![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
||||
![]() |
||||||
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
||
![]() ![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
||
![]() |
Issue 67
|
Weather Trivia ![]() |
From Yukon to Labrador: Understanding Northern Ecosystems |
|||||||
Canada's North spans an enormous area from the snowmelt lakes and whitecapped mountains of the Yukon to the rugged, wind-sculpted coast of Labrador. This vast area, traversing the Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut, Labrador, and the northern regions of Quebec, is extremely vulnerable to environmental changes changes that are already having significant impacts on northern ecosystems, communities, and lifestyles. |
|||||||
A rapidly changing climate is altering the environment in a way never before seen in recorded history; major resource development projects are reshaping the landscape with a lasting footprint, and persistent contaminants from both local and distant sources are an ongoing concern. The Northern Ecosystem Initiative (NEI), an Environment Canada program that addresses ecosystem health across the Canadian North, is engaging and supporting community and regional level organizations in shared efforts to address these concerns, by building their capacity to take action. NEI focuses on incorporating a Western scientific approach with local and traditional knowledge and methods. "It's all part of a shifting of perspective and looking at other paths to knowledge combining knowledge systems so we get a better perspective of what's going on," says Leslie Wilson of NEI. Bridging the knowledge gap
Climate change is happening at such an unprecedented rate that it is already affecting people in these northern communities. Aboriginal peoples rely on traditional knowledge to understand the weather and the best places and ways to hunt, fish, trap, and gather. Unpredictable weather, snow, and ice conditions have made travel dangerous and traditional activities uncertain in many areas of the Canadian North. An NEI-supported project entitled Climate Change in Nunavik: Land and Resource Access Issues is researching climate change impacts on trail networks in four Northern Quebec communities. The studies are helping communities to adapt to the changes on trail networks to ensure safer and sustainable access to traditional land and resources. A similar project is also underway in the Central Arctic.
Climate models project that northern latitudes will experience more warming than anywhere else in the world. Comprehensive studies such as the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment, to which many NEI-supported projects contributed, found that average temperatures in the Arctic over the past several decades have risen at almost twice the rate of the rest of the world. All across the North, NEI is supporting projects resulting in new knowledge of ecosystem status and trends. For example, researchers held a number of meetings with the Innu in Labrador to understand landscape features through their eyes. Innu understanding of cultural landscape features is incorporated into priority-setting and decision-making. |
|
||||||
|
![]() Print Version |
![]() E-mail This Story To A Friend |
![]() |
||
| Help
| Search
| Canada Site |
|
||
The Green LaneTM, Environment Canada's World Wide Web site
|
||
|
||
|