Responding to Climate Change: Adaptation as the Emerging Frontier (Part 1)

With the publication of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Assessment Report Four in 2007, the scientific view regarding the causes and consequences of climate change has never been stronger. There is little debate that climate change is real, is already happening, and that adaptation to some degree of climate change is necessary. This presentation discusses the role of adaptation as the emerging frontier for responding to climate change. It draws on two national assessments, one led by Natural Resources Canada and another by Health Canada, that have assessed the current state of knowledge about climate change impacts, the vulnerability of our social and natural systems, and the capacity of these systems to adapt, across regions and in the context of human health. The presentation concludes by outlining a pathway forward, towards the development of a regional and/or national adaptation plan. Speaker: Quentin Chiotti Quentin Chiotti was appointed the Climate Change Programme Director at Pollution Probe in April 2007. He has a Ph. D. in Geography from the University of Western Ontario, and has worked extensively in the area of climate change since 1993, including working for the Adaptation and Impacts Research Group of the Meteorological Service of Canada, Environment Canada (1995-2002). From 1998 - 2002 he was the scientific authority for an Environment Canada led multi-stakeholder study on atmospheric change in the Toronto-Niagara Region. During this period he split his time between Environment Canada and Pollution Probe before joining the latter full time as the Air Programme Director and Senior Scientist in June, 2002. Dr. Chiotti has published over 45 articles in scholarly journals and books, including co-editing a book on agricultural restructuring and sustainability, and was a contributor to the Canada Country Study, the first national assessment on climate change impacts and adaptation. He is the co-lead author for the Ontario chapter to the report From Impacts to Adaptation: Canada in a Changing Climate 2007 led by Natural Resources Canada. This special session is from 7-9pm.