John-Michael Davis (M.Sc. 2012)
As part of the internship requirement for the IWRM program, I was awarded a very generous scholarship to work with a professor in Israel on a water-related topic, and this opportunity turned into the beginning of a promising career! During this internship, I was introduced to an emerging project investigating informal electronic waste (e-waste) recycling in the West Bank. Basing myself in a rural village in South-Hebron, I have worked intensely with Dr. Yaakov Garb from Ben Gurion University towards understanding what happens to end-of-life electronics when they are shipped to and processed in this and similar unregulated contexts in developing countries.
For the past 12 months I have used a mixed methodology of geo-spatial analysis, water & soil sampling, observations and quantitative/qualitative interviews with relevant stakeholders, and community participation to better understand the complexities of income generation vs. environmental degradation in marginalized populations that work in the informal e-waste industry. This began with an exploration of the value chains, waste flows and business models of the industry, learning how villages without any options for employment have ingeniously created a large profitable industry from recycling what many people in developed countries throw in the trash. On the impact side, I have undertaken several environmental and health assessments to juxtapose the damaging environmental consequences of informal recycling (including potential impacts on water sources) against the economic gains. Built into my research is a strong advocacy for change as we focus on developing creative business models that can incrementally formalize an informal sector to provide continued opportunities for much needed employment, while reducing damaging environmental and health consequences. The work that began with my McGill internship grew into a robust and complex research project extending beyond the end of the internship to become the core of a MA thesis on the topic completed through Ben Gurion University, and will soon continue with broader comparative research for a PhD in Canada.
Beyond this project, I have worked as a consultant on a project assessing the environmental damage resulting from unregulated industry and residential waste in the largest shared watershed between Israel and the West Bank, the Hebron-Besor watershed. Beginning in September, 2013, I will begin my PhD studies at Memorial University, continuing my work in the West Bank, while developing unique solutions to help constructively formalize informal e-waste recyclers in Central America. I owe many of the successes I have had in the last year to the skills and opportunities that were available to me through the IWRM program at McGill.