Tag Archives: Hurricane Fiona

Feds release flimsy first report on climate risk managment

Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

The federal government expects the cost of disaster relief funding to balloon to a billion dollars or more each year as the climate crisis advances, according to a new risk-management report. 

The document, examining steps by the federal public service to manage the financial risks and possible rewards tied to climate change, was released by Minister of Finance Dominic LeBlanc on Monday. 

Over the past decade, the federal government spent an average $793 million annually to help provinces and farms, businesses, industries and communities overcome natural disasters, according to the inaugural Federal Climate-Related Risk Management report. 

However, as extreme weather and catastrophes aggravated by climate change — like the 2021 flooding in B.C. or Hurricane Fiona in Atlantic Canada the following year — occur more frequently, funding transfers to provinces through the Disaster Financial Assistance Arrangement (DFAA) are expected to spike, the report noted. 

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Unchecked climate change puts Canada’s West Coast in hot water

Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Last year was the hottest on record for the ocean, an upward trend only expected to continue as it wreaks havoc on coastal communities and spurs irreversible losses to marine ecosystems. 

Ocean warming has cascading effects, melting polar ice and causing sea-level rise, marine heat waves and ocean acidification, the United Nations’ panel of climate experts made clear on Monday.

Sea-level rise has doubled in the last three decades, reaching a record high in 2021, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reported. Rising seas, coupled with more extreme weather, are setting the stage for a perfect storm of flooding for coastal communities. 

Continue reading Unchecked climate change puts Canada’s West Coast in hot water

Why do oceans matter for climate change?

National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

As the climate crisis gets worse, oceans — the planet’s greatest carbon sink — can no longer be overlooked. 

Spanning 70 per cent of the globe, oceans have absorbed nearly a third of the planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions caused by humans and 90 per cent of the excess heat those gases create. 

The heat stored in the Earth’s entire atmosphere is equal to what’s stored in the top few metres of our oceans. If that wasn’t enough, oceans produce more than 50 per cent of the planet’s oxygen and regulate our climate and weather patterns. 

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