In 1998, the federal government proposed a Canadian Climate Impacts and Adaptation Research Network (C-CIARN) and a physical node where the effects of climate are significant and where some adaptation research capacity and coordination already exists. The level of agricultural adaptation effort already resident in the national headquarters of the Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration (PFRA) made Regina the logical base for pursuing climate impacts and adaptation research. Canada’s first regional climate service, the Prairie Adaptation Research Collaborative (PARC), was launched in March 2000. In 2004, when C-CIARN was discontinued, PARC became a research centre of the University of Regina.
PARC’s mission is to provide scientific research that delivers practical and regionally relevant climate data, information and knowledge in support of adaptation to climate variability and change. PARC also provides university education and professional development in the emerging fields of climate change science and impact assessment. Our research is interdisciplinary and collaborative. It involves social/natural scientists, engineers, planners and policy makers from academia, government and industry. Through research and training, PARC:
PARC is a climate service and research centre that practitioners and policy makers rely on for data, information, knowledge and training to develop science-based climate policy and plans for adaption to climate change. PARC assists communities and industries in the Prairie Provinces to achieve resilience and sustainability in a changing climate.