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Climate is an important component of the operating environment for the Canadian mining sector. However, in recent years mines across Canada have been affected by significant climatic hazards, several which are regarded to be symptomatic of climate change. For the mining sector, climate change is a pressing environmental threat and a significant business risk. The extent to which the mining sector is able to mitigate its own impact and adapt to climate change will affect its long-term success and prosperity, and have profound economic consequences for host communities. This paper draws upon case studies conducted with mining operations in Canada involving in-depth interviews with mining professionals and analysis of secondary sources to characterize the vulnerability of the Canadian mining industry to climate change. Five key findings are discussed: i) mines in the case studies are affected by climate events that are indicative of climate change, with examples of negative impacts over the past decade; ii) most mine infrastructure has been designed assuming that the climate is not changing; iii) most industry stakeholders interviewed view climate change as a minor concern; iv) limited adaption planning for future climate change is underway; v) significant vulnerabilities exist in the post-operational phase of mines. This paper argues for greater collaboration among mining companies, regulators, scientists and other industry stakeholders to develop practical adaptation strategies that can be integrated into existing and new mine operations, including in the post-operational phase. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scientific evidence gathered over the past five years suggests that northern Canada and the Arctic have undergone, and are undergoing, formidable environmental changes linked to global climate change. Environmental change in the north is expected to persist and intensify over the course of the next century. When large-scale environmental changes take place, they inevitably affect people, especially when the cultures and livelihoods of those people depend on their relationship with the environment. Managing the local impacts of these changes is a matter of adaptation. This paper discusses some of the policy implications of adaptation--government interventions aiming to build communities' and regions' capacities to adapt to environmental changes. Three arguments for adaptive capacity building interventions in the north are discussed, and these arguments are augmented by a comparative review of government reactions to the collapse of the cod fishery in Atlantic Canada. Reactive and proactive policy approaches are discussed, and it is suggested from the comparison that proactive approaches to intervention are desirable for building adaptive capacity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent interest in sustainable forest management planning in the Yukon has coincided with growing public awareness of climate change, providing an opportunity to explore how forestry plans are incorporating climate change. In this paper, the Strategic Forest Management Plans for the Champagne and Aishihik First Nations Traditional Territory (CATT) and the Teslin Tlingit Traditional Territory (TTTT) are examined for evidence of adaptation to climate change. For each plan, management policies and practices that are also recognized as ways to adapt to climate change are identified to provide information on the incremental costs and benefits of additional adaptation efforts. A typology for classifying sustainable forest management plans according to how they address climate change is proposed and applied to the CATT and TTTT plans. This typology, which may be useful to any future retrospective assessments on how successful these or other sustainable forest management plans have been in addressing and managing the risks posed by climate change, consists of a matrix that categorizes plans into one of four types; (1) proactive-direct, (2) proactive-indirect, (3) reactive-direct, and (4) reactive-indirect. Neither of the plans available for the southern Yukon explicitly identifies climate change vulnerabilities and actions that will be taken to reduce those vulnerabilities and manage risks. However, both plans have incorporated some examples of 'best management practices' for sustainable forest management that are also consistent with appropriate climate adaptation responses. Even in a jurisdiction facing rapid ecological changes driven by climate change, where there is a relatively high level of awareness of climate change and its implications, forestry planning processes have yet to grapple directly with the risks that climate change may pose to the ability of forest managers to achieve the stated goals and objectives of sustainable forest management plans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Parks and other forms of protected areas worldwide face significant threats from rapid climatic and associated ecological change. While the need to adapt to the impacts of climate change on biodiversity is widely acknowledged, and the extant literature has identified numerous adaptation options, much less is known about the institutional preconditions that enable or inhibit adaptation in resource management systems. We address this gap by presenting a framework that assesses the readiness of protected area organizations to adapt to climate change. Specifically, using a mixed methods approach including a literature review, online survey, and workshop, we: (1) adapt a framework to assess organizational adaptation readiness in protected areas organizations; (2) use the framework to assess organizational adaptation readiness in Bruce Peninsula National Park (BPNP) and Fathom Five National Marine Park (FFNMP) in Ontario, Canada, and (3) identify ways to strengthen the readiness of protected area organizations to respond to climate change. Results indicate that BPNP/FFNMP have low to moderate overall organizational adaptation readiness, with higher readiness in terms of understanding social-ecological systems (e.g., mapping and monitoring social and ecological values) and lower readiness in terms of collaboration, knowledge management and exchange. Recommendations to increase the organizational adaptation readiness of protected area organizations include increasing collaboration and knowledge exchange with partners, local residents, and Indigenous communities, and educating staff and visitors about climate change impacts. Overall, framework outcomes can be used to assess organizational strengths, weaknesses, and most importantly identify areas for resource allocation or re-allocation to enhance readiness and ensure that adaptation planning is translated into on-the-ground action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

gricultural production in the Canadian Prairies is expected to be negatively affected as climate change projections for the region indicate warmer temperatures, greater incidence and severity of extreme weather events, and reduced water availability and soil moisture. To understand climate change adaption, it is important to explore the learning process that underlies farmer's adaptation practices in the region. Prairie farmers' learning was analyzed using Transformative Learning Theory whereby learning is categorized into three types: instrumental, communicative, and transformative. All producers learned instrumentally to some degree, but farmers who placed less emphasis on maximizing economic returns generally showed secondary learning outcomes correlating economic and environmental benefits. Communicative learning was mainly limited to producer-producer dialogue to the exclusion of other organizational and institutional players in the agricultural system. Critical reflection was explored as an important precursor to transformative learning. Strong evidence of transformative learning was rare (observed in 11% of farmers), but indicators of transformative learning were diverse and was observed in 43% of farmers. Transformative learning is believed to be important for flexible decision-making and autonomous thinking, making it advantageous for responding to changing environmental conditions. The analysis shows that a large number of information sources, and communication of information in an experiential and observable way, is conducive to transformative learning. Adaptation to environmental uncertainty, resulting from changing climatic conditions, may be most effectively dealt with when individual farmers undergo transformative learning whereby underlying assumptions that govern actions, values, and claims to knowledge are questioned. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) has been documented in 28 countries and adversely affected farmers and rural communities around the world. Our study examines the impacts of and adaptive responses of producers to BSE in western Canada. Moreover, it explores the role that holistic management (HM), and its combined focus on environmental, social, and economic sustainability, might play in mitigating the effects of BSE. One survey was sent to 835 HM producers and another to 9,740 producers across Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta. The disease, and concomitant climate change and low commodity prices, had devastating impacts on both groups. Yet, HM producers were much more optimistic about their ability to adapt to BSE and the future of agriculture than their non-HM counterparts. Social networks, namely HM clubs and the larger HM community, enabled these producers to mitigate the impacts of BSE. Agronomic responses, especially those associated with rotational grazing and increases in on-farm biodiversity were also important. That HM has been such an effective adaptive response to BSE indicates the importance of this and other grassroots responses to rural crises, whether they be associated with zoonotic diseases or indeed environmental change as a whole. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study involves the assessment of the potential impacts of greenhouse gas climate change and changing ambient carbon dioxide (CO2) levels on crop yields in Quebec, Canada. The methodology involves coupling the transient diagnostics of two Atmosphere-Ocean General Circulation Models, namely the Canadian CGCM1 and the British HadCM3, to the Decision Support System for Agrotechnology Transfer (DSSAT) 3.5 crop models to simulate current (1961-1990) and future (2040-2069) crop yields and changes. This is done for four different crop species, namely spring wheat, maize, soybean, and potato, and for seven agricultural regions of Southern Quebec. The results of this study focus on the main causative factors influencing crop yields, namely the direct CO2 fertilization effect, the influence of the increase in growing season temperature, including optimal thermal conditions and acceleration in crop maturation, soil moisture availability, as influenced by precipitation and evapotranspiration, and nitrogen uptake by crops. Our results show that crop yield changes may vary according to climate scenario, crop species, and agricultural region. Consistent with other similar research, it would seem that these multiple causative factors very often seem to cancel each other out and dilute the impacts of climate change on crop yields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]