Government of Canada
2002/17
March 1, 2002

CLIMATE CHANGE RESEARCH WILL HELP
THE AGRICULTURE INDUSTRY

GUELPH — Another office in a growing research network that will help us adapt to our changing climate opened today, during a one-day workshop at the Guelph Cutten Club. The University of Guelph will house the coordinating office of the Canadian Climate Impacts and Adaptation Research Network for Agriculture (C-CIARN-Agriculture).

The network is part of a $10-million investment from the Government of Canada to bring together researchers and decision makers from industry, governments and non-governmental organizations who work toward understanding and adapting to our changing climate.

"The C-CIARN network will focus on the practical needs of specific economic sectors and regions," said Herb Dhaliwal, Minister of Natural Resources Canada (NRCan). "C-CIARN- Agriculture will facilitate research to minimize the negative impacts of climate change and to ensure that the agriculture industry is well positioned to take advantage of any new opportunities that climate change may present."

"Canadian agriculture is a community deeply affected by the weather. We are seeing the effects of climate change and know that we must support this sector in taking action on its impacts," said Environment Minister David Anderson. "Farmers are already accomplishing great things in spite of pressures due to severe weather and shrinking irrigation resources. C-CIARN will help us to apply our knowledge of what climate change means in practice to our agricultural community."

"We need to know how climate change will influence our quality of life C how it will change the way we grow our crops, manage our communities and run our businesses. We need to know how to adapt to these changes," said Brenda Chamberlain, Member of Parliament for Guelph Wellington, who represented the Government of Canada at the event. "That is why the C-CIARN network is so important."

"There is no more urgent time than now to address climate change through this national network," said University of Guelph president Mordechai Rozanski. "The University of Guelph looks forward to working with stakeholders to ensure the expertise of its faculty, staff and students, contribute to understanding how agriculture can and must be ready to adapt to such changes."

C-CIARN provides one window for contacts, data and information relating to impacts and adaptation research, and identifies research gaps, priorities and capacity needs. It facilitates research related to climate change impacts and adaptation across scientific disciplines. There are six regional and seven sectoral groups connecting researchers and stakeholders across the country. For instance, C-CIARN Agriculture will link researchers with the agricultural industry from across Canada to examine the impacts of the changing climate on agriculture, and how to adapt practices to ensure the sustainability of the industry. Impacts could include changes in growing seasons, amount of rainfall and weather disturbances. Adaptation could mean using new technology and changing management practices.

The Government of Canada is investing $125,000 per year over five years for C-CIARN- Agriculture. This investment is encouraging in-kind contributions from the University of Guelph and partner universities, provincial agencies and the agriculture sector industry.

Federal funding for C-CIARN is provided for in the Government of Canada budget and is therefore built into the existing financial framework. The funding for this initiative builds on the Government of Canada's $1.5 billion commitment to help address climate change and implement energy-efficient initiatives.

For more information, media may contact:

Government of Canada news releases and backgrounders on climate change are available on the Internet at http://www.climatechange.gc.ca.