Montreal hosts a global conference on adaptation to climate change

Environment Ministers Steven Guilbeault and Benoit Charrette as well as Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante are participating in the Adaptation Futures 2023 conference, the largest global conference on adaptation to climate change, which is being held in Montreal this week.

The Palais des Congrès is hosting an event that brings together researchers, political leaders, members of civil society and private companies from around the world, who will discuss, in the coming days, best adaptation practices to climate change, but will also discuss the point of no return, that is to say the moment when adaptation is no longer possible.

“There are 2,200 people registered, so it could be a record for the Adaptation Futures conference, but that’s not all quite surprising given the scale of the impacts of climate change which seem to be increasing from one year to the next”, indicated Alain Bourque, director of the Ouranos consortium.

Ouranos is organizing the event, in partnership with the Government of Canada and the United Nations’ World Science Program on Adaptation (WASP).

Adaptation and maladaptation

The event is an opportunity to share knowledge on good adaptation solutions, but also on bad ones.

For example, faced with coastal erosion in eastern Quebec, “there has been a strong tendency, in the past, to riprap coastal areas to try to reduce the risk of flooding or waves hitting houses, but we learned in several respects that it only accelerated the erosion rates on each side of the riprap, so we were just moving the problem,” explained Alain Bourque, indicating that in certain cases, the The solution is instead to move houses and villages.

Elsewhere in the world, entire populations will have to be displaced, because there will be a point of no return where adaptation will no longer be possible.

“The best example of the limits of adaptation is probably the classic case of rising sea levels which will put certain Pacific islands at risk” and “we are starting to talk about solutions which aim to move the whole of the inhabitants of these islands, in New Zealand for example. It reminds us of the urgency and the benefits of achieving carbon neutrality as quickly as possible to avoid exceeding the limits of adaptation”, underlined the director of Ouranos.

Representatives from many countries in the South are participating in the summit, because it is often the regions of the Southern hemisphere that are hit hardest by climate change.

In the future, “Bangladesh risks being flooded to almost half of its surface area. In terms of adaptation, it is clear that Bangladesh alone will not be able to manage all of these problems,” he said. explained Alain Bourque, emphasizing that issues related to climate refugees are among the themes that will be addressed in various workshops.

Adapting the economy to climate change

Several private companies will participate in workshops at the Adaptation Futures 2023 conference that will address the subject of disruptions to supply chains due to climate change.

“Businesses are being hit by extreme and severe weather events and supply chains are being disrupted by floods in Thailand or snow and ice storms in Texas and ultimately it is starting to have an impact on prices foodstuffs and products, so there is a part of the impacts of climate change which is linked to inflation,” explained Alain Bourque.

Representatives of energy producers, such as Hydro-Québec, are also present to share ways to adapt their activities to climate change.

“We saw it here in Quebec with Hydro-Québec, which had problems with the transport and distribution of energy” during extreme weather events, underlined Alain Bourque, referring in particular to the recent forest fires. , but also to other weather events such as icy conditions and floods, which disrupted electricity distribution.

Not all species are equal

All species are not equal in the face of climate change. “There will be winners and losers,” underlined the director of Ouranos.

“It’s one thing for a bird to follow its climatic envelope and move further north if it’s too hot in the south, but it’s another thing for a tree that has both feet planted in the ground and who cannot move like a bird.”

In several regions of the world, “forests are dying”, because the trees have not been able to adapt to their new climate and “when there is violent weather, storms and lightning, these forests are much more favorable to put in the fire since

“They are not in full health because of climate changes which are occurring too quickly,” explained Alain Bourque.

Adaptation in Quebec

Alain Bourque was recently named co-chair of the committee of experts who will advise François Legault’s government on adaptation to climate change.

According to him, the main adaptation issues in Quebec concern coastal erosion, but also the increase in flooding in cities.

We must therefore consider “a return to the natural state of some of our rivers where there were once many wetlands around them which served as sponges” and “reestablish wetlands, natural environments to better manage the ‘water”. These are called nature-based climate adaptation solutions.

“We will probably see issues related to landslides” caused by extreme precipitation, added the co-chair of the adaptation committee.

He also mentioned the consequences of melting permafrost and “naturally, there is, like everywhere in the world, this gradual transformation linked to climate change of our ecosystems, our forests, our rivers which are warming and therefore which generate challenges increasingly increasing water quality.

This is the first time that Canada is hosting a conference in the “Adaptation Futures” series. These conferences have been organized every two years since 2011.

The 2023 edition will take place “in a hybrid form”, to help reduce GHGs linked to travel, “while offering flexibility for participation”.

– This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Oct. 2, 2023, and translated by CityNews.