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Climate change and the Arctic environment

What will happen over the next 100 years?

JANE GEORGE

ICC president Sheila Watt-Cloutier and Bob Corell, an oceanographer and chair of the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment, says convincing governments to do something about warming in the Arctic is a hard sell. (PHOTO BY JANE GEORGE)

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According to the report, Impacts of a Warming Arctic, the Eastern Arctic, including the territories of Nunavut, Nunavik and Labrador, can expect the following changes over the next 100 years in addition to higher temperatures, more precipitation and a host of social, cultural, economic and health-related stresses:

• Thawing — The sea ice cover during the summer could retreat 500-800 km further north. Fast ice attached to coasts will continue to thin and glaciers and permafrost will melt, contributing to ground collapses and erosion.
• Ecosystem shifting — Tundra areas will retreat as the tree line moves as much as 750 km northwards, bringing with it insects and forest fires and reducing the forage areas for caribou. Atlantic salmon and brook trout will migrate north, “causing local extinctions of native species.” Polar bears will be at risk.
• Shipping — As shipping increases, so does the risk of oil spills and other contamination.
• Fisheries — The Arctic will see an increase of northern cod, capelin, Greenland halibut and lake trout, and a decrease of northern shrimp and cod, seal and lake fish.
• Infrastructure — The ice road season will be shortened, the construction season will be extended, and there will be less need to heat buildings and homes. Temperature changes will add to stress on existing infrastructure such as pipelines, pile foundations set in permafrost, dikes, and open pit mines.

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