Climate Change in Our Region

Atlantic Canadian communities, whether they're large cities or small rural centres, are going to feel the effects of a changing climate. Because of the Earth's changing climate, scientists predict that Atlantic Canada's temperature and precipitation patterns will change, our communities will experience more frequent and extreme weather events, coastal communities will be affected by rising sea levels, and agricultural communities will have to adapt to changing growing seasons.  Bridges, roads, and railways could be submerged by rising sea-level or washed out more frequently by storms. Coastal erosion will result in property loss, and the need to relocate or abandon costly infrastructure and buildings. More frequent and severe weather events, such as ice, rain, and wind storms, could result in power outages and disrupted municipal services. Entire economic sectors, such as agriculture, fishing, and forestry, may be profoundly impacted by climate change.

Policy initiatives in the area of climate change, preservation and protection of the environment are generally divided into either mitigative or adaptive strategies.  Mitigation aims to reduce or redirect human activities contributing to climate change. Adaptation means enhancing our capacity to absorb the impact of changing weather patterns. In a sense, “mitigation in response to climate change primarily represents activities to protect nature from society while adaptation constitutes ways of protecting society from nature” (Stehr & von Storch 2005, 537).  However, the two approaches are mutually complementary and need not be opposed to each other: Mitigation is not going to unfold quickly enough to avoid many impacts; so adaptation will be necessary. Adaptation cannot cope with many possible impacts associated with substantial climate change; so mitigation is necessary. (Wilbanks& Sathaye 2007, 958). A combination of mitigation and adaptation strategies is needed to slow down the rate of climate change and build our capacity to adapt to the changes in the climate system that have already been set in motion. 

In order to adapt to climate change New Brunswick can, for example:
(non-exhaustive)

• Encourage Energy Efficiency in residential, commercial, manufacturing, and large industry – less dependence on fossil fuels helps New Brunswick to become more resilient to global fuel price volatility, which will increase in coming decades.  The largest reductions in GHG emissions are found in energy efficiency improvements, which will help to stabilize atmospheric concentrations of CO2, improve our energy security, and reduce energy costs passed on to Canadians directly and indirectly.
• Diversify the economy of communities dependent on single resource industries (i.e. forestry and fisheries).
• Incorporate climate change vulnerability into transportation, settlement, and other land use plans and initiatives.
• Introduce climate change - particularly the vulnerability to sea level rise, storm surges, increased winter wave action and winter flooding due to ice changes - into infrastructure lifecycle planning in communities, including the maintenance and improvements of dykes, sewer, and water systems, emergency planning systems, coastal roads, flood plain zoning, and property.
• Protect surface and ground potable water supplies.
• Incorporate climate change impacts into irrigation and soil moisture management in agricultural regions facing water deficits.
• Improve monitoring for, and adapting to, new and changing pest and disease regimes in agriculture and forestry.
• Consider potential threats to forest resources in silviculture, harvesting and other forest management issues.
• Safeguard important coastal wetlands in the face of coastal erosion and enhanced coastal protection.
• Develop new techniques to forecast abundance of stocks of existing and new commercial species.
• Manage freshwater systems that are vulnerable to invasion of warm water species.
• Strengthen weather warning system for coastal storms and forecasting of storms surge and flooding hazards.

Here are some additional resources: