Title | Recent and current climate change impacts and adaptation research at PARC–key projects, findings and future direction |
Publication Type | Journal Article |
Year of Publication | 2012 |
Authors | Henderson, N. |
Pagination | 20 pages |
Date Published | 10/2012 |
Publisher | Prairie Adaptation Research Collective (PARC) |
Publication Language | eng |
Keywords | adaptation, climate change, impacts, prairies, tar sands |
Abstract | PARC has recently organised and published important impacts and adaptation research projects, including the “Prairies Chapter” of Natural Resources Canada’s National Assessment (From Impacts to Adaptation), the Climate Scenarios for Saskatchewan report and the Saskatchewan’s Natural Capital in a Changing Climate: an Assessment of Impacts and Adaptation report. Key implications for Prairie region adaptation emerge from this body of work. The main biophysical impacts of climate change are seasonal, annual and geographic shifts in the distribution of water resources, and of associated plant and animal species. Extra water will be available in winter and spring, while summers are generally projected to be drier. The longer growing season will favour crop diversification and productivity, but moisture constraints will limit or outweigh these gains. Droughts and extreme weather events are the major threat. The key gap in our knowledge is an understanding of climate variability under conditions of climate change. PARC will engage in further research on climate variability issues, in particular, characterization of drought and drought risk under climate change. Tree species range mapping and policy development and general ecosystems protection policy under climate change will continue to be foci, as will development of a web-based tool to help stakeholders understand and adapt to the climate change impacts challenge on the Prairies. PARC will continue to train new researchers and support scholarship in the impacts and adaptation field, and will continue with an active program of media engagement and information dissemination. |
URL | http://projects.upei.ca/climate/files/2012/10/UTSC-Paper-8.pdf |
Locational Keywords | Athabasca River |
Group | CEMA |
Citation Key | hendersonrecent |