree from the Universidad Mayor de San Andrés, La Paz, Boliva and Master’s in Andean History from the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences (FLACSO), Quito, Ecuador. She has worked for the defense of Indigenous Rights, strengthening of Indigenous organizations with a focus on the participation of women in these processes. She contributed to the development of the American Declaration of Indigenous Peoples’ Rights and UNDRIP. She is also a previous member of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.

An initiative that began last fall has started to grow and might soon see wild rice, a culturally important crop, become a staple on dinner tables.

A community event regarding the initiative was held at South Beach Casino on April 29 to review the first results of the restoration project. Researchers Uche Nwankwo and Shirley Thompson, both from the Natural Resources Institute at the University of Manitoba, have been working with Brokenhead Ojibway Nation for two years.

Fifty pounds of wild rice was planted at Beaconia Marsh in Brokenhead — about 64 kilometres northeast of Winnipeg — by community members, along with Nwankwo and Thompson, in October.

Wild rice is a staple of Indigenous peoples of Canada but has largely disappeared because of the impacts of colonialism.

Read the full Winnipeg Free Press article here.

Figure 1. The cover image for “I Will Live for Both of Us” features Joan Scottie, an Inuk Elder, sitting outside on a rock against crashing waves.

Throughout the book, Joan shares the history and stories behind her community’s decade-long fight against uranium mining. Traditional Inuit laws surrounding resource management, the land, and animals are brought to the forefront while other conversations draw from Inuit experiences in residential schools, the politics of gold mining in Nunavut, and the nuclear industry altogether.

I Will Live for Both of Us provides a reflection on political and environmental history. “The authors bring detailed insights into the context of neoliberal resource extraction and ongoing processes of colonial dispossession, making the book of great interest for Inuit, Canadian, and international audiences, alike,” says Rebecca Hall in her review of the book for Canadian Journal of Development Studies. “The text, dynamic and accessible without forsaking depth, will certainly lend itself to research, classroom and popular reading. And its focus on historical and contemporary Inuit resistance will provide inspiration—and, indeed, a suite of tactics—for community organizers.”

Rebecca Hall’s complete review of I Will Live for Both of Us can be found here: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02255189.2022.2142935

Citation and authors

Scottie, J., Bernauer, W., Hicks, J. (2022) I Will Live for Both of Us: A History of Colonialism, Uranium Mining, and Inuit Resistance. University of Manitoba Press. Paper, ISBN: 978-0-88755-265-6

Joan Scottie was born at a traditional Inuit camp in what is known today as Nunavut. She resides as an Inuk Elder living among the community of Qamani’tuaq (Baker Lake). She has been a leading voice for Inuit opposition to uranium mining since the 1980s.

Warren Bernauer is a postdoctoral fellow at the Natural Resources Institute and the Department of Environment and Geography with the University of Manitoba’s Clayton H. Riddell Faculty of Environment, Earth, and Resources.

Jack Hicks is an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Community Health and Epidemiology, College of Medicine, at the University of Saskatchewan. He has worked for Inuit organizations for more than 30 years.

I Will Live for Both of Us has been published through the University of Manitoba Press and is featured in the series: Contemporary Studies on the North. It can be found here: https://uofmpress.ca/books/detail/i-will-live-for-both-of-us

These subtle squirrel changes concern UM researchers Jane Waterman and Miya Warrington, who tuned into them only recently and published their latest findings in the latest Journal of Mammalogy. 

It began last year when they found that some male Richardson’s ground squirrels, a species found throughout the Canadian prairies, emerged from hibernation during a particularly warm winter with non-motile sperm. This non-lethal effect of climate change fortunately did not result in fewer young that year, although other negative consequences of males “shooting blanks” may emerge in other species or situations.

Intrigued by this finding, they then looked at what non-lethal affects climate change was having on African ground squirrels in the grasslands of South Africa.

Waterman, head of the Behavioural, Ecological & Evolutionary Research Lab at UM, has run a 20-year research project on a population of Cape ground squirrels at a nature reserve in South Africa, and so has a trove of invaluable data that she and post-doctoral fellow Warrington could rely on. They began looking at how these squirrels were responding to increased ambient temperatures and were astounded to find that as maximum temperatures at the nature reserve have risen by more than 2°C, the relative size of ground squirrel feet have increased, while their bodies have become smaller. It seems that ground squirrels in South Africa are responding to the warming climate by “shape-shifting.”

“These proportionally bigger feet may help the ground squirrel cool off by allowing them to shed more heat even faster than those squirrel with smaller feet. Likewise, smaller bodies are predicted to help animals shed heat at a faster rate than larger-bodied animals,” says Warrington, the lead author. “This result suggests that ground squirrel bodies may be changing in response to the greater heat stress that these animals are experiencing in recent years.”

Animals responding to rising temperatures is not entirely unexpected. However, changes in animal shapes in response to climate change may have farther reaching consequences beyond external aesthetics.

“If the body is changing, what else is changing,” muses Warrington. “We’d also like to look at internal changes, things like the effects of stress and hormones, as well as the effect on behaviours.  Cape ground squirrels are very social species, and changes to their bodies and behaviours can affect how they operate as a social species, which then may affect their survival and reproduction.”

Waterman notes that “Cape ground squirrels are ecosystem engineers. They change the vegetation around their burrow clusters and increase grassland biodiversity, so changes in their body size and behaviour can have consequences to the biodiversity of temperate grasslands, which are one of the most endangered ecosystems on the planet.”

When it comes to the effects of climate change, images of mass animal death from wildfires, drought and floods abound. Yet, this research team shows that the effects of climate change need not be drastic or fatal to have consequences. And these subtle, non-fatal effects of climate change, may, in the long-run, affect the health and resiliency of wildlife and their ecosystems.

“Our study, and the studies of many others, are showing us that nature, in some cases, can respond quickly to rapid environmental changes. Humans need to be mindful of all effects of climate change, even ‘small’ ones so we can respond with deliberate, swift action as needed,” Warrington says.

When a canary stops singing, recognize the danger. So too when ground squirrels shoot blanks and develop bigger feet.

Research funding came from the National Science Foundation, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, Canadian Foundation for Innovation,  Manitoba Research and Innovation Grant, University of Manitoba Faculty of Science

Last year, a research team led by University of Manitoba conservation biology professor Nicola Koper found that during the lockdowns most birds in Canada and the USA increased in human-dominated areas, such as cities or near roads. New research, however, shows a different story in other parts of the world.

Koper teamed up with first author Dr. Miya Warrington and other team members to study responses of birds to lockdowns in the United Kingdom, published today in Proceedings of the Royal Society B. Surprisingly, this research showed that while some British birds increased their use of spaces that they share with humans, many species did not. It seems that some of Brits’ favourite lockdown outdoor activities, like visiting parks and hanging out in our backyards, infringed on birds that share our spaces.

“Although I was happy to see people getting out and enjoying nature, I was also worried that some natural spaces would be flooded with people, and we may accidentally be ‘smothering nature with our love’. We may have created a bit too much human pressure on the very places that bring us joy and comfort,” says lead author Miya Warrington.

Even common species such as the blackbird, the blue tit and the European robin changed their behaviours when faced with the change in human activity, notes Warrington. For example, blue tits, robins and blackbirds were all detected in fewer numbers when humans spent more time at home, maybe because people spent more time in their gardens, making these green spaces less welcoming to birds. However, some garden feeder species seem to have benefited from lockdown, especially “feisty” species like European goldfinches, which might not have minded sharing their backyards with humans and their pets (at least, the friendly ones).

“These results are really different from results from our research in North America, where lockdowns had mostly positive effects on birds,” says Koper. “And it’s different from what most people have assumed until now – that wildlife had a chance to recover during lockdowns. That only happened in some parts of the world. Wildlife have adapted to humans differently in different parts of the world – and they might need different kinds of help in different places.”

Our relationship with wildlife is complicated. Our human presence and actions influence nature, even during a lockdown. This means that we need to consider how our behaviours affect wildlife. But Warrington reminds us, “this is also a good thing. The behaviour of birds changed really fast during lockdowns. This means that if humans change the way we do things, we can reverse some of the harm we have done to wildlife very quickly.”