By Natasha Bulowski, Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Canada must do its part to bring down planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions, but the country also needs to prepare for harsher consequences from climate change, the federal environment minister said Monday in the wake of a new United Nations report.

“We need to reduce our emissions [but] we’ve entered the era of climate change. We know there will be more catastrophes, we know they will be more severe. So, we need to better prepare,” Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault told Canada’s National Observer in an interview.