Climate Change
Climate change is a major process that affects all ecosystems. The PAS Science Team is currently working to develop models that project how climate change may cause biomes (a major biotic community characterized by the dominant forms of plant life and the prevailing climate) within the NWT to change or shift in distribution. This information will be available to sponsoring agencies, communities and land managers to help anticipate what changes may occur on the land and to inform land use planning and land management decisions.
As the first step of this process, scientists at the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) have identified the best-performing subset of global climate models for Northwest Canada. Using the global climate models that best “fit” the region and more detailed regional information, the UAF team is producing performance-weighted climate information such as temperature and precipitation predictions, at a scale more detailed to the NWT than the coarser global climate models. These are based on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fourth Assessment (AR4) using the middle-of-the-road A1B emissions scenario.
Adapting to climate change
Communities of plants and animals that are intact and healthy are better able to evolve and adapt to change. Fragmented and degraded ecosystems are more vulnerable to climate change. The terrestrial coarse filter representation identifies a variety of landscape units and elevation/climate zones that are enduring features and can persist in the long term as the climate changes. A robust protected area network will cover a longitudinal range from the tundra of the Nunavut border to the mountains of the Yukon border; an altitudinal range from sea level to the NWTs highest peaks; and a latitudinal range from the boreal forest of the 60th parallel to the high arctic islands. Portions of this network are in place; work on the PAS continues to enhance the network, with climate change as one consideration.
Establishing parks and protected areas is an important part of the Government of the Northwest Territories’ strategy to minimize and adapt to the impacts of climate change (see NWT Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation Report, 2008).
The following conservation practices are recommended in adapting to a changing climate in forested areas (Noss 2001):
- 1. Representing forest types across environmental gradients in reserves;
- 2. Protecting climatic refugia at multiple scales;
- 3. Protecting primary forests;
- 4. Avoiding fragmentation and providing connectivity, especially parallel to climatic gradients;
- 5. Providing buffer zones for adjustment of reserve boundaries;
- 6. Practicing low intensity forestry and preventing conversion of natural forests to single species plantations;
- 7. Maintaining natural fire regimes;
- 8. Maintaining diverse gene pools; and
- 9. Identifying and protecting functional groups and keystone species.
From Noss, Reed F. Beyond Kyoto: Forest Management in a Time of Rapid Climate Change. Conservation Biology 15 (3), 578–590. 2001.
Mitigating climate change
The Earth’s intact forests slow and moderate climate changes by storing and sinking large amounts of atmospheric carbon dioxide. Forest carbon has been an important part of international climate discussions since 1990. Developing cap–and–trade systems and global carbon markets may change the way the world appreciates forest carbon and the way boreal forests are valued and managed in the future. If a monetary value is established for stored and protected forest carbon, arguments about the relative costs and benefits of protection and development may be transformed.
The boreal forest, peatlands, and wetlands of the Taiga Plains ecozone in the NWT contain large areas with high-density deposits of soil carbon. Some of these are represented in proposed protected areas.
Related Links
- NWT Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation Report 2008
- The North American Carbon Program
Measures the sources and sinks of Carbon Dioxide (CO2), Methane (CH4), and Carbon Monoxide (CO) in North America and in adjacent ocean regions. - The NOAA - Earth Systems Research Laboratory – Carbon Tracker
A system to keep track of carbon dioxide uptake and release at the Earth's surface over time. - The NASA – Orbiting Carbon Observatory Mission
Will collect precise global measurements of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the Earth's atmosphere. - The Natural Resources Canada - Forest Carbon Accounting
A national initiative to improve stakeholder understanding, establish reporting requirements, develop accounting tools, and enable forest resource managers to consider carbon in their forest-management activities. - The Canadian Carbon Program
Developing a scientific framework for reducing uncertainty in estimating the carbon budget of Canada and North America. - CPAWS Blog on Forests and Climate
The Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society maintains a public discussion forum on forests and climate. - Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
The leading body for the assessment of climate change, established by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) to provide the world with a clear scientific view on the current state of climate change and its potential environmental and socio-economic consequences.
