Dr. Jutta Gutberlet - CBRL Director [website]

Dr. Gutberlet carried out her undergraduate studies degree in Biology at the State University of São Paulo (UNESP) and her Ph.D. in Geography at the University of Tübingen, Germany. Dr. Gutberlet then worked for the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization in Rome and in Ecuador, and for the non-governmental research institute Centro de Estudos de Cultura Contemporânea (CEDEC) in São Paulo. She has worked for the University of Tübingen/Germany and the University of Newcastle/Australia. Currently, she is Associate Professor at the Department of Geography, at the University of Victoria. Her current research interests are on sustainable livelihoods and community development with a specific focus on participation, co-management and poverty reduction strategies. She is involved in research on inclusive waste management and participatory natural resource management. She teaches in the fields of Social and Development Geography. Jutta Gutberlet is the current director of the CBRL and principal investigator of several research projects.

Most recent publications include

2008, Gutberlet, J. Recycling Citizenship, recovering resources: Urban poverty reduction in Latin America. Ashgate, Aldershot, 163 pp.

2008, Gutberlet, J. Empowering collective recycling initiatives: Video documentation and action research with a recycling co-op in Brazil. Resources, Conservation and Recycling 52: 659-670.

2008, Gutberlet, J. & Baeder, A. Informal recycling and occupational health in Santo André, Brazil. International Journal of Environmental Health Research 18 (1): 1-15.

2008, Gutberlet, J. & Hunter, A. Social and environmental exclusion at the edge of Sao Paulo, Brazil. Urban Design International, 13, 3-20.

2008, Gutberlet, J. Organized and informal recycling: Social movements contributing to sustainability. Transactions of the Wessex Institute.

2007, (with Seixas, S.C. Glinfkoi Thé, A.M. and Carolsfeld, K.) Resource conflicts and co-management: Challenges in the São Francisco watershed, Brazil. Human Ecology (in print).

2005, Living on the edge: Social and environmental exclusion in the periphery of São Paulo, Brazil. Geografias Espacios y Sociedades, Vol 1 (1), PDF file. Source; http://www.gi.ulpgc.es/ges/

Refereed conference proceedings

2005, Co-management of urban solid waste resources: Experiences and challenges from Sao Paulo, Brazil.  In: Ibrahim, M., Errafie, C., Bounaim, N., Chifri, H. & Mahfoud, M. (Eds.) Impacts environnementaux et socio-économiques des options de valorisation des déchets solides municipaux pour les collectivités de petite et moyenne taille, Séminaire regional, 1-2 June 2005, Rabat, pp. 92-102

2004, Traditional fisheries in coastal Brazil. A case study on assets and barriers for sustainable development, Conference proceedings: I Seminario de gestão Sócio-Ambiental para o Desenvolvimento Sustentável da Aquicultura e da Pesca no Brasil – I SEGAP, Rio de Janeiro, 25-27 Aug. 2004. COPPE/UFRJ, Rio de Janeiro e Cabo Frio, RJ, 14 p.  ISBN  85-285-0069-1.

2004, with Seixas, C.S., and The, A.P., Challenges in managing fisheries in the São Francisco watershed of Brazil. Presented at the 10th Biennial Conference of the International Association for the Study of Common Property (IASCP), Oaxaca, Mexico. International Association for the Study of Common Property (09-13 Aug. 2004), IASCP University of Indiana, Indiana, 38 p.
http://www.iascp2004.org.mx/ponencias_postcongreso.html

Non-Refereed Research Contributions

2007, Gutberlet, J. & Freitas Takahashi, N. 2007, Avaliação rápida da coleta seletiva porta a porta do  Programa Vida Limpa em Diadema. Relatorio de Pesquisa

2007, Gutberlet, J. & Muniz A.M. Pesca tradicional no embate com o desenvolvimento (Field experiences - Arraial do Cabo 22 a 27 de Fevereiro 2007).

2007, Gutberlet, J. & McBee, G. Resource recovery and urban agriculture in Cuba: Some recent experiences (Field experiences - December 9 – 19, 2006).

2007, Gutberlet, J. & McBee, G. Recursos de residuos y agricultura urbana en Cuba Recientes experiencias (Experiencia de campo: 9 a 19 de Diciembre de 2006).

Rhianna Nagel

Rhianna graduated from the Global Resource Systems BSc. Program at UBC in 2007. She has since worked with the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) as a Curriculum Development intern with the Integrated Coastal Management Masters Program at the University of the Republic of Uruguay (UdelaR) and with the Environmental Youth Alliance as a coordinator of social and ecological justice programs in Vancouver. Rhianna is currently focusing on her masters studies and will base her thesis work on collaborative waste management in tourism dependent communities in the Southern Cone with a case study in Valizas, Uruguay.

Eric Binion - CBRL Manager

Eric earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in the discipline of Geography from the University of Victoria in 2007. He is currently working on a Master of Arts degree from the University of Victoria. Eric is interested in socio-economic issues, primarily poverty and human rights problems. Eric went to Buenos Aires for 6 months in 2010. There, he delved into the perceptions of health and wellbeing associated with informal recycling.

Bruno Jayme [website]

Bruno Jayme is a biologist and environmentalist from Brazil. His research explores human interactions during science outdoors activities. More specifically, through interaction analysis and discourse analysis, he investigates how discourse features such as utterances and different kinds of gestures mediate interaction of individuals during cooperative work in the context of environmental activities. After finishing his Master of Arts in the environmental and education departments, Bruno joined the Community-Based Research Laboratory as the project administrator for the PSWM project, where he ensures the implementation of an ongoing monitoring system for the project. Additionally, he mediates administrative efficiency both in the implementation of the activities (budget planning) and in reporting to partners and funding agencies. He also liaises between the partner members of the management team and establishes and implements a communication plan between partners, contributing to the smooth development of the project. Bruno recently began his PhD in geography and education, and he will focus on the stigmatization of informal recyclers.

Megan King

Megan King graduated from the University of Victoria in 2009 wit ha degree in Geography and Environmental Studies. Megan worked in the Community-Based Research Laboratory as a research assistant, contributing to the development of the Global Waste Database project. Megan has begun her Master of Arts degree in geography, paying particular attention to the valuation of recyclable material in relation to carbon credit schemes.

Dr. Nanda Kumar D [website]

Nanda Kumar D successfully defended his Ph.D in Geography in November 2007 at the University of Victoria. His research focus is on sustainable livelihoods and poverty, and he is actively involved in community-based research both in India and Canada. Prior to his Ph.D, he was a senior lecturer in Geography at University College, Kerala, India. He is a member of the Board, Protsahan, an NGO based in India, involved in action research for and with the coastal poor. He has undertaken a national level project to map the extent of Coastal Regulation Zone violations for the National Fishworkers Forum, India. Here at UVic, he played a vital role in setting up the Community-based Research Laboratory. In addition, he is involved in collection, compilation, and updating data and relevant information for the CIDA funded project, "Participatory sustainable waste management". He is also part of the team of Aquaculture Research Group (ARG) at the University of Victoria. 

Lisa Willott

My undergraduate degree (BSc in Environmental Sciences from the University of Calgary) gave me a curiosity about the overlap between the social and physical sciences. After a few years working in the environmental industry and organic farming I returned to school to study this nexus in agriculture. I transferred to UVic after completing one year of a masters in Geography in Montreal, and my field season in Cuba in the summer of 2009. As a small scale organic farmer myself, I went to Cuba to better understand how Cuban farmers were using agroecology and acting towards food sovereignty. One of the highlights of my research was a participant driven photography project with farm women in a rural community outside of Havana.

Crystal Tremblay

Since completing her MA in geography (UVic), Crystal has worked on projects in Canada, Brazil and India with the CBRL, focusing on participatory community development and livelihood enhancement. She is currently in her fourth year of PhD studies in the Department of Geography. Her current research explores Participatory Video (PV) as a tool for community development that a) builds the capacity and empowerment of marginalized communities, and b) enhances dialogue between community and government. Her research builds on some of the outcomes of an International Development Research Council (IDRC) funded project (Resource Recovery: An engaging and educational capacity building production on inclusive waste management initiatives) where leaders from recycling cooperatives in S‹o Paulo, Brazil and Victoria, BC were trained in PV. During her time in Brazil, Crystal also received additional funding through the Latin-American and Caribbean Research Exchange Grant (LACREG) program to conduct video interviews with women leaders from recycling cooperatives in São Paulo. These projects (IDRC/LACREG) are linked to the larger capacity-building research program of the Participatory Sustainable Waste Management (PSWM) project, a six-year CIDA funded project. Her PhD work provides creative opportunity to build the capacity and empowerment of the project participants (a major objective of the PSWM project), while providing an evaluation framework using PV for local development. She has worked as a Research Assistant (RA) on the PSWM project for the last six years, co-producing a series of short documentary and project evaluation videos, including Cooperpires; The recycling of citizenship, Binning in Victoria, Participatory Video Practitioners Guide and Beyond Gramacho, a video documenting Jardim Gramacho, the largest landfill in South America located in Rio de Janeiro, where over 2000 Catadores work day and night, recovering recyclable materials from the waste stream (This video can be viewed at: http://pswm.uvic.ca/en/communication/videos.html). Crystal has also worked for the Social Economy Research Hub of Canada on the public policy program (publications available on the Hub website: http://www.socialeconomyhub.ca/?q=content/occasional-papers#pp). She is also the recipient of the Hubs PhD fellowship (2010), exploring conservation-based programs that are supporting the Social Economy in Canada. Crystal is the recipient of the Joseph Armand Bombardier SSHRC Doctoral Scholarship (2009-2012) and the PhD fellow for the Centre for Cooperative and Community-based Economy (2011-2012). Her publications and videos are available online at www.crystaltremblay.com.

Clécio Varjão

Clécio Machado Varjão did his undergraduate studies in Information Systems at Fundação Santo André, Brazil. He is currently enrolled in the Masters Program in Computer Science. He is funded through the PSWM project to develop a collective commercialization web system for the organized recycling groups (co-ops and associations) involved in the project in Brazil. Clécio is also working for the Community Based Research Lab (CBRL), where he provides computer related tasks and contributes to the Global Waste Database project.