Environmental and anthropogenic stressors negatively affect amphibians in a variety of ways, often increasing their vulnerability to pathogen infection and mortality. Sampling for the pathogenic fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) was conducted in order to: 1) determine the presence of chytrid infection in stream-associated plethodontid salamanders of southeastern Kentucky, and 2) evaluate differences in infection intensity between salamanders residing in intact forest streams, timber-harvested streams, and surface-mined streams. During 14 sampling sessions occurring between March, April and May of 2013, DNA samples from 306 individual salamanders within 8 species from the family Plethodontidae were collected; additional amphibians (i.e. frogs, newts) were opportunistically sampled when encountered. Approximately 2.1% of the salamanders and 50% of the frogs sampled from intact streams, 2.3% of the salamanders and 80% of the frogs sampled from the harvested streams, and none of the salamanders and 100% of the frogs sampled from the mined streams tested positive for Bd. No significant differences in occurrence of Bd or infection intensity were detected between the treatment sites (x2 = 0.59; p-value = 0.75), or between individuals of a species between different treatments (see tables). These findings are the first to demonstrate that Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis is present in amphibians of eastern Kentucky.

The government of British Columbia faces a host of challenges as it attempts to establish a liquefied natural gas export industry and reignite unconventional shale gas production in northeast BC. Not only must it contend with a competitive and saturated global marketplace, but it must also address conflict with Treaty 8 First Nations whose treaty rights and traditional territories were impacted by early development. Shale gas impacts are intensely local, but First Nations have struggled to gain meaningful influence in colonial decision-making processes to ensure development decisions respect community values and authority. This research, conducted in partnership with Fort Nelson First Nation, explores the challenges and opportunities faced by the Nation in their efforts to reshape governance of the shale gas industry in their territory to address its environmental impacts. The research is situated within a review of multiple literatures including political economy, Indigenous governance, and critical studies of natural resource governance, social conflict and co-management in Indigenous-settler contexts. Through interviews and participant observation with the Fort Nelson First Nation, the thesis documents how those involved in shale gas governance at the local level perceive existing processes, and investigates under what conditions a more localized governance might resolve shale gas conflict in northeast BC. It develops an argument that shale gas governance must be rescaled to address landscape scale impacts and enhance the authority of local First Nations interests and knowledge. While collaborative governance reforms like co-management may not wholly eliminate deeply seated colonial authority, they can be effective and empower local First Nations communities under certain conditions. However, this case poses a unique set of context-specific challenges to governance reform, which the Fort Nelson First Nation are confronting as they work towards their governance and land use goals for their traditional territory. As the Nation continues to move forward, it is uncertain how they will negotiate the non-renewable industry’s political economy, and the current pro-development shale gas politics in BC. As such, this case offers a rare lens into local community experience with this relatively new and contentious global energy industry. / Graduate

Introduction: Oil/gas communities across Northeastern British Columbia are experiencing rapid in-migration of young, primarily male workers in response to an economic ‘boom’ in the oil/gas sectors. Accompanying the ‘boom’ has been a rise in rates of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) among young people, with Chlamydia rates among youth in the Northeast exceeding the provincial average by 22%. Previous research indicates that socio-cultural and structural determinants of youth sexual behaviour and access to STI testing are important for understanding youth sexual health disparities – and represent key targets for STI prevention efforts. No other research has explored STIs in this rapidly developing, under-resourced context. Therefore, objectives of this thesis were to: (1) Examine how socio-cultural and structural features related to the oil/gas ‘boom’ affect the sexual behaviour of young people in Fort St. John (FSJ), BC; (2) Gather the perspectives of youth and their service providers on the socio-cultural and structural barriers to STI testing in FSJ; (3) Develop recommendations to improve the accessibility of STI testing. Results: Participants identified 4 main ways in which the socio-cultural and structural conditions created by the ‘boom’ affect sexual behaviours, fuelling the spread of STIs in FSJ: mobility of oil/gas workers; binge partying; high levels of disposable income; and gendered power dynamics. As well, 5 key barriers to STI testing among youth were identified: limited opportunities for access; geographic inaccessibility; local social norms; limited information; and negative interactions with providers. Discussion: These data indicate that the conditions fostered by the ‘boom’ in FSJ exacerbate sexual health inequalities among young people. They can be more widely contextualized as an example of the unintended – but not unexpected – health and social implications of a resource-extraction ‘boom’, illustrating the fallacy of ‘development’ as representing uniformly positive ‘progress’. Recommended actions include STI prevention and testing service delivery models that incorporate a locally tailored public awareness campaign, outreach to oil/gas workers, condom distribution, expanded clinic hours and drop-in appointments, specialized training for health care providers, and intersectoral partnerships between public health, non-profit organizations, and industry. An ongoing knowledge translation internship has been undertaken to implement some of these recommendations.

Introduction: Oil/gas communities across Northeastern British Columbia are experiencing rapid in-migration of young, primarily male workers in response to an economic ‘boom’ in the oil/gas sectors. Accompanying the ‘boom’ has been a rise in rates of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) among young people, with Chlamydia rates among youth in the Northeast exceeding the provincial average by 22%. Previous research indicates that socio-cultural and structural determinants of youth sexual behaviour and access to STI testing are important for understanding youth sexual health disparities – and represent key targets for STI prevention efforts. No other research has explored STIs in this rapidly developing, under-resourced context. Therefore, objectives of this thesis were to: (1) Examine how socio-cultural and structural features related to the oil/gas ‘boom’ affect the sexual behaviour of young people in Fort St. John (FSJ), BC; (2) Gather the perspectives of youth and their service providers on the socio-cultural and structural barriers to STI testing in FSJ; (3) Develop recommendations to improve the accessibility of STI testing. Results: Participants identified 4 main ways in which the socio-cultural and structural conditions created by the ‘boom’ affect sexual behaviours, fuelling the spread of STIs in FSJ: mobility of oil/gas workers; binge partying; high levels of disposable income; and gendered power dynamics. As well, 5 key barriers to STI testing among youth were identified: limited opportunities for access; geographic inaccessibility; local social norms; limited information; and negative interactions with providers. Discussion: These data indicate that the conditions fostered by the ‘boom’ in FSJ exacerbate sexual health inequalities among young people. They can be more widely contextualized as an example of the unintended – but not unexpected – health and social implications of a resource-extraction ‘boom’, illustrating the fallacy of ‘development’ as representing uniformly positive ‘progress’. Recommended actions include STI prevention and testing service delivery models that incorporate a locally tailored public awareness campaign, outreach to oil/gas workers, condom distribution, expanded clinic hours and drop-in appointments, specialized training for health care providers, and intersectoral partnerships between public health, non-profit organizations, and industry. An ongoing knowledge translation internship has been undertaken to implement some of these recommendations.

Introduction: Oil/gas communities across Northeastern British Columbia are experiencing rapid in-migration of young, primarily male workers in response to an economic ‘boom’ in the oil/gas sectors. Accompanying the ‘boom’ has been a rise in rates of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) among young people, with Chlamydia rates among youth in the Northeast exceeding the provincial average by 22%. Previous research indicates that socio-cultural and structural determinants of youth sexual behaviour and access to STI testing are important for understanding youth sexual health disparities – and represent key targets for STI prevention efforts. No other research has explored STIs in this rapidly developing, under-resourced context. Therefore, objectives of this thesis were to: (1) Examine how socio-cultural and structural features related to the oil/gas ‘boom’ affect the sexual behaviour of young people in Fort St. John (FSJ), BC; (2) Gather the perspectives of youth and their service providers on the socio-cultural and structural barriers to STI testing in FSJ; (3) Develop recommendations to improve the accessibility of STI testing. Results: Participants identified 4 main ways in which the socio-cultural and structural conditions created by the ‘boom’ affect sexual behaviours, fuelling the spread of STIs in FSJ: mobility of oil/gas workers; binge partying; high levels of disposable income; and gendered power dynamics. As well, 5 key barriers to STI testing among youth were identified: limited opportunities for access; geographic inaccessibility; local social norms; limited information; and negative interactions with providers. Discussion: These data indicate that the conditions fostered by the ‘boom’ in FSJ exacerbate sexual health inequalities among young people. They can be more widely contextualized as an example of the unintended – but not unexpected – health and social implications of a resource-extraction ‘boom’, illustrating the fallacy of ‘development’ as representing uniformly positive ‘progress’. Recommended actions include STI prevention and testing service delivery models that incorporate a locally tailored public awareness campaign, outreach to oil/gas workers, condom distribution, expanded clinic hours and drop-in appointments, specialized training for health care providers, and intersectoral partnerships between public health, non-profit organizations, and industry. An ongoing knowledge translation internship has been undertaken to implement some of these recommendations. / Medicine, Faculty of / Population and Public Health (SPPH), School of / Graduate

The role of business actors in resource extraction in developing countries is an understudied topic of research for development studies. The framework of valuation languages and socio-environmental conflicts is useful for studying the values of actors involved in conflicts concerning resource extraction, but previous studies do not sufficiently discuss how to measure the concept. This thesis investigates which values are expressed by Vattenfall, a Swedish state-owned company, in relation to the extraction of coal that it purchases from Colombia. To do this, the thesis draws on qualitative analysis of ideas to construct an analytical tool aimed at making valuation languages more measurable and applies it to the case of Vattenfall. The thesis finds that Vattenfall expresses a wide range of monetary and non-monetary values, but this is not sufficient to say that it uses any particular valuation language. Moreover, the company views environmental conflicts as solvable within the single standard of monetary valuation and ignores power asymmetries. The analytical tool is found to be insufficient for identifying valuation languages on its own, but successful in making them more measurable.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

<p>Focusing on a case study of a union organizing effort at the La Platosa mine in northern Mexico from 2009-2012, this paper studies the challenges facing labour activism at Canadian mining companies in Mexico within the context of the North American Free Trade Agreement. The positions of the Mexican and the Canadian governments in relation to contemporary workers’ struggles in Mexico’s mining sector are considered, particularly the latter’s adoption of a ‘corporate social responsibility’ approach to addressing the activities of Canadian extractive firms abroad. By studying the outcome of the request for mediation filed by La Platosa miners with the Canadian government’s Extractive Sector CSR office in 2011 and evaluating the evolution of this government’s policy approach to extractive companies abroad since 2009, we find that CSR as practiced by the Canadian government has been ineffective at mitigating abusive practices by Canadian mining companies in Mexico and that an alternate outcome is not to be expected under existing policy structures. The relative strengths and weaknesses exhibited during labour organizing at the La Platosa mine are evaluated to find both locally specific and more broadly applicable strategies which could be applied to union renewal, both by workers employed under NAFTA’s transnational sector, and by the general labour movement.</p> / Master of Arts (MA)