SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
On the last day of March, an international report stated the effects of climate change are already occurring on all continents and across all oceans, and things will only get worse if action is not taken to address the problem.

Jim Sparling: ENR's manager of climate change programs says weather in the NWT has become less predictable. - NNSL file photo

While that is not exactly news, such a matter-of-fact and definite statement – based on a synthesis of previously-published reports and input from 1,729 scientists, experts and government officials in 70 countries – was noticed around the world, including in the NWT.

"Some of the commentary I've heard is people say that it's a fairly alarmist report because it says that, if we continue on the path that we are on, in 100 years we're going to have very significant impacts, and so there is criticism of scientists for being alarmist," said Jim Sparling, manager of climate change programs with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

Sparling noted scientists are finding it difficult to report on the huge changes they see coming without sounding alarmist.

Craig Scott, a project officer with Ecology North, thinks scientists and policymakers have ramped up their language to try to get people's attention because they realize things are happening a lot faster than they had expected.

"People are saying it's alarmist, but I think it's realistic," he said, noting, for example, that climate change is impacting precipitation and water resources.

Scott said it is not good for people to simply label the report alarmist and not worry about it.

The report – entitled Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability – was released by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which was established by the United Nations and the World Meteorological Organization in 1988.

The latest report, one of many over the years by the IPCC, focuses on impacts of climate change.

"One of the main concerns for the Arctic that they highlight is melting permafrost, and that's become a very big problem for us," said Sparling, noting it impacts existing buildings and highways, and new construction. "So if we project this off into the future, it becomes a very expensive problem for us."

Sparling noted that, in the North, climate change is also impacting animals, rivers and water quality.

"It's just that the weather has become less predictable," he said, noting, for example, that High Arctic communities are seeing lightning storms, which they never had before.

The report also describes another well-known problem for the North – the loss of sea ice.

"If the water stays open longer, we're going to get more moisture, more winds and more storms coming off the Beaufort Sea," said Sparling, adding that, while it would open up the area for shipping, it would make it more dangerous for people to travel on the ice to maintain traditional lifestyles.

Ecology North's Scott noted the Arctic region is warming faster than anywhere else on the planet.

"It definitely makes me more concerned," he said of the overall report. "We have a lot more scientists agreeing and doing all this scientific research and saying that these things are happening and are going to happen faster in the future. It's quite concerning. There is consensus across the board."

As for people who continue to deny that global change is happening or that, if it is, it is not being caused by human activity, Scott said they have their own reasons for those opinions, mostly an ideology based on economic factors.

"They are never going to listen to science," he said. "But the number of people who say this isn't happening has decreased by a huge amount and the number of people who say that it's not created by humans has decreased, as well."

Scott hopes the report will confirm in people's consciousness the fact that climate change continues to happen.

Another IPCC report earlier this year looked at the physical basis for climate change, like the role of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. A third report later this year will focus on what can be done to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.