Expert eyes on dry skies: decoding the impact of drought conditions across Canada
After a winter of unseasonably warm weather and little moisture, concerns are growing in Canada about drought conditions. The lack of water is expected to have major consequences, spanning from wildfires, to agriculture, to our economy and everyday life.
As Canada contends with these difficult conditions, the University of Alberta has a wide field of experts ready to discuss how the lack of water and a changing climate will impact Canadians this year, and far into the future. These listed experts are just a few of many available at the U of A to speak on this urgent topic.
Experts:
David Percy, an expert in water law, is available to discuss the evolution of our relationship with water over the past century. Percy can speak on the laws, regulations, and historical context surrounding water allocation in the prairie region, and address critical questions such as: Who owns the water in the prairies? How does the priority system work? And what impact does it have on diverse stakeholders, including Indigenous communities? Percy's insights offer a comprehensive understanding of the intricate water dynamics shaping the region's future. His expertise applies to the prairie provinces and in part to British Columbia and Ontario.
Last year’s wildfire season in Canada was unprecedented. In Alberta alone, fires covered 6.6 per cent of the province’s forested area. Brandon Allen with the Alberta Biodiversity Monitoring Institute, can offer expert analysis on the ecological impact of the wildfires including a decline in average forest age and habitat loss for various species. Allen says while fires are a natural process, and burned forests will regenerate over time, there is concern about how years with extreme fires will affect forest biodiversity, particularly if extreme fire years become more frequent in the future.
Evan Davies with the U of A’s Water Research Centre offers expertise in analysing Canada’s waterscape. Davies recently led a study highlighting national and regional water use trends spanning 2005 to 2018 that showed an overall decline in water use, except in a few key sectors, and his team is using an advanced model to project how we'll be using water in Canada until 2050. In addition, Davies can discuss machine learning and streamflow projections for the Canadian Rockies, long-range municipal water demand projections under climate change for major Canadian cities, and methods to improve reservoir management.
How might periods of drought affect the purchasing decisions of Canadian consumers? Agricultural economist Ellen Goddard says consumers increasingly care about sustainability in their food purchases, and that if products are both water-intensive and emit a hefty amount of greenhouse gases, they may quickly lose favour with consumers. She adds that if water shortages make foods even more expensive during this time of high inflation, consumers may shift their purchasing habits to other options.
Last year, dozens of municipalities declared an agricultural disaster due to severe drought conditions — and this year may also prove challenging. Boyd Mori, a professor of Agricultural and Ecological Entomology, warns of a potential spike in grasshopper populations this summer on the prairies due to the absence of the usual winter temperature drop. Mori stresses the importance of reaching -20°C for two weeks to control the pests. Without sustained cold temperatures, Mori says grasshoppers could thrive this summer, as the lack of sustained cold and snow may allow grasshopper eggs to over-winter in the soil.
Canada and the U.S. have experienced many cycles of severe drought over the last century, but none are more instantly recognizable than the Dirty Thirties, which marked the largest ecological disaster in North American history. Its long-term economic impacts lingered much longer. Shannon Stunden Bower, a historian at the U of A, says there’s much to learn from that period and about how governments of the time responded to mitigate drought conditions — lessons that may still be useful today.
For any experts related to drought, climate change, or other related topics, please reach out to members of the University of Alberta’s media strategy team:
Ross Neitz | U of A Media Strategist | ross.neitz@ualberta.ca | 780-297-8354
Michael Brown | U of A Media Strategist | michael.brown@ualberta.ca | 780-977-1411
Sarah Vernon | U of A Communications Associate | sarah.vernon@ualberta.ca
Debra Clark | U of A Communications Associate | debra.clark@ualberta.ca