Resource Category: Project Reports

The Canadian Boreal Forest is a mainstay of the Canadian economy, and it has immense social,
environmental and intrinsic importance. Canada depends on the boreal forest for many essential
products and services including forest products, wildlife habitat, recreation, research, and
educational opportunities, and spiritual values. Forestry is an important primary goods-producing
industry in the Prairie Provinces.

We would like to thank the Prairie Adaptation Research Collaborative for providing the funding
necessary to conduct this project, as well as the University of Winnipeg for providing the
necessary facilities. In addition, there are a number of people whose support was greatly
appreciated throughout this project. We would like to thank Dr. Danny Blair and Dr. Tom Carter
from the University of Winnipeg, Dr. Elaine Wheaton and Dr. Mark Johnston from the
Saskatchewan Research Council, Dennis DePape from Intergroup and Terry Zdan from
Manitoba Highways and Government Services for their advice.

The dynamics of competition between crops and weeds are affected by environmental conditions, and have been shown to change with CO2 enrichment. Differential responses of C3 and C4 plants to elevated CO2 and temperature may cause shifts in their competitive interactions. There is a need to evaluate the effects of elevated CO2 and temperature on crop/weed competition and herbicide efficacy to develop strategies for agriculture in the face of climate change.

This report has been prepared as part of a Collaborative Research Agreement between the Prairie
Adaptation Research Cooperative (PARC) and the Canadian Forestry Service (CFS), Northern
Forestry Centre. The PARC is funded by the Government of Canada’s Climate Change Action
Fund and it has been created to support and bring together the work of universities, private
organizations, and federal and provincial departments on adaptations to climate change in the
Prairie provinces.

Climate change could alter the health status, directly or indirectly, of populations on the
Canadian Prairies. However, the health effects of climate change on Prairie residents, and
short-, medium-, and long-term adaptation measures that will be required, are largely
unknown. We invited various stakeholders in four sectors (Government, Industry,
Academia, and Public) to participate in Round Table Discussions (RTDs) in order to
obtain a balanced perspective for the future directions that research might take regarding
human health and climate change.

Through the support provided by Government of Canada Climate Change Action Fund
(CCAF), and Prairie Adaptation Research Cooperative the Centre for Earth Observation
Science (CEOS) conducted a two-day workshop on the role of Geomatics technologies in
issues surrounding climate variability and change. The workshop was held June 8 – 9 at
the University of Manitoba and was attended by approximately 125 invited individuals.

Water is essential to life and socio-economic development. In the populated southern parts of the
Prairie provinces, surface water bodies of significant size are limited and many are not reliable
water sources due to inadequate supply and/or unsuitable water quality. In the absence of
abundant surface water supplies, groundwater has historically played a very significant role as a
water supply source in the Prairie provinces. However, reliance on groundwater across the
provinces may vary from region to region.

The concentration of greenhouse gases, particularly carbon dioxide, in the atmosphere
has increased substantially and is expected to continue as a result of human activities.
These increased greenhouse gas concentrations are and will continue to affect the
climate. The issue of climate change will be with us for generations and will affect all
aspects of our society and all parts of our country.

This is a component report of the Canada Country
Study: Climate Impacts and Adaptation. In addition to
a number of summary documents, the first phase of
the Canada Country Study will produce six regional
volumes, one volume comprising twelve national
sectoral reports, and one volume comprising seven
cross-cutting issues papers. This is Canada Country
Study – Volume III: Prairies Regional Report.