Climate change impacts, adaptation, and the technology interface - Environmental and Human Security in the Arctic - page 115

When thinking about research or practice in CCIA, including the impacts
of climate change on the communities of northern Canada and the circumpo-
lar North, it is important to consider five questions that were presented in the
Preface of Volume II of the Canada Country Study (Maxwell 1997), as follows:

• What are the impacts of a changing climate and how will they affect me

and my family throughout our lives?

• Are decisions being made today which will increase our vulnerability in

the future because they are not taking such impacts into account?

• Will the approaches we use to adapt to the current climate still be work-

able in the future, or will new approaches be necessary to adapt to changes
beyond our historical experience?

• Will the rate of changing climate allow enough time to adapt?

• Should society become more adaptable or flexible to changes in climate

than it is now, and if so, how?

International efforts to alter the severity of climate change through green-
house gas emissions have been guided by the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which
set targets to reduce greenhouse emissions and came into force in 2005. Post-
Kyoto Protocol negotiations are taking place, and the most recent meeting
of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, known as
the Conference of the Parties (COP), was held at Cancun, Mexico, in late 2010
(known as COP16). Although COP16 did not produce an agreement of ambi-
tious targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, it did reach agreement to set
up a 'Green Climate Fund' and a 'Climate Technology Centre' and network in
preparation for a second commitment period for the Kyoto Protocol.
Many studies of climate history, based on lake sediment and ice core
research, for example, indicate that there have been several times over the past
100,000 years when global temperatures have been up to 2°C higher than
today. However, greenhouse gas concentrations (e.g. CO 2 and methane) were
never as high during this period as they are today. In any case, as we continue
to see increases in greenhouse gas concentrations and temperatures, it is essen-
tial that northern societies learn to adapt to the impacts of climate change.
This poses a great challenge and obligation to professional engineers in the
circumpolar world. They must be the leaders in technology development and
technology transfer to ensure optimal levels of overall human security during
this time of global change.

Northern climate trends and extreme events
The Northern Climate ExChange at the Northern Research Institute, Yukon
College, is in the process of developing an extensive Infosources Database that
will be useful as society seeks to come to grips with how to adapt through CCIA
research and practice. Northerners are already recording climate change trends