Experts stress need for climate change adaptation policies

A panel of senior Canadian climate change experts, chaired by the Canadian Foundation for Climate and Atmospheric Sciencess Dr. Gordon McBean, called on the federal government to increase funding for research on the impact of global warming.We need to factor climate risks into every area it is relevant, Ian Burton, an international expert on natural hazards management and a member of the five-person panel, told the CBC.Burton said that Canada needs to invest now in buildings and infrastructure such as drainage systems and bridges to help offset the effects of climate change, particularly coastal storms and hurricanes, the CBC reported.These are investments that have to last 50 years, so we need to start now, Burton added.The panel was held in response to the release of the UNs Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Changes report and followed an announcement by John Baird, minister of the environment, that targets for mandatory reductions of greenhouse gases and air pollution will be released in the near future.But the researchers stressed the need for policy research. It has been a largely neglected option, McBean said. I guess we could be optimistic and hope (an adaptation policy) might be in the forthcoming package, CanWest News Service reported.In addition to McBean and Burton, the panel included Paul Kovacs, founder and executive director of the Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction, Don Forbes, senior research scientist with Natural Resources Canada, and Chris Furgal, a researcher specializing in the health and human impacts of climate change in Arctic communities.