Valuing water for our shared sustainable future

Returning to in-person experiences in February: for more information. Canada Research Chair Kelsey Leonard puts Indigenous knowledge at the forefront of environmental justice Today the planet is straining under the weight of human development and governments and institutions are searching for innovative answers to protect our planet. Thanks to efforts by researchers like Kelsey Leonard, who joined the Faculty of Environment in 2020, we're exploring and valuing essential environmental knowledge long ignored by non-Indigenous decision-makers. Indigenous Peoples have vast knowledge systems and scientific traditions that can work alongside western scientific methods. With global warming now raising sea levels, Leonard's position as Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Waters, Climate and Sustainability, will help her explore ways of facilitating Indigenous knowledge to restore our threatened oceans, lakes and rivers while assuring Indigenous sovereignty. For those unsure of what exactly this entails, Leonard's TED Talk,  Why lakes and rivers should have the same rights as humans  (viewed by more than 3 million people), explores how reforming our legal system can be a first step to protecting bodies of water and fundamentally transforming how we value this vital living entity. "A big part of who I am as a scholar and a scientist is very much informed by the identity of being a water person and a person from the shore," says Leonard who is a citizen of Shinnecock Indian Nation located on what's commonly known as Long Island, New York.