A grim report about climate change in Ontario was kept quiet for 8 months

A new government-commissioned report on the risks Ontario faces from climate change has been made public after a summer that included stretches of extreme heat, heavy rainstorms and unprecedented wildfire smoke.

Presented to the government in January but only posted publicly in late August, the government did not issue a news release about the report. It follows a summer where Ontarians faced at times extreme heat, heavy rainstorms and unprecedented wildfire smoke.

The report does “the best job that’s been done to date describing the impacts of climate change and extreme weather,” said Blair Feltmate, head of the Intact Centre on Climate Adaptation at the University of Waterloo.

Its 530 pages are filled with often grim details about the expected effects of climate change in Ontario.

“Changes in Ontario’s climate are expected to continue at unprecedented rates,” says the report. “It is important to recognize how these findings can be used to spur action to protect residents, ecosystems, businesses and communities across Ontario.”

The report lays out the ways the researchers expect climate change to affect each region of Ontario along five broad themes: infrastructure; food and agriculture; people and communities; natural resources, ecosystems and the environment; business and the economy.

Douglas says Ontario’s food production and agriculture are particularly vulnerable to climate change.

“Yields will decrease,” he said. “It will affect the overall health of livestock. It will pose indirect threats to things like water availability, water quality. It’ll indirectly impact soil health and soil quality.” |Read more https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ontario-climate-change-impact-assessment-1.6964662|

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