February 2, 2016

February Spotlight on Research

Planning for Climate Change Adaptation in the Cataraqui Region

The Cataraqui Region Conservation Authority recently collaborated on a research project with graduate students in the School of Urban and Regional Planning at Queen’s University with the following question in mind: are the current land use planning policies in the Cataraqui Region supportive of climate change adaptation? Over the course of the research, the students collected information about climate change impacts and adaptation practices, evaluated municipal official plans across the Catarqui Region, and prepared policy recommendations. Interested in the project? Click here to read the full report.

Canadian Lakes among the Fastest-Warming Lakes in the World

A report on warming waters recently published in the The study found that lakes temperatures are rising surprisingly quickly around the world, especially in Canada. Sapna Sharma, a researcher at York University who was one of the leads on the project, was interviewed for this article and said the “clear signal of warming” was one of the surprising findings of this research. Rising temperatures have a number of implications for humans and fish. For example, they we could see a decrease in fish populations and at the same time, an increase toxic algae blooms which make water undrinkable. For more information about this study, click here.

Climate Visuals

A research project that has been making the rounds on social media recently is Climate Visuals which is a resource for visual climate change communication. Over the course last year, citizens in the UK, US, and Germany were engaged in this project to gather information about what types of images are most effective to communicate about climate change. This information fed into a website called Climate Visuals and the creation of photo galleries centered around the causes, impacts, and solutions for addressing climate change. Click here for more information about this project.