| Climate Change and Mississippi Valley Conservation |
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MVC is pleased to release the report From impacts towards adaptation: Mississippi Watershed in a changing climate. The report is authored by Paul Egginton and Beth Lavender, both residents and or users of the Mississippi Valley. It is based in part on their broad experience in addressing climate change impacts and adaptation issues and on a stakeholder workshop held in the fall of 2007 in the Town of Almonte, Ontario. This event was co-sponsored by Mississippi Valley Conservation (MVC) and Mississippi Valley Field Naturalists (MFVN). In 2007 Mississippi Valley Conservation initiated a climate change adaptation strategy to study how weather patterns will change in Eastern Ontario’s Mississippi watershed, the affect these changes will have and how best to adapt. The strategy will involve research on how precipitation and temperature changes may affect water distribution at a local level as well as the consideration of how MVC will respond from a water management perspective. Other components include: • floodplain management • aquatic and ecosystem impacts • watershed management • education and outreach According to area residents we need to prepare for climate change. “Many important economic and social decisions are being made today on long-term projects and activities in our watershed based on the assumption that past climate data are a reliable guide to the future. This is no longer a good assumption. We believe that all levels of government are key players in this issue and must raise awareness and incorporate climate change into planning, decision making and leadership.” The “Almonte Communiqué” was drafted and unanimously endorsed by participants of the Saturday, September 22 “Weathering the Change: Adapting to Climate Change in the Mississippi Valley” workshop, a series hosted by Mississippi Valley Conservation and the Mississippi Valley Field Naturalists. As this project evolves so will this portion of the site. Reports, information, and links will be added as they become available. |