Anthony Charles

About

Dr. Tony Charles is a professor at Saint Mary’s University where he works in both the Sobey School of Business and the School of the Environment. Tony’s work focuses on the governance, socio-economics and sustainability of environmental systems and natural resources. He is known particularly for his work in four areas: environmental and natural resource management and policy; human dimensions in ecosystem-based management, protected areas and climate change; participatory and community governance of social-ecological systems; and analysis of sustainability, well-being and uncertainty. Currently he leads the Community Conservation Research Network, a multi-year international initiative to explore how local-level conservation supports local livelihoods, and links with large-scale policy for effective environmental governance.

Tony is known in coastal and marine circles for his founding leadership of Canada’s Ocean Management Research Network and Coastal Community-University Research Alliance (Coastal CURA), and internationally for his past role as President of the International Institute of Fisheries Economics and Trade, and current role as a member of the Fisheries Expert Group in IUCN’s Commission on Ecosystem Management. He has received international recognition as a Pew Fellow in Marine Conservation and a recipient of the Gulf of Maine Visionary Award. Tony is the author of over 200 research articles, reports and books, including two recent books, Governing the Coastal Commons: Communities, Resilience and Transformation (with Derek Armitage and Fikret Berkes) and Governance of Marine Fisheries and Biodiversity Conservation: Interaction and Co-evolution (with Serge Garcia and Jake Rice).