Thomas Okey, Ph.D.

Research

Tom Okey is owner and president of Ocean Integrity Research, an adjunct professor in the School of Environmental Studies at the University of Victoria, Canada, and an associate faculty member at Royal Roads University, also in Victoria, and is expanding the Local Environment Observer (LEO) Network. Okey teaches courses on Earth system science, climate change, and land use and environmental planning. His Pew fellowship project focused on the effects of climate change on marine ecosystems, particularly on Canada’s Pacific marine ecosystems; and he has initiated, led, and contributed to various related assessments, journal articles, reports, broadcasts, and new initiatives on ocean health, planning, and research. These outputs were designed strategically with the goal of helping prepare and develop Canada’s readiness and capability in understanding, planning for, and otherwise coping with climate change impacts in its Pacific region and other regions. Okey currently continues his Pew initiative and related work as the owner and president of Ocean Integrity Research and as an occasional senior science advisor to West Coast Aquatic. As a result of his fellowship, Okey was able to identify and develop knowledge and collaborations needed for this project in scientific and other realms, and to develop a working Integrated Ecosystem Assessment framework including social and ecological dimensions focused on the identification and incorporation of local, traditional, and scientific knowledge, preferences, and perceptions; the identification of socioeconomic and ecological indicators of system “health” (e.g., Okey and Wallace 2010a) and provided impact assessments of the various system stressors, informal management strategy identification and evaluation, and decision support frameworks. To learn more about Okey, visit his bio online. http://leonetwork.org/en/docs/about/team