Dr. Alice Cohen

Associate Professor

Environmental Science
Environmental & Sustainability Studies

 

Office location: HSH 335
Phone: 902-585-1126
Email
: alice.cohen@acadiau.ca

Teaching

  • Sustainability Concepts and Systems
  • Applied Leadership in Sustainability
  • Introduction to Environmental Science 2
  • Legal Issues in Environmental Science
  • Politics of the Environment
  • Social and ecological scale

Scholarly Interests and Expertise

  • Environmental geography
  • Scales and boundaries
  • Environmental policy and politics
  • Political ecology
  • Water governance: watershed-scale governance, Canada-US transboundary water, Canadian water policy

Education

Publications

Presentations

Research & Supervision

Community Service

  • Former board member, Canadian Water Resources Association
  • Reviewer: Environment and Planning C, Environment and Planning A, Society & Natural Resources, Water Alternatives

Did you know?

Alice is a member of the Canadian Association of Geographers and the Association of American Geographers;
She helped establish the Students & Young Professionals branch of the Canadian Water Resources Association;
She is passionate about the outdoors – she has hiked to the base camp of Mount Everest, paddled part of the Yukon River, and loves having the Minas Basin and Kejimkujik Park in her ‘backyard’.
 

Courses taught:

ENVS 1023 Introduction to Environmental Science 2
ENVS 3113 Legal Issues in Environmental Science
ESST 1003 Sustainability Concepts and Systems
ESST 2003 Applied Leadership in Sustainability
POLS 3883 Politics of the Environment

Education

B.A. (hon) McGill (International Development) 2003

M.A. University of British Columbia (Resource Management and Environmental Studies) 2007

Ph.D. University of British Columbia (Resource Management and Environmental Studies) 2011

SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellow, Clark University (Geography) 2012-2013
 

Publications

Refereed Articles

Cohen, A. and J. McCarthy (2015) “Reviewing Rescaling: Strengthening the case for environmental considerations” Progress in Human Geography.Link

Cohen, A. and K. Bakker “The eco-scalar fix: Rescaling environmental governance and the politics of ecological boundaries in Alberta, Canada”, forthcoming in Environment and Planning D: Society & Space. Link

Cohen, A. (2012) “Watersheds as boundary objects: Scale at the intersection of science, neoliberalism, and participation” Environment and Planning A 44(9): 2207-2224. Link

Cohen, A. and S. Davidson (2011) “The watershed approach: Challenges, antecedents, and the transition from technical tool to governance unit” Water Alternatives 4(1): 521-534. Link

Cohen, A., and K. Bakker (2010) “Groundwater Governance: explaining regulatory noncompliance” International Journal of Water 5(3): 246-266. Link

Hill, C., K. Furlong, K. Bakker, and A. Cohen (2008) “Harmonization versus subsidiarity: A review of water governance and legislation in the Canadian provinces and territories” Canadian Water Resources Journal 33(4): 315-332.Link
 

Books

Norman, E., A. Cohen, and K. Bakker (eds.) (2013) Water Without Borders? Canada, the US, and Shared Waters. University of Toronto Press. Link

Norman, E., C. Cook, and A. Cohen (eds.) (2015) Negotiating Water Governance: the Politics of Watersheds, Waterscapes, and Hydrosocial Networks. Ashgate Publishing.

Book Chapters

Cohen (2017) “Why scale matters: borderless water and bordered thinking” in Oxford Handbook of Water Politics and Policy, edited by Ken Conca and Erika Weinthal. 

Norman and A. Cohen (2016) “The changing fabric of transboundary water governance” in Border Flows: A Century of Canadian-American Water Relations, edited by L. Heasley and D. Macfarlane.  University of Calgary Press.

Cohen, A. (2015) “Water as a governance opportunity” in Water as a Social Opportunity, edited by J. Linton and S. Davidson.  McGill-Queen’s University Press.

Cohen, A. (2014) “Rescaling environmental governance: The case of watersheds as scale-sensitive governance?” in Scale-Sensitive Governance of the Environment eds. F. Padt, P. Opdam, N. Polman, and C. Termeer. Wiley Blackwell. Link.

Cohen, A. and L. Harris (2013) “Performing watersheds: performativity and the production of scale” in Performativity, politics and the production of social space, edited by R. Rose-Redwood and M. Glass. Routledge. Link

Norman, E., A. Cohen, and K. Bakker (2013) “Introduction” in Water Without Borders? Canada, the US, and Shared Waters, edited by E. Norman, A. Cohen, and K. Bakker. University of Toronto Press. Link.

Cohen, A., E. Norman, and K. Bakker (2013) “Conclusion” in Water without Borders? Canada, the US, and Shared Waters, edited by E. Norman, A. Cohen, and K. Bakker. University of Toronto Press.

Hill, C., K. Furlong, K. Bakker, and A. Cohen (2007) “A survey of water governance legislation and policies in the provinces and territories” in Eau Canada: The Future of Canada’s Water, edited by Karen Bakker. University of British Columbia Press.

Policy Documents, Reports, and Discussion Papers

Carlson, T., Cohen, A., & Hartwig, K. (2017) A Snapshot of Community Based Water Monitoring in Canada. Link

Bakker, K., A. Cohen, E. Norman, M. Mattson (2014) “Transboundary water governance needs new approach”, Hill Times February 2014. Link

Cohen, A. (2012) “Understanding the implications of rescaled water governance: From jurisdictional to watershed boundaries”. GWF Discussion Paper, Global Water Forum, Australia. Link

Norman, E., A. Cohen, and K. Bakker (2012) “Flashpoints and collaboration: How problems can inspire innovative solutions for Canada, the US, and the governance of shared waters”.

Vancouver: UBC Program on Water Governance. Link.

Cohen, A. (2009) “The sixth great lake: groundwater in the Great Lakes - St. Lawrence Basin.” A report written through the Walter and Duncan Gordon Water Policy Fellowship program.

Nowlan, L. and A. Cohen (2007) “The Water Smart, Self-Sufficient Islands: Preserving and protecting water on BC’s Gulf Islands.” A report written for the British Columbia Gulf Islands Trust.

Cohen, A. with K. Bakker (2006) “Groundwater management on the Gulf and San Juan Islands.” Report written for the British Columbia Ministry of Environment.

Presentations

Cohen, A. (2014). “Obscuring construction: Ecosystem management and the creation of new spaces”. Presented at the 2014 Annual meeting of the Canadian Association of Geographers. May 2014, St. Catherines ON.

Cohen, A. and J. McCarthy (2014) “Reviewing Rescaling: Theorizing and exploring future trajectories”. Presented at the 2014 Annual Meeting of the Association of American Geographers. April 2014, Tampa FL.

Cohen, A., E. Norman, and K. Bakker (2014) “Renegotiating Boundaries: Political Ecologies of Shared Waters”. Presented at the 2014 ‘Dimensions of Political Ecology’ conference. February 2014, Lexington KY.

Cohen, A. (2013) “The eco-scalar fix: Rescaling environmental governance and the politics of ecological boundaries in Alberta, Canada”, annual meeting of the Association of American Geographers. Los Angeles.
 
Cohen, A. (2012) “From water to watershed: An analysis of rescaled water governance”, presented in the Guest Lecture Series at the University of Massachusetts. Amherst, MA.
 
Cohen, A. and E. Norman (2012) “Water and Borders”, presented at Environment Canada. Vancouver, BC.
 
Cohen, A. (2012) “From water to watershed: An analysis of rescaled water governance in Canada,” annual meeting of the Association of American Geographers. New York.
 
Cohen, A. (2011) “Nature’s scales: Understanding the shift towards watersheds as governance units,” annual meeting of the Association of American Geographers. Seattle.
 
Cohen, A. (2010) “Nature’s scales: Exploring the drivers and implications of watersheds as governance scales,” Scaling & Governance Conference, Wageningen, the Netherlands.
 
Cohen, A. (2010) “Why a watershed? Exploring the rationales for watershed-scale governance,” Annual meeting of the Canadian Water Resources Association. Vancouver.
 
Cohen, A. and K. Bakker (2008) “What role for regulation? The case of groundwater governance on the Gulf and San Juan Islands,” Annual meeting of the Canadian Association of
Geographers. Québec City.
 
Cohen, A. and K. Bakker (2007) “Effective groundwater management in the Gulf Islands (BC) and the San Juan Islands (Washington),” Annual meeting of the Canadian Water Resources Association. Vancouver.
 
Cohen, A. with K. Bakker (2006) “Similarities and differences in groundwater governance between the Gulf Islands (BC) and the San Juan Islands (Washington),” A poster presented at the 2006 Annual Conference of the Canadian Water Network. Montreal.

Funded Research

SSHRC Insight Development Grant 2014-2016: Managing Uncertainty: The Role of Ecosystem Governance in Southern NWT ($29,986). Principal Investigator.

Acadia University Research Fund 2014: Northern Spaces: Exploring a Political Ecology of Resource Governance in Southern Northwest Territories ($5,000). Principal Investigator.

SSHRC Small Institutions Grant 2013-2014: Ecosystem Governance and Resource Development in Northern Canada ($2,941). Principal Investigator.

Walter and Duncan Gordon Foundation Grant 2010-2013: Water Without Borders (with Emma Norman and Karen Bakker) ($64,000).

Supervision

I am currently accepting honours students. If you would like to work with me, please send an email.