Grant: Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship Program

Internationally, scientific study and lived experiences show the myriad ways health and wellbeing are linked to the landscapes in which people live, and point to ways by which degradation of ecosystems due to intensive resource extraction may exacerbate existing health inequities. Despite the ongoing pace of resource development internationally, the evidence, methods and experience needed to research and respond to the relationship between expanding resource industries and health, remains limited. Canada, one of the wealthiest nations in the world, is highly dependent upon resource extraction, and provides an obvious context for examining the links among public health, ecosystem management and socio-economic development, particularly in northern, aboriginal, rural, remote and resource-dependent communities. This research will examine the interface between resource extraction and public health. An explicit focus will be placed on both social and environmental determinants of health and the implications for intersectoral work. This strengths based mixed methods study asks two key questions: 1. "What is the role of the Public Health sector in addressing the health impacts of intensive resource extraction industries?" and 2. "What tools does Public Health currently have to address the complex interplay between socio-economic development, environmental priorities and public health in relation to intensive resource extraction industries, in particular as it relates to non-communicable diseases and human-animal-ecological health issues?" Conducted from a base at the University of Northern British Columbia, this research will be developed in a region where public health authorities, industry, governments and communities are actively and urgently endeavouring to work together to increase understanding of the public health dynamics of intensive resource extraction and to work together toward more sustainable pathways to healthy, equitable and sustainable societies.