In a legislative session Thursday in New Brunswick, experts presented a climate change study to a committee of Liberals, PCs, and Green MLAs—the results revealed in the session indicate that the province is in for more damaging weather in the foreseeable future if climate conditions continue to deteriorate.
The legislative committee consulted climate change experts to help come up with concrete ways for the provincial government to comply with the Paris climate change agreement, reported
CBC News. The agreement calls for governments around the world to limit the average global temperature increase to 2 °C, or even 1.5 °C, if possible.
According to the experts’ report, New Brunswick’s weather has been so affected by climate change that the region’s average temperatures have noticeably increased in recent time, with further increases anticipated in the years to come.
"The number of times the temperature's going to get above 30 C is going to increase a lot. Not too far away you're going to have summers where it's above 30 almost every day," said Paul Kovacs of the Institute of Catastrophic Loss Reduction, an organisation funded by the provincial government and the insurance industry.
Kovacs, discussing Fredericton’s recent heat warning, also mentioned that as temperatures increase, "the number of people who die goes up.”
“It's not complicated science," he remarked.
Kovacs also noted that for the first time in recent years, insurers are paying more for flood-related claims as a result of severe rains than they are for fire-related claims—a trend that highlights the growing danger of flooding in the province.
The risk of wildfires is another concern the climate change experts brought attention to during the legislative session.
Alain Bourque, executive director of Montreal-based climate change think-tank Ouranos, said that although scientists cannot undeniably attribute "one extreme event" such as the recent Fort McMurray fire to climate change, the risk of more wildfires erupting is certainly rising.
Bourque additionally backed up Kovacs’ observations, noting that the average temperature in Fredericton is likely to rise 1.9 to 4.3 °C by 2100, even if emission reductions were enacted by then.
Both Kovacs and Bourque underscored that while New Brunswick needs to take action to meet its Paris climate change agreement goals, all governments have to address climate change’s effects right now.
Related stories:
Lack of Saskatchewan flood coverage is case of claims déjà vu
Morning Briefing: Canada, US praised by UN for disaster reduction deal
