Joint initiative lays out physical effects of climate change on Canada

Contact: Brian Laghi, laghib@nrtee-trnee.ca
October 5, 2010 The physical effects of climate change on Canada in the next century could touch everything from human health and community infrastructure to water resources and even tourism and recreation activities, according to a newly-compiled presentation of scientific research published today. Called Degrees of Change, the diagram is the first comprehensive illustration of expected climate impacts published for Canada and appears today in editions of Canadian Geographic and Géographica magazines. Resting on a large body of published scientific information, it lays out 60 specific effects of climate change at increasing levels of warming as part of a joint initiative between the National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy and the Royal Canadian Geographical Society. At two-degrees warming, for example, the diagram shows that summer Arctic sea ice extent could be halved, runoff in the South Saskatchewan River basin significantly reduced, and shipping through the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway could become more costly due to lowering water levels. The two-degree marker represents temperature increases over pre-industrial levels and is significant because Canada and other G8 nations have agreed to take measures to limit global temperature increases to no more than that level. “Climate change is not just a theory. It’s taking place now,” said NRTEE Chair Robert (Bob) Page. “That means we must go beyond cutting carbon emissions. We must start adapting our behaviour, our communities, and our economic activity to the emerging reality of climate change.” The diagram and feature articles in the magazines go on to show even more risks to Canada’s coastal communities, fish and wildlife habitat, and human health, if global temperatures rise beyond the two-degree point. …

Joint Initiative Lays Out Physical Effects of Climate Change on Canada