September 2000 Workshop:
A Northern Assessment of the Impacts of Climate Change
Discussion Session Summaries
At the workshop, discussion sessions were held on the following topics:
- What do northern communities require in a climate change information system?
- How do northern communities make decisions, and how do these decisions take climate change into account?
The outcomes of these discussion sessions are summarized below.
4.1 What do Northern Communities require in an Information System?
The first discussion session at the workshop considered what northerners need in a database and in an information system to assist them with incorporating climate change into local decision making processes. We asked workshop participants to consider what components of the NCE information system would be most useful. The main recommendations from this discussion session are summarized below.
- The database should include general climate and climate change studies.
- The database should include the best of the broad review articles on climate change, including review articles from different perspectives, and these articles do not need to be specifically northern-focused.
- The database should include the location (i.e. libraries, offices etc.) where each record can be found.
- The database should include a summary of content of each information source, what regions/systems they pertain to, and the type of information source (i.e. conference proceedings, journal article, etc.)
- The database should include figures, graphs or tables for records where this information is relevant to the summary, and would be useful to bring to the attention of the user of the database.
- The database should include a search engine to allow users to search the sources of information and the experts database by geographical location, keyword, etc.
- The database should include criteria to assist users in objectively assessing the applicability or usefulness of each source of information within the database. These ranking criteria should address the level of relevance, accuracy and trust associated with each source of information.
- Efforts should be made to ensure that the database is not biased; the database itself can not include value judgements as to the usefulness of a particular source of information.
- The database should be made available on CD-ROM for communities without internet access.
- A format should be developed to allow users of the database can add new information and/or records to the database; all new entries should be filtered through the NCE to ensure quality of the database is maintained.
- The information system should provide information on which communities are experiencing similar climate and climate change conditions
- The information system should include an interactive page to the website where users of the database can document observations and concerns related to climate and environmental change in their community, and document types of information that are not currently available but the users wish they had access to. This addition to the database will help researchers to develop research questions that are relevant to community needs.
- The information system should include information on coming events, conferences.
- New publications and other sources of information should be highlighted when they are added to the database.
- The information system should include an email network where people can discuss current issues, share information, and request information.
- The information system should include checklists of questions on important climate change considerations for communities undertaking construction projects, development projects, forest management, wildlife management, and other activities.
- For each region in the database, provide a list of mitigation and adaptation strategies that have been implemented in northern communities, and indicate whether the strategy was successfully or not successful and why.
To conclude this discussion session, it was recommended that the Northern Climate ExChange consider offering training sessions in northern communities to assist individuals with learning how to navigate the new climate change database and information system. The NCE should also be available to assist communities in tracking down sources of information and experts noted within the database. It was also recognized that the database will be a ongoing project, requiring regular updating with new information.
4.2 Climate Change and Decision Making in Northern Communities
The second discussion session within the workshop focused climate change and decision making in northern communities. Participants discussed the following questions:
- What types of decisions are made in your community and surrounding area that may be affected by climate change?
- What type of information does your community need to incorporate climate change into local decision making processes?
- What are community-level priorities for information relating to climate change?
Without a doubt, this discussion session was the most challenging component of the workshop. Despite these challenges, workshop participants developed encouraging and forward-looking recommendations that will assist the project team in providing a product from this project that is of greater value to its users. The main recommendations from this discussion session are summarized below:
- Climate and environmental monitoring capacity needs to be regained in northern regions.
- Climate change predictions at a regional and local scales need to be improved.
- There is a need to identify ecosystems, industries, and locations that are vulnerable to a change in climate.
- There is a need for decision support tools, not just information.
- We need to highlight where we need to fill in the gaps in our knowledge base.
- Checklists are needed to ensure the appropriate questions related to climate change are asked at the appropriate time.
- Additional effort needs to be made to make available community concerns and observations on climate change to researchers.
- Communication pathways between communities with similar climate change related concerns needs to be improved.
- Northern standards, codes and guidelines for infrastructure construction and maintenance (i.e. roads, pipelines, buildings) need to be updated to take climate change considerations into account, especially in 'warm' permafrost regions.
- Hydrometerological models that are relevant to frozen ground need to be developed/updated.
- Information is needed on long term water flow rates to determine hydroelectric potential, and appropriate flood control measures.
- Forestry/Ecosystem Issues:
- How should forest reforestation programs be altered to prepare for new climate conditions?
- How should wildlife management programs, including habitat preservation and conservation strategies, take climate change into account?
- Keystone species, or those that are particularly vulnerable to climate change, need to be identified and monitored.
- How should forest protection programs respond to increased stresses on forest ecosystems by insects, disease, windthrow, and fire?
- How will the current forest age class structure change in response to increased forest stresses?
- Should forest harvesting methods change in response to changing climate conditions? If so, where, and how?
- How will our Emergency Preparedness Programs respond to changes in the magnitude and frequency of extreme climate events?
At the conclusion of this discussion session, a number of participants suggested that there is tremendous value in prioritizing research and monitoring needs. Partnerships between communities, industry, and governments are seen as essential to ensure that steps are taken to meet information needs, and to make best use of limited resources.