Using GIS to find connection in the environment and in the classroom

In 2014, Sheika Henry returned to a favourite location in her home country of Jamaica to get some fresh seafood. She knew the spot well, but when she arrived, it wasn’t there. It was under water. The sea had gobbled it up.

Rising sea levels are just one of the indicators of global warming, and Henry, an interdisciplinary expert in the utilization of geospatial technologies — which includes geographic information systems (GIS), hydrologic models and remote sensing (aerial imagery) — is using these tools to map, predict and manage climate change and other environmental and public health stressors over time — data that can be used to design risk adaptation policies and strategies.

“GIS has the ability to predict the impact of extreme events, like abnormal precipitation and temperatures and their effect on communities and in different sectors,” says Henry, the newly appointed assistant lecturer in the Department of Renewable Resources, who also teaches in the departments of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Earth and Atmospheric Sciences. “This facilitates mitigation and adaptation measures towards the building of resilience and sustainable development in climate challenged areas — solutions that require an interdisciplinary approach.”

As Henry notes, GIS is essentially a computer program that collects and monitors data, connecting topographical information such as soil conditions, roads, lakes, rivers, physical structures and historical disaster records. This data is used to make a map, and these maps are used to identify various patterns and spatial relationships, visualizing the data in a way that makes GIS a powerful communication and decision-making tool.

Capable of tracking population densities, disease and land use patterns, GIS also has socio-economic and public health implications, says Henry, citing the UN Sustainable Development Goals, particularly 15: Life on Land, as an example.

“In Life on Land we talk about protecting, restoring and promoting the sustainable use of our ecosystem — managing the forest, reducing deforestation or land degradation, reducing biodiversity loss — and that definitely requires the use of GIS,” says Henry. “Adaptations are underway, but when it's done in a silo it benefits a certain group of people, but will also negatively impact others. How do we know this? GIS can be used to monitor the progress. We can see where the shortfalls are and how we can address those challenges.”

Bridging disciplinary boundaries

Henry's passion for dismantling disciplinary barriers is clear, as she bridges renewable resources, earth sciences and civil engineering in her teaching, a rare feat for an early career academic.

Her comprehensive background includes a bachelor’s degree in geography from the University of the West Indies, an MSc in GIS and remote sensing specializing in geo-hazards from the University of Twente in the Netherlands, a PhD in geography from the Federal University of Parana in Brazil and postdoctoral research in civil engineering focused on flood hazard mapping at the Université de Moncton in Canada. The geographical scope of her academic and industry training and experience spans the Caribbean Region, Europe, South America and North America.

In essence, Henry's GIS expertise, geared toward disaster risk and natural resource management, among others, has equipped her with a unique insight and understanding of its socio-economic and environmental implications across diverse disciplines, partnerships and regions. However, the interdisciplinary nature of her work is a feature not an anomaly — a point she stresses in her classrooms.

“Students need these broader perspectives about current and emergent challenges and their interconnections in spatial dimensions,” explains Henry. “I use a learner-centred and experimental approach, because it’s important that they know that education is about the capacity to apply knowledge to real world scenarios. We are teaching them the skills they will need to address the social, environmental and economic challenges that we're facing. They have the power to make a difference — they are the future.”

Henry’s new position at the U of A is an opportunity to share this knowledge as well as address the critical GIS needs of multiple departmental programs.

“Addressing climate challenges will take the arts, it will take the earth sciences, engineering, health and also collaboration with stakeholders and industry to achieve a sustainable outcome,” says Henry. “That is the unifying story here — working in the departments of renewable resources, civil and environmental engineering and earth and atmospheric sciences are the types of collaborations that will allow us to find the solution.”

U of A research. Real-World impact.

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