Canada Tops List of Regions to Be Hit Hard By Climate Change

The new WWF report was released today internationally – and in Canada with the Suzuki Foundation – to coincide with the launch of WWF’s campaign to persuade at least 25 countries to ratify the Kyoto Protocol on global warming.

“It is shocking to see that many of our most biologically valuable ecosystems are at particular risk from global warming,” said Dr. Jay Malcolm, report author and assistant forestry professor at the University of Toronto. “If we don’t do something to reverse this trend, it could mean extinction for thousands of wildlife species.”

The report examines 113 land-based regions identified by WWF as areas rich in species and biological distinctiveness. It finds that huge parts of the world, from the tropics to the poles, are at risk. The regions to be hardest hit by climate change include two biologically rich areas in Canada’s north: the low Arctic tundra and the Muskwa/Slave Lake boreal forests. Other particularly vulnerable areas include: the Central Andean Dry Puna of Chile, Argentina and Bolivia; the Ural Mountains and the Daurian Steppe of Mongolia and Russia; the Terai-Duar savannah of northeastern India; Australia and the Fynbos of South Africa.

“Global warming is going to cause dramatic changes in Canada,” said Dr. Malcolm. “Habitat changes in the tundra over the 100 years are projected to be drastic. This vegetation change has the potential to result in catastrophic species loss, especially if the rate of global warming exceeds the ability of species to migrate.”

The study, which builds on an earlier report by Dr. Malcolm, looks at threats to the world’s most valuable ecosystems, including invasions by new habitat types, local changes in habitat and the rates of required species migration under doubled carbon dioxide levels. As global warming changes their habitat, many species will be unable to move to new areas fast enough to survive, raising the possibility of an enormous loss of species in one-fifth of the world’s most vulnerable natural areas. Unusually high migration rates were shown to be necessary in northern areas, especially in Canada and Russia.

The Arctic is disproportionately important for breeding bird species, with approximately 15 per cent of all bird species breeding in the Arctic. In North America, 55 bird species breed exclusively in the Arctic. A host of species that are intimately associated with Arctic ice could be negatively affected, including Arctic cod, polar bears, walrus, narwhals and belugas.

“Global warming is one of the biggest threats to the planet’s biodiversity,” said David Suzuki, well-known scientist and broadcaster. “If we reduce the rate and amount of global warming, we will reduce species loss. That’s why it’s so important that Canada stick to its commitment to ratify the Kyoto Protocol this year and start implementing concrete solutions.”

Canada is one of the main targets of WWF’s 200-day “Go for Kyoto” campaign which runs until August 26 when world leaders will meet at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg. Ratification by the major greenhouse gas emitters – the European Union, Russia and Japan – is essential, but additional signatures from mid-sized emitters like Canada would seal the deal. Prime Minister Jean Chretien has indicated that Canada will ratify the Protocol this year, but some provincial governments and industries continue to resist legal ratification.

“Canada helped lay the ground work for the Kyoto Protocol and will be strategically important to bringing the treaty into force,” said WWF-Canada President Monte Hummel. “There will be little to celebrate in Johannesburg if Canada turns out to be a deal-breaker. David Suzuki and I are urging the Prime Minister to hold firm by keeping his promise to ratify, and to do so before this fall.”