| Overall Rating | Gold |
|---|---|
| Overall Score | 75.40 |
| Liaison | Mary-Lee Townsend |
| Submission Date | Jan. 16, 2025 |
Western University
EN-6: Community Partnerships
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
7.00 / 9.00 |
6.1 Sustainability-focused community partnerships
Narrative and/or website URL providing an overview of the institution’s sustainability-focused community partnerships:
Western University has a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the City of London intended to set out of mutual intentions of the City and Western to advance their joint climate change mitigation and adaptation objectives. The MoU is based upon the mutual understanding that the combined expertise, influence, and commitment of the parties are better applied together to support their common goals.
The Reporting Tool will automatically calculate the following figure:
6.2 Partnerships to support underrepresented groups and vulnerable populations
Description of the institution’s community partnerships to support underrepresented groups and/or vulnerable populations in addressing sustainability challenges:
Environmental Anthropology in Madagascar Field Course
- https://news.westernu.ca/2024/07/madagascar-field-course-ecotourism/
https://anthropology.uwo.ca/undergraduate/field_and_methods_courses/Madagascar.html
"Northern Madagascar is home to both some of the world’s most spectacular biodiversity, and some of the world’s most valuable natural resources. Unsurprisingly, different people in the region have very different ideas as to how to approach this natural wealth.” An ongoing challenge is finding different ways to approach this abundance in a way that conserves its natural wealth for future generations, while also improving the socioeconomic welfare of the region’s present population
The field course has been running since 2008, involving equal numbers of students from Western University and Université d’Antsiranana (UNA), the partner institution in Madagascar. Together the Western and UNA students have focused on these issues around conservation and natural wealth and related issues, as well as the complexities of transnational and intercultural collaboration in small-scale humanitarian, development and conservation projects in the region.
The field course has been offered for more than 15 years through longstanding partnerships with colleagues and communities in Madagascar. Its longevity is rooted in relationships and reciprocity with both Western and UNA students benefiting from learning opportunities exploring topics of interest to local stakeholders. Most recently, students surveyed rural communities on their understandings of climate change, and recorded important data essential to attracting funds to support climate change mitigation and education projects.
Students presented their findings to an audience of academics and community stakeholders, highlighting some of the impacts of climate change the community has expressed such as the affect of extremely hot or cold weather on crop production and community livelihoods.
The students also explored the ongoing challenge of promoting conservation and providing jobs through sustainable ecotourism. Their goal is to attract tourists who understand the ideology of sustainable ecotourism, minimizing impact on the environment, and supporting local communities who are responsible for taking care of their environment. To this end, the Western and ANU students camped out in community-based campsites currently being developed to provide valuable insights to the local organizations on how the campsites will run in practice. Students are able to model responsible ecotourists and through their experiential learning, also contribute promotional materials describing and capturing images of the ecotourism experience.
The Reporting Tool will automatically calculate the following figure:
6.3 Community partnership assessment
Publication that includes the community partnership guidelines:
Online resource that includes the institution’s community partnership guidelines:
Are all of the institution’s community partnerships for sustainability subject to an assessment process that includes joint evaluation by the institution and its community partners?:
Description of the institution’s approach to community partnership assessment and how the results are used to improve reciprocity and mutual benefit:
The Reporting Tool will automatically calculate the following figure:
Optional documentation
Additional documentation for this credit:
The information presented here is self-reported. While AASHE staff review portions of all STARS reports and institutions are welcome to seek additional forms of review, the data in STARS reports are not verified by AASHE. If you believe any of this information is erroneous or inconsistent with credit criteria, please review the process for inquiring about the information reported by an institution or simply email your inquiry to stars@aashe.org.