Climate change and Canada’s north coast: research trends, progress, and future directions
This paper identifies and characterizes current knowledge on climate change impacts, adaptation, and vulnerability for Canada’s northern coastline, outlining key research gaps. Warming temperatures and increased precipitation have been documented across the northern coast, with the rate of sea ice d...
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crcansciencepubl:10.1139/er-2017-0027 2024-06-23T07:53:40+00:00 Climate change and Canada’s north coast: research trends, progress, and future directions Ford, James D. Couture, Nicole Bell, Trevor Clark, Dylan G. 2018 http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/er-2017-0027 http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/full-xml/10.1139/er-2017-0027 http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/er-2017-0027 en eng Canadian Science Publishing http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/page/about/CorporateTextAndDataMining Environmental Reviews volume 26, issue 1, page 82-92 ISSN 1181-8700 1208-6053 journal-article 2018 crcansciencepubl https://doi.org/10.1139/er-2017-0027 2024-05-24T13:05:53Z This paper identifies and characterizes current knowledge on climate change impacts, adaptation, and vulnerability for Canada’s northern coastline, outlining key research gaps. Warming temperatures and increased precipitation have been documented across the northern coast, with the rate of sea ice decline ranging from 2.9% to 10.4% per decade. Storm intensity and frequency is increasing, and permafrost is warming across the region. Many of these changes are projected to accelerate in the future, with in excess of 8 °C warming in winter possible under a high-emission scenario by 2081–2100. Vulnerability to these changes differs by region and community, a function of geographic location, nature of climate change impacts, and human factors. Capacity to manage climate change is high in some sectors, such as subsistence harvesting, but is being undermined by long-term societal changes. In other sectors, such as infrastructure and transportation, limitations in climate risk management capacity result in continuing high vulnerabilities. There is evidence that adaptation is taking place in response to experienced and projected impacts, although readiness for adaptation is challenged by limited resources, institutional capacity, and a need for support for adaptation across levels of government. Priority areas for future research include (i) expanding the sectoral and geographic focus of understanding on climate change impacts, adaptation, and vulnerability; (ii) integrating climatic and socio-economic projections into vulnerability and adaptation assessments; (iii) developing an evidence base on adaptation options; and (iv) monitoring and evaluating the effectiveness of adaptation support. Cross-cutting themes for advancing climate change impacts, adaptation, and vulnerability research on the north coast more broadly include the need for greater emphasis on interdisciplinary approaches and cross-cultural collaborations, support for decision-orientated research, and focus on effective knowledge mobilization. Article in Journal/Newspaper Ice permafrost Sea ice Canadian Science Publishing Environmental Reviews 26 1 82 92 |
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Canadian Science Publishing |
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crcansciencepubl |
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English |
description |
This paper identifies and characterizes current knowledge on climate change impacts, adaptation, and vulnerability for Canada’s northern coastline, outlining key research gaps. Warming temperatures and increased precipitation have been documented across the northern coast, with the rate of sea ice decline ranging from 2.9% to 10.4% per decade. Storm intensity and frequency is increasing, and permafrost is warming across the region. Many of these changes are projected to accelerate in the future, with in excess of 8 °C warming in winter possible under a high-emission scenario by 2081–2100. Vulnerability to these changes differs by region and community, a function of geographic location, nature of climate change impacts, and human factors. Capacity to manage climate change is high in some sectors, such as subsistence harvesting, but is being undermined by long-term societal changes. In other sectors, such as infrastructure and transportation, limitations in climate risk management capacity result in continuing high vulnerabilities. There is evidence that adaptation is taking place in response to experienced and projected impacts, although readiness for adaptation is challenged by limited resources, institutional capacity, and a need for support for adaptation across levels of government. Priority areas for future research include (i) expanding the sectoral and geographic focus of understanding on climate change impacts, adaptation, and vulnerability; (ii) integrating climatic and socio-economic projections into vulnerability and adaptation assessments; (iii) developing an evidence base on adaptation options; and (iv) monitoring and evaluating the effectiveness of adaptation support. Cross-cutting themes for advancing climate change impacts, adaptation, and vulnerability research on the north coast more broadly include the need for greater emphasis on interdisciplinary approaches and cross-cultural collaborations, support for decision-orientated research, and focus on effective knowledge mobilization. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Ford, James D. Couture, Nicole Bell, Trevor Clark, Dylan G. |
spellingShingle |
Ford, James D. Couture, Nicole Bell, Trevor Clark, Dylan G. Climate change and Canada’s north coast: research trends, progress, and future directions |
author_facet |
Ford, James D. Couture, Nicole Bell, Trevor Clark, Dylan G. |
author_sort |
Ford, James D. |
title |
Climate change and Canada’s north coast: research trends, progress, and future directions |
title_short |
Climate change and Canada’s north coast: research trends, progress, and future directions |
title_full |
Climate change and Canada’s north coast: research trends, progress, and future directions |
title_fullStr |
Climate change and Canada’s north coast: research trends, progress, and future directions |
title_full_unstemmed |
Climate change and Canada’s north coast: research trends, progress, and future directions |
title_sort |
climate change and canada’s north coast: research trends, progress, and future directions |
publisher |
Canadian Science Publishing |
publishDate |
2018 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/er-2017-0027 http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/full-xml/10.1139/er-2017-0027 http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/er-2017-0027 |
genre |
Ice permafrost Sea ice |
genre_facet |
Ice permafrost Sea ice |
op_source |
Environmental Reviews volume 26, issue 1, page 82-92 ISSN 1181-8700 1208-6053 |
op_rights |
http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/page/about/CorporateTextAndDataMining |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1139/er-2017-0027 |
container_title |
Environmental Reviews |
container_volume |
26 |
container_issue |
1 |
container_start_page |
82 |
op_container_end_page |
92 |
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1802645430534668288 |