Derek Armitage – The Conversation

People hold hands along São Conrado beach for a symbolic group hug with the sea on World Oceans Day in Rio de Janeiro, in June 2025. (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo)

June 4, 2026

Ocean conservation needs strong relationships, not just targets

Derek Armitage, University of Waterloo and Ella-Kari Muhl, Stellenbosch University

There is no shortage of global objectives and targets driving ocean conservation. However, protecting oceans depends on the communities that steward them.

Monarch butterflies are listed as endangered in Canada. Here, one is seen in the Insectarium de Montréal. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Chiasson

April 22, 2025

Ambitious changes to Canadian conservation law are needed to reverse the decline in biodiversity

Trevor Swerdfager, University of Waterloo and Derek Armitage, University of Waterloo

Canada needs a biodiversity protection and conservation act that will address current biodiversity decline and prevent future threats.

In some global fishing communities, women influence decisions, resulting in stronger claims to area-based fishing rights, improved economic returns and greater women’s empowerment. (Shutterstock)

June 7, 2022

For more equitable and sustainable fisheries, women must be empowered to lead

Madu Galappaththi, University of Waterloo; Andrea M. Collins, University of Waterloo, and Derek Armitage, University of Waterloo

Creating opportunities to meaningfully engage women in governance and decision-making is necessary to achieve gender equality in small-scale fisheries.

Conservation is as much about the critical role of communities as custodians of biodiversity as it is about creating people-free zones. (Quang Nguyen Vinh/Pexels)

March 30, 2020

Why communities must be at the heart of conserving wildlife, plants and ecosystems

Derek Armitage, University of Waterloo; Ella-Kari Muhl, University of Waterloo; Merle Sowman, University of Cape Town; Philile Mbatha, University of Cape Town, and Wayne Stanley Rice, University of Cape Town

With the 2020 deadline for conserving biodiversity almost past, communities must now play a larger role in conservation.

A fisherman checks his fish corral nets in the Cau Hai lagoon, Vietnam. Mark Andrachuk

August 29, 2018

Lessons for sustainable fisheries are hiding in plain sight

Mark Andrachuk, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of Ottawa; Derek Armitage, University of Waterloo; Hoang Dung Ha, Hue University of Agriculture and Forestry; Jessica Blythe, Brock University, and Le Van Nam, Hue University of Agriculture and Forestry

When it comes to small-scale fisheries, there is no one route to sustainability. Finding success stories can help map those paths.

Contact Derek for